Artists Anne Armit and Kim Forrest, along with Peer Hargraves from Sputnik Architecture, in front of the recently-installed sarcophagus at the Manitoba Museum on Tuesday, October 15, 2013. The four-metre high sculpture is to promote the upcoming exhibit, ‘WRAPPED: The Mummy of Pesed.’ (STAN MILOSEVIC / CHRISD.CA FILE)
A new exhibit set to open at the Manitoba Museum on Friday will take visitors back to the mummy era.
WRAPPED: The Mummy of Pesed features the first real mummy to be seen in the city in 45 years, and includes more than 60 ancient Egyptian antiquities, CT scans and forensic facial reconstructions of Egyptian mummies. The exhibit tells the story of the Western fascination with mummies over the last 400 years.
“The exhibit is about trying to discover why we’re fascinated with Egypt and mummies,” said Dr. Jonathan Elias, the Pennsylvania-based curator and researcher of the exhibit. “In coming to the exhibit, I hope the public will get involved in the same quest, to find out why they might have an abiding interest in ancient Egypt and mummies.”
The highlight of the exhibit is the mummy of Pesed, who died sometime between 290 and 275 BC. Her name means the “Bright One” or “the Shining One” and she was the daughter of a priest named Neshor.
To help promote the exhibit, the museum also commissioned local artists to create a four-metre high sarcophagus (above), which was installed on the Main Street plaza earlier this month.
Visit the museum’s website for hours and admission prices.
