Penn Museum's Amarna Exhibit Extended Indefinitely
OCTOBER 2, 2007--"Amarna, Ancient Egypt's Place in the Sun," the
University of Pennsylvania Museum's popular new exhibition about the
city of Amarna, Tutankhamun's childhood home, will remain open as a
long-term exhibition, adding to the Museum's suite of ancient
Egyptian galleries that offer the public a year-round opportunity to
explore more than 5,000 years of ancient Egyptian culture, art, and
history.
Visitors who already have been to the Amarna exhibition will soon
have something new to see: on October 3, 2007 to June 2008, the
exhibition will be adding a famous sculpture of the head of King
Tutankhamun from The Metropolitan Museum of Art, as part of a
short-term loan exchange with that institution. Penn Museum's own
kneeling statue of Tutankhamun, a featured item in the final section
of the Amarna exhibition, will come down, to join the Met's
exhibition, Gifts for the Gods: Images from Egyptian Temples, opening
in New York October 16.
Penn Museum's Amarna exhibition was originally conceived and
developed as a complement to the record-setting blockbuster
"Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs," which closed at The
Franklin Institute September 30. Amarna, which opened in November of
2006, was originally scheduled to close at the end of October 2007.
"We have been delighted with the positive response that Amarna has
received from Penn Museum visitors," noted Dr. David Silverman, Penn
Museum's Egyptian section Curator-in-Charge and co-curator, with
Research Scientist Dr. Jennifer Wegner and Associate Curator Dr.
Josef Wegner, of the Amarna exhibition. "By focusing on a very brief
period of Egyptian history, and a time that was really unlike any
other, the Amarna exhibition, surrounded as it is by galleries with
Egyptian material that spans five millennia, provides visitors to
Penn Museum with, we think, a really powerful way to think about and
explore this complex, fascinating culture."
In addition to his role developing the Amarna exhibition at Penn
Museum, Dr. Silverman was curator of the two most popular exhibitions
ever in the United States: "Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the
Pharaohs" which just closed at The Franklin Institute, and "Treasures
of Tutankhamun," thirty years ago in Chicago.
Penn Museum has a long history of research and excavation in Egypt,
and the Museum houses one of the largest collections of Egyptian and
Nubian material in the United States, with more than 42,000 ancient
objects from that region of the world.
The Amarna exhibition is adjacent to the Lower Egyptian Gallery,
which features a 12-ton granite sphinx of Ramesses II and colossal
architectural elements from the Palace of Ramesses' son and
successor, Merenptah, circa 1200 B.C.E. New from fall of 2006, the
gallery offers a twenty-foot timeline featuring major activities in
Egypt over 5000 years, as well as world events. Artifacts from the
earliest, Pre-dynastic period (circa 5000-3000 B.C.E.), brought
together in one section of the gallery, provide insights into the
earliest known periods of ancient Egyptian culture.
The Upper Egyptian Gallery is home to the Museum's finest examples of
Egyptian sculpture. The material on display, including carved
relief, stone coffins, and exquisite three-dimensional sculpture,
testifies to the superb craftsmanship of Egyptian artists and
sculptors throughout its long history.
The Egyptian Mummy: Secrets and Science, long a favorite among
visitors, is adjacent to the central Upper Egyptian gallery. The
exhibition features nine mummies, and extensive information on the
mummification process and the cultural context that made this
practice such a central one in Egypt for so many years.
Penn Museum draws upon the expertise and new knowledge of trained
docents, as well as graduate students and other scholars associated
with the University of Pennsylvania and the Museum, to offer
Egypt-related outreach lectures, tours, and special programs
throughout the year. For information about the Museum's ongoing
Pennsylvania Outreach Lecture Program, contact Prema Deshmukh at
215/898-4065. Information about scheduling group tours, including
specialized tours by Penn Egyptologists and graduate students with
field experience in Egypt, contact Heather Dewey in the Education
department at 215/746-6774. Visitors can check the Museum's online
events calendar, updated regularly, to learn about ancient-Egyptian
related talks, tours, and more.
The University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology
is dedicated to the study and understanding of human history and
diversity. Founded in 1887, the Museum has sent more than 400
archaeological and anthropological expeditions to all the inhabited
continents of the world. With an active exhibition schedule and
educational programming for children and adults, the Museum offers
the public an opportunity to share in the ongoing discovery of
humankind's collective heritage.
Penn Museum is located at 3260 South Street on the University of
Pennsylvania campus in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Museum hours are
Tuesday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.; Sunday 1 to 5 p.m.
Closed Mondays, and holidays. Admission donation is $8 for adults;
$5 for senior citizens and students with ID; free to Members,
PennCard holders, and children under age 6. The Museum can be found
on the world wide web at www.museum.upenn.edu. For general
information call 215/898-4000.
Release Date: Tuesday, October 2nd 2007
