Museum Outreach

Despite their seemingly secular location within numerous museums across the globe, ancient statues of the Egyptian goddess Sekhmet have become focal points of contemporary spiritual pilgrimages for those seeking knowledge of “Herstory” and the numinous. The purported experiences of Goddess devotees indicate the development of a canon of reception which regards museums as both educational resources and houses of the sacred. This article examines the intersection of contemporary Goddess Spirituality with museum exhibits featuring statues of Sekhmet, considering the implications of secular institutions housing artifacts deemed of sacred significance. It will conclude by outlining how the engagement of special interest groups, such as Goddess devotees, present specific concerns, as well as potential benefits to the heritage industry.

Keywords: Goddess Spirituality; contemporary Paganism; Sekhmet; ancient Egypt; museums

Annual Egyptological Colloquium 2018 – British Museum, London, 19-20 July 2018

Dr Katharina Zinn
Senior Lecturer for Egyptian Archaeology and Heritage, University of Wales Trinity Saint David
Playing around with a few of your favourite things – forgotten Egyptian objects, lost provenance and the Museum of Lies
This paper describes the processes involving the literal and cultural (re-)discovery of ancient Egyptian artefacts in Cyfarthfa Castle Museum, Merthyr Tydfil, Wales as a joint-venture with the University of Wales Trinity Saint David led by the author. The project aims to bring these mainly un-provenanced objects back to life by creating different simultaneous types of cultural representations via academic outputs, exhibitions, story-telling, art projects with local artists and school children as well as a Museum of Lies collecting fictional stories inspired by the items. The lead is taken by the objects themselves which enchant not only Egyptologists but equally audiences of the community museum and students.

The paper will address the questions:
• How have distinctive settings – national, local, institutional – shaped displays of Egypt? For what aims were such displays created?
• How have displays of artefacts and human remains shaped perceptions and conceptions of Egyptian history and culture for different audiences?
• How has the non-display/storage of certain artefacts influenced research on, and perceptions of, Egypt?

Review of the exhibition: Between Artefact and Text: Mesopotamia, Egypt, Greece and Rome in the University of Melbourne Classics and Archaeology Collections. Ian Potter Museum of Art, University of Melbourne, Australia. 25 October 2014 to 19 April 2015.