Discovered on the life of Cleopatra, the last Queen of Egypt "
An exhibition
opening in the Franklin Institute has about 150 artifacts and focuses on the
research of discoveries about the life of Cleopatra.
The two statues
of red granite, each more than 16 meters high, registered the Franklin
Institute through the doors of a recent morning loading glass flown away on the
second floor. The great figure of a King went first, to rest in a box at the
top of a metal palette hoisted by a crane. It would also quickly next to an
Egyptian Queen, of the Ptolemaic era of Cleopatra-two monumental artifacts of
his mysterious universe.
The crew of a rig and several Egyptians – serving when their country antiques are in transit-worked quietly, pulling the images within them, unpack them.
It was a
difficult and delicate task, but much easier that it was able to pick up the
pieces of the dark depths off the coast of Alexandria, where a continuous excavation of
mythical proportions to provide a context for the enigmatic Cleopatra, the last
Pharaoh ofEgypt before it became a Roman province in 30 BC.
The images and
sounds of the project under water, as well as those of correspondents of the
excavations of the country, have been featured in "Cleopatra: the search
for the last Queen of Egypt," which opens Saturday and runs through
January 2, 2011. The exhibition of 18,000 square meters which will visit four
other North American cities, covers about 150 items ranging from parts to the
huge statues and a total of 30 tonnes.
Arts and
exhibitions international organized the show of 2007 Tutankhamun, which
attracted more than 1.3 million visitors to the Franklin Institute. AEI has
chosen to debut ' Cleopatra ' here because of this success and the scientific
discussion Institute: this is not a show for the Gallery, but a closer look at
the process that led to discoveries contemporary, and some believe, on the eve
of one of the most sought after of archaeology discoveries, the tomb of
Cleopatra and her lover Mark Antony.
Zahi Hawass,
Secretary General of the Egyptian Supreme Council for Antiquities and familiar
to viewers of documentaries about Egypt, said that the show the first
to focus on the search for the pair was.
He and Kathleen
Martinez, a Dominican archaeologist, began five years ago at Taposiris Magna
dig inside the temple
Abusir, West of
Alexandria. Inside was a small temple dedicated to the wife of Osiris, Isis, who said that Hawass was built when Cleopatra
reigned.
David Silverman
is the responsible curator of the Egyptian collection of the University of
Pennsylvania Museum of archaeology and anthropology, that is associated with
the Franklin Institute for this exhibition and offers a self-guided tour,
"AncientEgypt Pharaohs." On the deck of the Princess Duda, anchored
off the coast of Alexandria prior to the Palace of Cleopatra, yeah island on
which stood, said French diver and archaeologist Franck Goddio in a telephone
interview Tuesday that the excavation was far from over. Goddio, who assigned
the project began in 1991, electronic of the site from 1992 to 1996, then began
digging-improves the framework that his work is to help painting of the life of
the Queen and the time. But the discovery of images and their parts is often
patchy.
One morning last
week, underwater visibility can reach five feet. "You see an example of
this artifact, and discover the little by little," he said. Crew of Goddio
has found two buildings: the remains of Cleopatra's Palace and a small temple
dedicated to Isis.
Monday, Goddio
found a sculpture of bronze feet high at the site of the Temple of Isis.
His team still find elements of time of Cleopatra, and the slightest provides a
context; images of gods reveal the periods during which the artifacts were
made.
"It's not a
static exhibition," Dennis Wins, president and CEO of the Franklin
Institute said "Cleopatra". "This is an exhibition that will
focus on the process of exploration and discovery."
Hawass and his
crew's work is represented in terrestrial portions of the show. Within the main
entrance of the Temple
of Taposiris Magna, they
have found many pieces of images for sphinx, who said, could mean that the
entrance was lined with "a means for sphinx." Twenty-two coins were
found, with the face and the name of Cleopatra.
("I think
that the reason why people think Cleopatra was ugly because it was represented
with a big nose on the coins," Hawass said.) "But you can't really
know ... I don't think Cleopatra was ugly at all because the lady has won the
hearts of the two most powerful people on Earth, Julius Caesar and Mark Antony.
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