Echoes of Egypt: Conjuring the Land of the Pharaohs

Echoes of Egypt: Conjuring the Land of the Pharoahs,  An Exhibition at the Peabody Museum of Natural History April 13, 2013 through January 4, 2014

FOREWORD

Ancient Egypt has exercised a powerful influence over both Western and Arab- Islamic culture for 2,000 years. Its designs and motifs permeate architecture, literature, art and fashion in a wide variety of ways.

The extraordinary exhibition Echoes of Egypt: Conjuring the Land of the Pharaohs, created by Associate Professor Colleen Manassa and the staff of the Yale Peabody Museum is captured in these pages through illustrations of many of the almost 100 objects included. The entrance through New Haven's Grove Street Cemetery sets the scene for a celebration of Egyptian-inspired designs through the ages. We discover how hieroglyphs were decoded and relive the mid-nineteenth century fascination with Egyptian mummies represented by the recreation of a mummy unwrapping. Finally we explore the symbols associated with the supposed origins of magic and alchemy in the ancient Nile Valley.

This unique exhibition highlights the breadth of Yale's remarkable collections – not just those of the Peabody, but also paintings, books and objects from elsewhere on campus. I am very grateful to everyone, not least our sponsors and other institutions who have loaned objects, for making this spectacular endeavor possible.

Derek E.G. Briggs

G. Evelyn Hutchinson Professor of Geology and Geophysics
Director, Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History