Many people would jump at the chance to see the pyramids in Egypt or the treasures of Tutenkhamen’s tomb. Just about anyone would if given the opportunity to see such wonders up close, but there’s always some excuse not to up and fly to the Middle East?school, work, geopolitical upheaval. If you share these sentiments, or even if you just never seem able to find a window of opportunity between major world conflicts, fear not?The National Gallery of Art has a solution.
The largest collection of Egyptian antiquities ever loaned by Egypt for showing in North America is currently on display in the National Gallery’s East Building. The exhibition, Quest for Immortality: Treasures of Ancient Egypt, is organized around ancient Egyptian concepts of the journey to the afterlife. Thus, the artifacts that are most typically associated with Egypt?the contents of the burial chambers of the pharaohs?are featured.
The first room contains various relief carvings found on the walls of a tomb. Knowing that the scope of this exhibition was unprecedented, one would expect something a little more staggering than what is immediately observable upon first enetering. More striking, however, is the Solar Boat, a large wooden model boat taken from the tomb of Amenhotep II. The ancient Egyptians believed that the objects placed in tombs, whether lifesize or scale models, would be useful to the deceased in their journey to immortality, and that the scenes painted on the tomb walls would actually come to be. The Solar Boat was the vehicle for a twelve-hour journey to the west bank of the Nile, after which the dead Pharoah would be reincarnated as the Sun God.
Also on the first floor is a colossal head of Ramses II (whom you might know from Prince of Egypt). He had more statues made of himself than any other Pharoah and even recarved the faces of existing statues (like this one) to look like his own. Apparently, being told that you are immortal your whole life leads to egomania.
This room leads to a winding staircase that opens to a dimly-lit chamber, as if in the heart of a real pyramid. Straight ahead stares a golden funeral mask, which gleams against the dark room and almost seems suspended in mid-air. The walls of the room are lined with displays of similar, but equally fascinating gold implements including earrings, pectorals and a pair of paper-thin gold slippers, not to mention the “toe stalls” to sheath the more delicate appendages of a decaying Pharoah’s body. It was believed that when the soul was reunited with the body after death, a gold substitute (such as a mask, finger or toe sheath) would be an adequate replacement for missing body parts.
The artifacts from this and the rooms located upstairs more than make up for the initially underwhelming impression of the exhibition: The coffins and sarcophagi are massive and truly worthy of their acclaim. Visitors are also encouraged to stop by the small theater for a 10-minute documentary on ancient Egyptian beliefs about the afterlife which explains some of the more obscure aspects of the exhibition.
The last room of the exhibition is similarly fantastic. Here, the completely reconstructed tomb of Thutmose III gives one the feeling of actually standing inside an excavated burial chamber in Egypt. The complete Anduat, the book that contains an hour-by-hour breakdown of the arduous journey to immortality, is depicted in hieroglyphics on the walls.
While flying to Egypt and seeing these treasures for yourself may be an impossibility, this impressive exhbit can take you to the reaches of immortality without the threat of being upheaved geopolitically.
Quest for Immortality: Treasures of Ancient Egypt is showing through Oct. 14 in the National Gallery of Art, Third Street and Constitution Avenue, N.W.
