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The exposure Ramses II et l’or des pharaons (Ramses II and the Gold of the Pharaohs), about one of the main pharaohs in history, opens its doors this Friday (7), in Paris. The main piece on display is the sarcophagus that protected the mummy of the leader for 2,900 years, who comes to France for the second time.
The exhibition comprises 180 original pieces. Some of the relics on display leave Egypt for the first time and are among the most precious in the world, such as the Treasury of Tanis and a statue of Khafre – pharaoh of the IV dynasty during the Old Kingdom – the oldest work in pure gold offered to the king, which shows the talent of the Egyptian goldsmiths of the time.
The treasure also has a gold necklace and inlaid stones that form the name of Psusenes I, third pharaoh of the 21st Dynasty of Egypt during the Third Intermediate Period. The piece weighs over 8 kilos and is made up of almost 5,000 rings in 5 rows forming a chain decorated with small bells.
Jewels, mummies and furniture from undisturbed tombs in the city of Tanis are also part of the exhibition, which also features an immersive virtual reality experience.
The sarcophagus arrives directly from San Francisco, in the United States, the previous stage of the traveling exhibition, and thenGo to Sydney, Australia. A The piece features a drawing of the king with his arms crossed over his chest, holding a heqa scepter and the nekhakha whip, on his head a scarf and crown decorated with a serpent and a fake beard braided on his chin.
More than Tutankhamun
The exhibition runs until September 6 at the Grande Halle de La Villette, a cultural center in the west of the French capital. More than 145,000 tickets have already been sold for the exhibition even before it opens, according to the World Heritage Exhibitions, which organizes the event. A number higher than the Tutankhamun exhibition, visited by 1.4 million people in 2019, which had sold 120,000 at the time of opening.
France is the only country in Europe to receive the pieces and the only one to receive the sarcophagus of Ramses II, without the mummy, thanks to an unprecedented cooperation between the country and Egypt.
“In Egypt we have 250 foreign (archaeological) missions from 25 countries. The most numerous, 54, are French,” explained Mostafa Waziri, secretary general of Egypt’s Supreme Council of Antiquities, during a press conference.
The exhibition highlights the life and work of Ramses II, called the “king of kings” and sometimes the “Sun King”, one of the most powerful pharaohs, who reigned the longest, 66 years, of the 19th dynasty. He married Nefertari, known as “the most beautiful woman in the world”, and had a large family, with 50 sons and 60 daughters, according to historians.
For 47 years the sarcophagus has not been to Paris. France has the privilege of exposing it because it “saved” the pharaoh.
State visit of the mummy of Ramses to France
Ramses’ mummy came to France in 1976, on its only trip outside Egypt, to be treated for a fungus. After managing to “save” the pharaoh’s remains, relations between the two countries strengthened.
Upon its arrival in the country in the 1970s, the pharaoh’s mummy was entitled to a reception worthy of heads of state, with a red carpet, the presence of the Republican Guard on the runway and various political personalities.
At the time, French President Valéry Giscard d’Estaing convinced Egyptian head of state Anouar el-Sadate to let the mummy leave Egypt, promising him that the relic would be received “like a sovereign”.
The mummy of Ramses, who died aged over 90, around 1213 BC, was found in good condition in 1881, but later its conditions began to deteriorate due to the presence of fungi and parasites and needed repairs. Experts from the Museum of Man in Paris were chosen to carry out the work.
The arrival of the pharaoh’s remains in Paris was a unique case, as Egypt has a law that prohibits the departure of royal mummies from the country. At the time, an exhibition about Ramses was held at the same time at the Grand Palais and welcomed 360,000 visitors. After eight months of intensive treatment with gamma rays, the pharaoh returned to the Cairo museum on May 10, 1977.