Museo Egizio Egyptian relics exhibited in Chinese cities

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The famous Egyptian Museum in the Italian city Turin, the Museo Egizio, brings more than two hundreds of its relics on a tour of Chinese cities. Some of these items have never even been shown in Turin.

The exhibition is located in north China’s Shanxi Province and is amazing the large crowds with its mysterious mummies and magnificent statues from the land of the Pharaohs.

A group of small burial statues, who were supposed to do the labor work for the deceased in the afterlife. /CGTN Photo

Under the theme "Egypt-House of Eternity," the exhibition reveals the daily lives of ancient Egyptians, their multiple gods and their religious beliefs in the afterlife.

Many of the relics on display date back to 3,000 to 4,000 years ago, including statues, mummies, coffins, burial objects, stone tablets and wall carvings. Two human mummies are on display with a video that uses modern technology to show what the inside of the preserved body looks like.

A human mummy shrouded with linen and covered by a net made of pottery. /CGTN Photo

Ni Yan, a visitor to the exhibition, told CGTN, “This human mummy is really different from what I’ve seen in movies. It’s amazing.”

Some animal mummies are also on display, including cats, a crocodile and a fish. Two statues of the goddess Sekhmet from Karnak Temple and a Book of the Dead are making their world debuts on this China tour.

Cat mummies were made for religious reasons and sometimes served as offerings for gods in ancient Egypt. /CGTN Photo

Two statues of the goddess Sekhmet. /CGTN Photo

Museum officials say the exhibition is one of the most popular in recent years, bringing in nearly 200,000 visitors since it started in mid-April.

Yu Jianjun, another visitor, couldn’t help but take lots of pictures of the items on display. He said, “I think the exhibition was arranged very well. The atmosphere here brings you back to the era of ancient Egypt. I can’t take my eyes off every item here.”

A wooden coffin with its lid hanging over it. /CGTN Photo

The exhibition is free to the public. And by scanning a QR code, visitors can also get a free audio guide on their mobile phones.

Yao Xiang, a senior guide in the Shanxi Museum, told CGTN, “From our audio guide data, we’ve found that the human and animal mummies, large stone statues, the Book of the Dead and female cosmetics are attracting the most attention from the visitors.”

The lid of a wooden coffin. The hole under the chin was used to insert in the part of the beard, which suggests this coffin was made for a male. /CGTN Photo

The exhibition will stay in Shanxi Museum until late June. It will then travel to Liaoning, Hunan and Guangdong Provinces.