Sunday, May 18, 2008

Mummies come to Birmingham (UK)

The Birmingham Post (George Kotschy)

With photograph. This is quite interesting in the context of the discussions currently fermenting gently over at the Manchester Museum, where there are now 53 comments in response to the issue of covering the mummies.

Birmingham's residents will be given a once in a lifetime opportunity on Saturday when the 'Meet the Mummies' exhibition calls at the Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery.

The museum is able to offer visitors the opportunity to see Egyptian mummies up close, because of the redevelopment of the gallery, due to be finished in September.

Simon Cane, Head of Conservation at the museum, said that it was the first the museum has offered visitors such a chance:

"We usually do the conservation every 10 or 20 years. We don't usually get this much time but, because we've been redeveloping the gallery with the mummies out, we thought we'd offer this chance while we can."

The conservation is done to prevent the mummies from deteriorating, which they do when taken away from the climate of the desert.

The exhibition, which is only on for one day, will open at 10:30am and will be free of charge.

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