The New Orleans Museum of Art in city park is displaying Egyptian artifacts dating back as far as 4,000 years in an exhibit called “The Quest for Immortality: Treasures of Ancient Egypt.”
The presentation, which runs through Feb. 25, shows pieces of art that display the ancient Egyptians’ belief in the promise of a glorious rebirth after death.
Extraordinary antiquities include gold masks, jewelry, extravagantly decorated coffins and monumental sculptures that have never been seen before outside of Egypt.
A personal listening device tells the date and significance of more than 140 works of art.
According to the exhibit, ancient Egyptians believed that after they died, they would take a grueling journey with the sun god, who was believed to die at night, through the afterlife to be born again back on Earth.
They buried their dead inside tombs with scribes to tell of the journey and wood pieces to help the dead through the voyage.
A life-sized tomb with hand-painted hieroglyphics that tell the tales is included in the show along with artifacts such as a wooden boat from King Amenhotep II’s tomb, used to guide him down the Nile River in the afterlife.
To complete the mummification process, the body was adorned with jewelry that the ancient Egyptians believed to be magic.
Tanya Rawal, an English sophomore, was there to learn about the rich history of Egypt and its belief systems.
“I liked the unique beadwork on the necklaces,” Rawal said. “I would probably wear some of that stuff today.”
The exhibit also displays a mummy owned by Tulane University, unwrapped and revealed after an extensive 1997 anatomical study, allowing the use of radiographs and computerized tomography scans to look inside the body without damaging it.
A part of the presentation gives the findings and X-rays of the mummy and tells its gender and approximate age of death.
The New Orleans Museum of Art has a legacy of big exhibitions, including the legendary King Tutankhamun, displayed in the 1970s.
According to museum spokeswoman Eloise Chopin, it was not easy to pull together, but the exhibition has done wonders for New Orleans tourism and economy.
“We’ve been working on it for years, trying to get the pieces here and install them, and hand-paint the realistic tomb of Thutmose III,” Chopin said.
The tomb room is an exact replica – oval shaped with the entire wall covered in writing detailing the voyage of the dead pharaoh with the sun god through the 12 hours of the night.
The New Orleans Museum of Art is the only museum in the region to present “The Quest for Immortality,” and tickets are available through the museum and Ticketmaster.