Marianne Brocklehurst and the West Park Museum, Macclesfield. Part 2
In part 1 I looked at how Marianne Brocklehurst acquired a collection of some 500 Ancient Egyptian objects during the three trips to Egypt that she records in her diary, cartoons, sketches and watercolours. In this section I look at the museum and the collection that Marianne and her brother Francis built for the benefit of the residents of Macclesfield in northwest England. [more…]
By Egyptologically Speaking ~ Dr. Carolyn Graves-Brown, on her work as curator of The Egypt Centre, University of Swansea, UK
The Egypt Centre at Swansea is quite unusual in the museum world in that we have a large percentage (almost a quarter) of our artefacts on display. By comparison, larger museums may only have between 2 and 4% of their collection on display. This is partly because we want to show as much as possible and partly because our display area can be environmentally controlled while the stores cannot. The funding for the new museum in the 1990s was for the display area and not for storage and hence the storage is not as good as we might like. The display area is thus partly ‘open storage’. I decide how the collection is displayed and what is displayed. Of course I do have bosses (curators are often low down in institutional hierarchies), but I am lucky in that I am allowed a lot of freedom. [more…]
The Egyptian items at the Lady Lever Art Gallery, Merseyside
To call William Hesketh Lever an entrepreneur or a visionary would be to pin him down, to imply a limit to the scope and depth both of his personality and his achievements. Lever was both these things, but he was so much else besides. He was a philanthropist, an innovator, a skilful salesman, a marketing genius, politician, eccentric, fanatic, occasionally a tyrant, even on occasion an inventor, a supporter of the rights of women, factory workers and the elderly, an enthusiastic ballroom dancer and always a family man. He made some grim mistakes, particularly with respect to his Pacific and African ventures, but his astonishing contributions to social progress in England are spectacularly praiseworthy, and he was knighted for them. Amongst his various extra-curricular obsessions, which included architecture, ferns and gymnastics, the 1st Viscount Leverhulme was a dedicated collector. [more…]
Maths made fun! Pharaoh’s Formulae: a fun approach to Egyptian Mathematics.
Published by Wendy Goodridge (Assistant Curator, the Egypt Centre) on Egyptological, In Brief, on 3rd August 2012. The Egypt Centre, at Swansea University, was faced with the threat of loosing school party visits when ancient Egyptian history was taken from the National Curriculum in Wales. The education programme was re-vamped, with advice from local […] [more…]
The new Ancient Egypt and Sudan galleries at the Ashmolean, Oxford
The Ashmolean Museum, a neoclassical edifice built by Sir Charles Cockerel in 1845, has invested both money and creativity in a refurbishment of the entire museum and art gallery. The effect, bright and open, a sympathetic blending of old architecture and new design, is inviting and attractive. The Ancient Egypt and Sudan galleries were the last to receive the modernization treatment. Costing over £5 million and designed by Richard Mather, they were re-opened in November 2011. [more…]
The Egyptian Collection of the Archaeological Museum of Zagreb and its Mummies
The Egyptian collection in the Archaeological museum in Zagreb currently has over 2,300 artifacts of Ancient Egypt, and is the largest and most complete collection of its kind in Croatia. The first acquisition, the Zagreb mummy, is still its most famous artifact today. It came to the museum in 1862, and remains the core of the collection. Another part of the collection was bought from a famous Roman junkman in Naples called Lancia (Tomorad 2003). Studies revealed that most items came from Luxor and the surrounding areas. [more…]
Edition - April, 2011
Book Review: Treasures of Ancient Egypt – From the Egyptian Museum in Cairo
Treasures of Ancient Egypt: From the Egyptian Museum in Cairo By Alessandro Bongioanni Paperback ISBN-13: 978-8854401853 For anyone planning to visit or re-visit the Egyptian Museum in Cairo this book is an invaluable resource and would make a good souvenir. The book has been produced to very high standards. The excellent photographs by Araldo De […] [more…]