Sunken Cities: Egypt’s Lost Worlds

Beautiful exhibition at the British Museum looking at finds from underwater excavations at the ancient Egyptian cities of Heracleion and Canopus.

This was a visually stunning show. I loved the low slightly rippling lighting and the gentle soundscape of water. It was good that the show put the objects into context but at times this was a bit heavy handed. It was a shame they had to use items from other places to make some of the points and I wasn’t sure we needed the whole story of the myth of Osiris.

However that said there were a couple of the most stunning objects I’d ever seen. I just loved the statue of Arsinoe II, a Greek influenced statue of the Queen rising from the water with the finest drapes clinging to her body. I was also knocked out by the life sized sculpture of a bull, although that was from a different site.

I was amazed by a wooden statue from 2000BC which still had traces of painting on it. The carving was so fresh. Also the waste from a scarab factory with the small moulds for making amulets.

Most sweet though was a mummy case shaped like a mongoose with its little paws raised in prayer.

Closes on 27 November 2016.

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