Swansea's museum of Egyptian antiquities, the Egypt Centre, is set to welcome an additional 700 rare ancient artefacts to its collection - and some are 3,000 years old. The Centre, based in the Taliesin building on Swansea University's Singleton Campus, will be the new home for hundreds of items on loan from Harrogate Museums for the next three years - including a 2,800-year-old coffin, a one-of-its-kind Anubis mask and a large collection of pottery and small Egyptian figurines.
And as well as going on display, the items will be "properly researched and documented" for the first time by experts and students from the University's Department of Egyptology.
The loan came about after Egypt Centre volunteer and former Swansea University graduate Sam Powell visited Harrogate Museum as part of her PhD research on wooden tomb figures. While discussing the Egypt Centre collection, the curators at Harrogate saw an opportunity for their collection to undergo research by experts in Swansea. You can get the biggest Swansea news stories straight to your inbox with our newsletter, and for more stories about Swansea University, go here.
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"The Harrogate loan is a major coup and reflects Swansea University’s position as a leading institution for Egyptological research," said curator of the Egypt Centre, Dr Ken Griffin. "Having the collection here will allow us to refresh the Egypt Centre’s displays, while also making the objects available to researchers from across the globe. And, in the year that the Egypt Centre celebrates its 25th anniversary, it is rather fitting that this loan is taking place now."
Lecturer in Egyptian Material Culture at Swansea University, Christian Knoblauch added: "This loan is a hugely important addition to our Egyptology provision and training and will further cement Swansea’s unique status at the centre of Welsh Egyptology. It will provide our students with new opportunities for the type of object-based teaching that we are championing here at Swansea.
"It is especially exciting as much of the collection has not yet been systematically studied so it will also open up opportunities for new collaborations leading to original research. “It is an honour and privilege to receive this loan and is an excellent example of the University collaborating with regional museums to increase accessibility and awareness of local collections."
In a blog post on the Egypt Centre website, staff give an insight into what visitors to the Egypt Centre can expect from the new items to their collection. They wrote: "The material is quite diverse and includes stelae, statues, pottery, stone vessels, shabtis, amulets, canopic jars, a coffin, funerary cones (something we have no examples of at the Egypt Centre), mummy masks, jewellery, papyrus, copper alloy votive statues, maceheads, terracotta figures, and many more object types.
"There is even a number of Etruscan mirrors (much to the excitement of our ancient historians at Swansea) and a large collection of cuneiform tablets, bricks, and cylinder seals! Perhaps the most famous object is the famous Anubis mask, which can be traced back to the 1907 sale of Robert de Rustafjaell."
While in Swansea, the collection of artefacts will be showcased in three temporary exhibitions at the Egypt Centre as well as an online platform, so people around the world can see the items and learn about them. The Egypt Centre is open to the public from 10am to 4pm, Tuesdays to Saturdays.
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