Description
The Egyptian Museum of Turin is housed in the 17th-century palace of the Academy of Sciences, the work of Guarino Guarini, and holds over 40,000 artifacts from ancient Egypt, from the Paleolithic to the Coptic era. Founded in 1824, it is the oldest museum in the world devoted entirely to Egypt.
It is a visit for anyone who loves archaeology, but also for those who have never thought about it: the route, on five floors, is chronological and follows the story of the pharaohs and of everyday life. In 2015 the museum was renewed and its exhibition space more than doubled, with a design by Dante Ferretti.
Among the best-loved pieces is the tomb of Kha and Merit, discovered by Ernesto Schiaparelli in 1906: an Egyptian couple accompanied by their grave goods, with the objects of daily use for the afterlife.
The Statue Gallery brings together pharaohs and gods in stone, including the statue of Seti II, which weighs five tons. The temple of Ellesiya, carved into the rock, was saved from the waters of Lake Nasser and is now displayed in the museum.
Among the papyri, the Turin King List is one of the most important sources on the sequence of Egyptian rulers, and the Book of the Dead of Iuefankh is more than 18 meters long. There are also twenty-four human mummies and seventeen animal ones.
A Piedmontese in Napoleon's service gathers thousands of statues, mummies and papyri in Egypt. He tries to sell them to France, which says no. So he offers them to the King of Sardinia. He was the consul Bernardino Drovetti, and in 1824 Charles Felix bought everything for 400,000 lire.
That is how the world's first Egyptian museum was born. When the crates reached Turin, a special guest was there to open them: Jean-François Champollion, the man who had deciphered the hieroglyphs.
The Savoys' passion for Egypt had begun earlier, with a bronze tablet, the Mensa Isiaca, which Charles Emmanuel I bought in 1628. From 1894 the director Ernesto Schiaparelli personally led at least fifteen excavation campaigns, and the collections grew to today's numbers.
Don't miss
• The tomb of Kha and Merit.
• The Statue Gallery.
• The temple of Ellesiya.
• The Turin King List.
Did you know?
• In 2022 the museum opened a botanical garden with the flora of ancient Egypt, free to visit.
• The first core of the collection was a bronze tablet, the Mensa Isiaca, which arrived in Turin around 1630: scholars have not left it alone since.
It is a visit for anyone who loves archaeology, but also for those who have never thought about it: the route, on five floors, is chronological and follows the story of the pharaohs and of everyday life. In 2015 the museum was renewed and its exhibition space more than doubled, with a design by Dante Ferretti.
Among the best-loved pieces is the tomb of Kha and Merit, discovered by Ernesto Schiaparelli in 1906: an Egyptian couple accompanied by their grave goods, with the objects of daily use for the afterlife.
The Statue Gallery brings together pharaohs and gods in stone, including the statue of Seti II, which weighs five tons. The temple of Ellesiya, carved into the rock, was saved from the waters of Lake Nasser and is now displayed in the museum.
Among the papyri, the Turin King List is one of the most important sources on the sequence of Egyptian rulers, and the Book of the Dead of Iuefankh is more than 18 meters long. There are also twenty-four human mummies and seventeen animal ones.
A Piedmontese in Napoleon's service gathers thousands of statues, mummies and papyri in Egypt. He tries to sell them to France, which says no. So he offers them to the King of Sardinia. He was the consul Bernardino Drovetti, and in 1824 Charles Felix bought everything for 400,000 lire.
That is how the world's first Egyptian museum was born. When the crates reached Turin, a special guest was there to open them: Jean-François Champollion, the man who had deciphered the hieroglyphs.
The Savoys' passion for Egypt had begun earlier, with a bronze tablet, the Mensa Isiaca, which Charles Emmanuel I bought in 1628. From 1894 the director Ernesto Schiaparelli personally led at least fifteen excavation campaigns, and the collections grew to today's numbers.
Don't miss
• The tomb of Kha and Merit.
• The Statue Gallery.
• The temple of Ellesiya.
• The Turin King List.
Did you know?
• In 2022 the museum opened a botanical garden with the flora of ancient Egypt, free to visit.
• The first core of the collection was a bronze tablet, the Mensa Isiaca, which arrived in Turin around 1630: scholars have not left it alone since.