The Paper has learned that on February 25, 2024 local time in Egypt, Chu Xiaobo, Director of the Shanghai Museum, and Mustafa Wozri, Secretary-General of Egypt’s Supreme Council of Cultural Relics, discussed the 2024 Ancient Egyptian Civilization Exhibition jointly prepared by both parties in Cairo, the capital of Egypt. An agreement signing ceremony was held. It is reported that the exhibition is the world's largest and Asia's highest-level export exhibition of ancient Egyptian cultural relics in history. It will include 787 cultural relics from different periods of ancient Egyptian civilization selected from many Egyptian museums, and will be on display for more than one year. The exhibition strives to reveal the ancient Egyptian civilization to the audience and announce the latest archaeological discoveries and research results of ancient Egypt.

After a year-long exchange and negotiation, the Egyptian Supreme Council of Antiquities and the Shanghai Museum decided to jointly organize the "Top of the Pyramid: Ancient Egyptian Civilization Exhibition". The exhibition will be held from July 19, 2024 to August 17, 2025. Presented at the Shanghai Museum People's Square building.

Mustafa Wozri introduced that this exhibition includes 787 cultural relics from different periods of ancient Egyptian civilization. These cultural relics are selected from many Egyptian museums, including the Egyptian National Museum, Manyyar Palace Museum, Luxor Museum, Ismailia Museum, Suez Museum, etc. In addition, a group of the latest excavation results obtained by the Egyptian Supreme Council of Antiquities archaeological team in the Saqqara area will be presented in the exhibition.

egyptian national museum

Director of Shanghai Museum Chu Xiaobo and Secretary-General of Egypt’s Supreme Council of Cultural Relics Mustafa Wozri signed an agreement for the exhibition of ancient Egyptian civilization.

Moamen Mohammed Osman, head of the Museum Department of the Supreme Council of Antiquities of Egypt, said that the key exhibits in the exhibition will include statues of pharaohs such as Tutankhamen, Amenemhet III and Ramses II in complete sets. Mummy coffins, the Queen's gold jewelry, and newly discovered painted wooden coffins, animal mummies and statues in the Saqqara area. More than 95% of the cultural relics have come to Asia for the first time, and the exhibition will last for more than a year.

As the world's largest and Asia's highest-level export exhibition of ancient Egyptian cultural relics in history, the exhibition will unfold independent narratives through three themes: "The Kingdom of the Pharaohs", "The Secret of Saqqara" and "The World of Tutankhamun", and interpret them from different angles. The profound connotation of ancient Egyptian civilization.

Saqqara archaeological site

Three Great Pyramids of Giza, Egypt

"The Kingdom of the Pharaohs" will tell a condensed general history of ancient Egyptian civilization, and select a number of ancient Chinese cultural relics for comparison and display to show the diversity and commonality of human civilization. "Secrets of Saqqara" focuses on the top ten archaeological discoveries in the world in 2020 - the painted wooden coffins, animal mummies and cat temple ruins unearthed in Saqqara. It is the first time to systematically publish the results obtained by the Egyptian archaeological team's independent archaeological work in the area in the past ten years. A major discovery, this will also be the world's first exhibition to reveal the secrets of Saqqara. "The World of Tutankhamun" takes Pharaoh Tutankhamun as a clue to explore the social changes and belief changes of his era.

By then, the Shanghai Museum will renovate and open three exhibition halls on the first floor of the People's Square Pavilion for the exhibition. In the exhibition space with a total area of ​​3,000 square meters, it will create an immersive viewing experience for the audience through exhibition narrative, cultural relic display and digital technology. Exhibition experience.

Shanghai Museum stated that the signing of the exhibition agreement marks the official start of the first direct cooperation between a Chinese museum institution and the Egyptian government in the field of ancient civilization exhibitions. Chu Xiaobo, Director of the Shanghai Museum, said that this exhibition is the fourth major exhibition in the Shanghai Museum's "Dialogue with the World" cultural relics and art series, and it is also the largest special exhibition of the Shanghai Museum since its establishment in 1952. China and Egypt have a long-standing friendship and a long and splendid history. We hope to further promote exchanges and mutual learning among world civilizations through the exhibition. In the future, the two parties will maintain a good and close cooperative relationship and carry out more exchanges and cooperation.​

Key exhibits:

Tutankhamun statue

Head of a woman, possibly Nefertiti

mummy portrait

Gold necklace with lapis lazuli and blue lead glass beads

Painted humanoid wooden coffin

Statue of Amenhotep IV

Queen Akhotep's bracelet

(Illustrations and text for this article are provided by Shanghai Museum)