The Queens of Egypt Exhibition

Promotional Image by National Geographic

The Queens of Egypt exhibition is an event hosted by the National Geographic museum in Washington DC and is being hosted until September 15, 2019. The exhibition shows off many artifacts found from many of the New Kingdom Egyptian queens such as Nefertiti, Cleopatra. Hatshepsut, and at the center of the exhibition Nefertari. The exhibition holds over 300 objects and artifacts on loan from various museums, archives, and private collections. These artifacts include massive 3ton granite statues, jewelry worn by wealthy individuals or royal families, pots, stone tablets, and even papyrus sheets with plans and records. There are many things that immediately grab your attention as you walk through the exhibit such as the bust of Queen Nefertiti, the giant rose granite sarcophagus lid that belonged to queen Nefertari, and the many sarcophagi that are laid out in such a fashion that it shows off how these burial devices were used and the different layers that they contain.

An example of one of the Sarcophagus with the contents laid out (image credit: The Washington Post)

A great thing about this exhibition is the interaction that guests can have when walking through the exhibit, this gives a very immersive feel and it is not often that museums guests get to use other senses when going through these kinds of exhibits. An example of this would be the jars that guests are allowed to open and smell the different types of perfumes that the queens wore or enjoyed. On top of that there is a 3d virtual area that allows guests to see the tomb of Nefertari without having to travel all the way to Egypt.

Bust of queen Nefertiti along with other artifacts and information (image credit: The Washington Post)

The overall experience that this exhibition was great, everything was very well laid out and easy to get a good look at from different angles along with the exhibition area being large enough to accommodate a large amount of people. I was able to learn much of how the queens of Egypt ruled along with insight to the lives of the common people that kept this civilization running thanks to the records kept on various artifacts. I would greatly recommend this exhibition to anyone that has any interest in Ancient Egypt or anyone that enjoys museums.




Citations

(Images)
Jenkins, M. (2019, March 07). Cleopatra and Nefertiti you know. But the 'Queens of Egypt' exhibition will blow you away with someone you've never heard of. Retrieved from https://www.washingtonpost.com/goingoutguide/museums/cleopatra-and-nefertiti-you-know-but-the-queens-of-egypt-exhibition-will-blow-you-away-with-someone-youve-never-heard-of/2019/03/07/59679fca-3cf8-11e9-aaae-69364b2ed137_story.html?noredirect=on

(Title Image)
National Geographic Society. (n.d.). Queens of Egypt. Retrieved from https://www.nationalgeographic.org/events/exhibition/queens-egypt/