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Description
The limited number of Egyptologists around the world (not exceeding 100) reflects to a certain extent the rarity of collections. However, Egyptian artifacts are a major point of interest for both the general public and the specialized one, and we must use the support of experts for their valorization. At the beginning of the 20th century the Transylvanian Museum in Cluj received donations that contributed to the creation of an important Egyptian collection. The Egyptian collection consists mainly of votive and funeral objects, the most important piece representing a human mummy deposited in a painted wooden sarcophagus from Gamhud (Egypt). The general objective of the project is to improve the cultural management of the institution by implementing a project with international collaboration, resulting in an exhibition. Specific objectives are the preservation and restoration of the Egyptian collection, as well as its enhancement through the creation of a modern exhibition, integrated both visually and informationally in the gallery of international exhibitions dedicated to this theme. Another specific objective is to improve museographers, restorers, conservators by working with specialists from the Museum of Fine Arts and the Faculty of Fine Arts in Budapest. Also among the specific objectives is the improvement of the museum-public relation, the interest of which will be stimulated besides the exhibition itself, by organizing interactive activities for the young public, composed mainly of pupils, as well as cultural events addressed to a public composed by specialists.
Summary of project results
The preservation and restoration of the Egyptian collection, improvement of the cultural management of the institution by implementing a project with international collaboration, resulting in an exhibition.
As part of the project, 49 mobile cultural assets from the Egyptian collection belonging to the PP were restored and displayed in an exhibition. The main movable cultural asset restored was the painted sarcophagus with a human mummy, donated by the businessman Bakk Fülöp, originally from Budapest, who owned an important business in Cairo, which allowed him to finance the Hungarian archaeological mission in Egypt from the beginning 20th century. The 49 restored cultural goods were displayed in an exhibition that was visited by 2620 visitors.
Also, 5 professionals developed their skills/expertise on the job, benefiting from non-formal professional training through study visits to several cultural institutions in Budapest: Egyptian Exhibition of the Museum of Fine Arts, Library of the Department of Egyptology, National Center for Restoration and Conservation. In addition, 7 museum workshops were carried out with two themes, namely "The Ornaments of Ancient Egypt" and The Secret of the Pyramid, attended by young students.
The benefits generated by the project target both the institution that implemented the project and the general public. At the institutional level, five members of the team benefited from specialization in the fields of conservation and restoration, as well as museology. The results of the project include 49 preserved/restored cultural assets, a modern, interactive exhibition equipped with high-performance media equipment, a scientific catalog in English, intended for distribution to specialists and specialized institutions (libraries, universities, research institutes) in the country and from abroad, as well as a documentary film. All these deliverables are of general benefit to the public, but also to the national and international scientific community.
Each salvaged object was investigated in detail, with medical imaging investigations (CT, X-rays) carried out on the mummies, physical-chemical investigations on the pigments used to make the paintings, XRF spectrometry, but also investigations through macrophotographs of some samples. The national and international collaboration led to the creation of relations between specialists and specialized institutions, this materializing in an international workshop organized during the development of the project in Cluj-Napoca. The collaborations with restorers, Egyptologists, chemists, veterinarians, engineers, architects, designers, museographers, biologists, geologists, anthropologists, film producers, etc. are worth mentioning. A rich photo archive of the collection was created, and some objects were scanned in 3D. As for the bibliography in the field of Egyptian culture accessible within the institution, it has been substantially enriched with numerous sources from the specialized literature, in electronic format.