Art Treasures from the Museo Egizio

A guide to the Museo Egizio in Turin, with seventy Egyptian masterpieces.

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The book illustrates the exceptional collections in the only museum in the world, apart from the one in Cairo, devoted exclusively to Egyptian art and culture. The famous phrase the route to Memphis and Thebes passes by Turin was written by Champollion when he came to Turin in 1824. The Museo Egizio was formally instituted in 1824, with the acquisition by King Carlo Felice of a large collection of more than 5,000 objects belonging to Italian diplomat Bernardino Drovetti. King Carlo then went on to commission the professor of botany, Vitaliano Donati, to acquire further objects from Egypt. This guide presents seventy highlights from the collections: a selection that chronologically covers the period fully. Royal and private funerary and votive monuments illustrate evolutions in style in ancient Egypt.