AROUND TOWN
Sharing the legacy between God’s own county and the land of the Gods, Barnsley Museums presents three very special exhibitions this autumn as it resurrects the fascination of ancient Egypt amongst the people of Yorkshire.
Yorkshire men and women who have made discoveries and collected artefacts relating to this ancient culture.
After studying Ancient History and Egyptology at University College London where she specialised in the Ptolemaic Dynasty, the last rulers of Ancient Egypt including the famous Cleopatra, Joann gained her PhD at the University of Manchester then continued her research into ancient Egyptian human remains and body adornment.
Having studied human remains in South America, Yemen, Italy and Ireland, Joann also studied mummified remains in Egypt’s royal tombs in the Valley of the Kings. Following a successful 30-year career, Joann brings her extensive knowledge and findings back to Yorkshire with riveting stories told through objects never before seen in one location.
From Saturday 23rd September, Experience Barnsley will become a shrine to all things Egyptian as Gods’ Land in God’s County: Ancient Egypt in Yorkshire comes to life.
Showcasing the connection between Yorkshire and Egypt, the exhibition includes artefacts and objects found by local explorers and housed in museums across the country, many of which have never been displayed before.
With some of the older items dating back to Egypt’s Stone Age origins, most of the objects date from the time of the Pharaohs up to 30BC which marks the beginning of the Roman occupation.
Thanks to guest curator and Barnsley-born Egyptologist, Joann Fletcher, the exhibitions include hand-picked artefacts, architectural photography and watercolour paintings to reflect the enduring relationship between ancient Egypt and the
Although it may seem like the West has enjoyed a lengthy obsession with the ancient Egyptians, there was a time when all knowledge of the former culture was lost for a thousand years.
Joann Fletcher
When Renaissance scholars rediscovered its importance, George Sandys, a traveller, colonist and poet from York, was the first- known Yorkshireman to visit Egypt, adding much to what was then known about the ancient culture.
Son of the Archbishop of York, Sandys wrote in 1615 of his travels to the Middle East along the Grand Tour. During his ten month stay in Egypt in 1611 he saw Cleopatra’s Needles obelisks in Alexandria, visited the mummy pits in Sakkara, and explored the Great Pyramid of Giza where he concluded the oldest of the Seven Wonders was in fact a tomb.
With accurate information given on long- thought fables and myths, his book became an immediate success, with contemporary writers using it to reference their own work and developments, and Sandys being a pioneer of Egyptology as we know it.
The exhibition highlights Sandys’ findings along with those from subsequent explorers and archaeologists including Joann herself.
Based along the fertile river Nile, Ancient Egypt was ruled by kings, known as Pharaohs, whose subjects believed them to be gods, building them the temples and pyramids with which Egypt has become synonymous.
From the earliest Step Pyramid at Sakkara, the resting place of King Djoser, to the stone temples in Luxor with their huge carved pillars, Egypt’s distinctive architecture influenced the ancient buildings of Greece and Rome.
As the ultimate symbol of immortality, these buildings were copied and constructed across Europe for centuries, including many examples in Yorkshire.
36
aroundtownmagazine.co.uk
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84
