Exhibition: Temples and Tombs

Fayetteville Observer (Melissa Clement)

I always like to see traveling exhibitions receiving new plaudits. Here's another enthusiastic reaction to Temples and Tombs. The page is taking quite a long time to load, but it gets there in the end. There's a rather nice photo of the statue of Nekhthorheb, kneeling. The exhibition is only at the North Carolina Museum of Art until 8th July, after which it goes to Oklahoma City Museum of Art, where it opens on the 8th September (with lots of events organized around it).

Ancient Egyptians loved life with such passion that they wanted to live forever. They packed their tombs with objects they believed would be necessary in the afterlife. On view at the North Carolina Museum of Art are 85 objects from 3,000 years of Egyptian history in “Temples and Tombs, Treasures of Egyptian Art from the British Museum.’’

I’ve visited Egypt up and down the Nile, seen the Egyptian Museum in Cairo in all it’s splendor, and exhibitions in this country. But I have never gotten the sense that the ancient Egyptians were actually living, breathing people who had to learn their crafts. It seemed more like they were born artists, craftsmen, warriors and godlike kings.

In this show, you see the grandeur of ancient Egypt, but also catch a glimpse of the the real, flesh and blood ancient Egyptians.