Egyptian Museum
This museum was inaugurated in 1824, 34 years before its equivalent in Cairo and is one of the most interesting places to visit as part of a tour in Turin.
Drovetti Bernardino, a Piedmontese who transferred to France after the end of Napoleon’s occupation of the Piedmont, was in 1814 appointed French consul in Egypt. During his stay he managed to put together a unique collection of Egyptian antiquities that he sold to the Savoy court.
This collection was later on developed through acquisitions, donations and the results of successive expeditions to Egypt. Now, the collection of the museum consists of about 30.000 items.
One of the main themes of the actual collection of the Egyptian Museum in Turin is the so-called "cult of the dead", widespread in ancient Egypt. As example, the museum displays "Books of the Dead", which were put in the coffins and served as assistance and support to those who made the transition from "this world into another world."
These books contain a detailed description of "Psihostazii", the phase where the life of an individual was assessed and his soul weighted.
Through the different collections we can discover the evolution of the religious aspects of the Egyptian culture along the different ages, which adopted a wide range of expressions with deities resembling to both human and animal beings.
Jean-François Champollion, the Frenchman teacher who deciphered in the 19th century for the first time the mysteries of Egyptian hieroglyphics, was one of the many specialists to visit the Museum.
The Museum has been recently renovated displaying in an entertaining and engaging way sphinxes, sarcophagus, statuettes, instruments of daily use, divinities and other curiosities related to the different periods and dynasties of ancient Egypt.
