Exhibition: Cleopatra at the Franklin Institute

Art Daily

With a lovely photo of a diver and a sphinx face to face.

The world of Cleopatra, which has been lost to the sea and sand for nearly 2,000 years, will surface in a new exhibition, “Cleopatra: The Search for the Last Queen of Egypt,” making its world premiere in June 2010 at The Franklin Institute in Philadelphia. Organized by National Geographic and Arts and Exhibitions International, with cooperation from the Egyptian Supreme Council of Antiquities and the European Institute for Underwater Archaeology (IEASM), the exhibition will feature more than 250 artifacts, and take visitors inside the present-day search for Cleopatra, which extends from the sands of Egypt to the depths of the Bay of Aboukir near Alexandria.

The exhibition about the legendary queen, who remains one of history’s greatest enigmas, debuting at The Franklin Institute from June 5, 2010 – January 2, 2011, will travel to five North American cities. The Franklin Institute hosted “Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs,” developed by the same organizers, which became the most attended touring museum exhibition in the world in 2007 after drawing more than 1.3 million visitors.