BUFFALO, NY – The Buffalo Museum of Science today announced that Golden Mummies of Egypt, a world-class touring exhibition of Egyptological treasures, will launch an international tour with its first stop and U.S. premiere scheduled for Buffalo. M&T Bank helped make the Buffalo engagement possible by signing on as the presenting sponsor.
Glittering gold and mysterious mummies are among Ancient Egypt’s most enduring attractions. For the first time, Manchester Museum, part of The University of Manchester in the U.K., is launching an international tour to share highlights of its rich Egyptian collection with the world.
Golden Mummies of Egypt examines hopes and fears about the afterlife when Egypt was part of the Greek and Roman worlds (c. 300 BC-200 AD). Wealthy members of this multicultural society still hoped for their dead to be transformed by the expensive process of mummification. By being covered in gold, the deceased might imitate the eternal radiance of the gods themselves.
“Using our superb collection from Graeco-Roman Egypt, the exhibition is a wonderful chance to question why the Greeks and Romans were so fascinated with the Egyptian way of death, and why we are still spellbound today,” says Dr. Campbell Price, Exhibition Curator and Curator of Egypt and Sudan at Manchester Museum, part of The University of Manchester.
“The people of Western New York deserve world-class science and cultural experiences, and we are honored and excited to be the debuting venue for this rich and fascinating touring exhibition,” says Buffalo Museum of Science president and CEO, Marisa Wigglesworth. “We’re grateful for the generous support of our longtime partner M&T Bank for their help in bringing this experience to Buffalo.”
“We’re thrilled to make this unique cultural experience accessible to our customers and the community,” said Joe Lombardo, M&T Bank senior vice president of consumer banking and Buffalo Museum of Science board member. “The arts have the power to connect people and help local economies thrive, which is why we invest deeply in our local cultural institutions.”
In partnership with Nomad Exhibitions, the tour consists of over 100 key objects from the Manchester Museum collection, including eight mummies, as well as masks, coffins, jewelry and sculpture. Blending Egyptian, Roman and Greek imagery, the strikingly lifelike painted mummy portraits are among the most haunting images from the Ancient World. Examining the meanings of these objects for their original viewers, the exhibition reflects on the diverse influences of identity formation.
The University of Manchester has led research on Egyptian mummies for over a century, having acquired thousands of objects from archaeological excavations. The exhibition’s innovative visualization technology brings CT scans to life, but also questions why we are fascinated by mummies, what they might tell us about ourselves and the colonial context of their acquisition.
Golden Mummies of Egypt opens February 8, 2020, at the Buffalo Museum of Science. Presale tickets will be available at sciencebuff.org on December 2, just in time for the holidays.
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ABOUT THE BUFFALO MUSEUM OF SCIENCE
Rooted in the belief that science creates opportunities and shapes our world, the Buffalo Museum of Science is a non-profit educational institution dedicated to providing relevant science programming to learners of all ages in the Buffalo Niagara region. Through interactive science studios and exhibits designed for multi-generational learning, the Museum showcases its extensive collection of more than 700,000 specimens and artifacts representing all facets of the natural world with an emphasis on Western New York. With a focus on raising the science literacy in the Buffalo Niagara area and beyond, the Museum offers hands-on workshops, camps, panel discussions, guided tours and enhance learning opportunities for its guests and community. Opened in 1929 in Buffalo’s Olmsted-designed Martin Luther King, Jr. Park, the Museum recently installed its eighth interactive science studio marking the completion of the Museum’s 9-year-long transformation of its guest experience. The Buffalo Museum of Science is governed by the Buffalo Society of Natural Sciences alongside Tifft Nature Preserve in South Buffalo, a 264-acre urban wetland preserve on reclaimed former industrial land. Learn more at www.sciencebuff.org.
ABOUT MANCHESTER MUSEUM
Manchester Museum, part of The University of Manchester, first opened in 1890. It is the UK’s largest university museum with a collection of about 4.5 million items from every continent. Its combination of the academic and the popular is what makes the museum so distinctive and lies at the heart of its widespread appeal. The Museum’s vision is to build understanding between cultures and a sustainable world. Every year over half a million people visit. Over the next three years, Manchester Museum is working towards an exciting new £13.5 million project hello future, to transform and develop the museum becoming more inclusive, imaginative and relevant to the diverse communities it serves.
The museum will remain partially open during this time and in 2021 will become a bigger, more inclusive and more wondrous Manchester Museum.
The hello future transformation includes:
- A new Exhibition Hall
- South Asia Gallery
- Lee Kai Hung Chinese Culture Gallery
- World’s first Centre of Age Friendly Culture
- New entrance and visitor facilities with focus on inclusive and accessible design
ABOUT NOMAD EXHIBITIONS
Award-winning UK-based company Nomad Exhibitions specializes in the design, production and management of engaging and experiential temporary, touring and permanent interpretive exhibitions for museums and cultural venues worldwide. With their experienced team of curatorial, design, and construction experts, they work in partnership with museums and cultural venues to create unique exhibition concepts, design outstanding galleries and bring these ideas to life through expert construction and installation management.
