Mummies of Egypt at CAIXAFORUM Seville: schedules, prices

Six mummies from Egypt are protagonists today in the CaixaForum exhibition halls.

This is an exhibition carried out in collaboration with the British Museum of London that tells us the hidden life of Ancient Egypt and offers us a vision of their most everyday customs.

All thanks to the latest, non-invasive digital technology, which virtually unwraps your fragile remains and allows you to analyze all the layers under your bandages.  

An incredible exhibition with three-dimensional images of support, which seem to bring life back to these people from the most distant past.

An official, two priests, a married woman, a child and a young Greco-Roman man are the protagonists of “Mummies of Egypt. Rediscovering six lives"A exposure that accounts for life in the Nile valley between 800 BC and 100 AD

The exhibition explains to us, as you have never seen before, the idea of mummification, the concept of death and the afterlife.

Thanks to techniques such as CT scan, researchers have managed to reveal incredible data about your personality, eating habits, diseases and beliefs.

Addition famous mummies, you will find numerous objects, up to 260, found in tombs and sites that give us an account of their hobbies and tastes.

After its inauguration in Madrid, this exhibition has already passed through Barcelona, ​​and can be seen at the headquarters of CaixaFthat I Seville from May 5 to September 3, and then continue his tour of the theaters Valencia y Zaragoza, where his tour of Spain ends. 

One piece of advice, if you are going on a weekend, book your tickets online Because this exhibition has a large influx of public.

What to see at the Mummies of Egypt exhibition at CaixaForum

The route of this exhibition is divided into eight areas, starting with a written and video introduction that tells us what we are going to see.

Then we will go to the different rooms that correspond to each of the mummies in which we will find different themes, how they lived, their family, what music they listened to, how they groomed themselves and, of course, how they died, their religion and what they took with them. other life.

The mummies They are displayed in glass boxes, in large rooms where you can browse their numerous belongings.

In addition to the explanatory signs, there are several digital screens that show us all the layers that these expensive sarcophagi hide.

At the last point of the route you have a room as a conclusion, along with a digital interpretation, where you can pass yourself and demonstrate what you have learned.

The different rooms have a low temperature to adjust to the needs of these ancient remains and guarantee their rest with all respect and care.

Who are the mummies in the CaixaForum exhibition?

Each mummy from the CaixaForum exhibition  has a history to tell, and they do it through their belongings and their bones. 

Buried at different times, the first protagonist is Ameniryit, belonging to the Dynasty XXXVI c 600 BC, an official working in Slash, the actual luxor.

Carefully wrapped in linen, the CT scan revealed that he was between 25 and 49 years old when he died, probably from bone cancer or atherosclerosis (cardiovascular disease).

Nesperennub, It is the second mummy to discover on this tour, a priest of Slash.

From the inscriptions on his sarcophagi we know that he was a member of the karnak temple, the most important religious complex in Slash.

This mummy had many amulets, which were considered magical objects that protected their owner and helped him to be reborn in the other world.

They also supposedly helped cure diseases, since they were considered something supernatural.

Among the mummies there is another priest, Penamunnebnesuttawy, native of Nile Delta, his body was carefully mummified.

Unlike the other two, the embalmer did not remove his brain, nor the heart, which was considered the seed of intellect.

At this point, the exhibition is dedicated to the study of the most common diseases in ancient Egypt.

Some are difficult to detect despite revealing CT scans, but most are common and similar to those of today.

Atherosclerosis is one of them, more common in people of high social class at that time, those who could afford a diet rich in animal fats, since in fact, meat was a luxury, as was wine, beer, fish and birds.

Takhenemet, a married woman from Slash She was the lady of the house, who was buried in three sarcophagi placed consecutively.

Her hair has been preserved very well, with a bun-shaped updo.

He carries with him a musical instrument known as sistrum, a kind of rattle. We don't know what the music sounded like at this time, but we do know what instruments they had.

A little boy of Howl four years old, it is one of the strangest and at the same time interesting mummies in this exhibition.

It is unusual for children to be mummified, a practice that spread during the Roman period. The sarcophagus is perfectly preserved and the portrait of him shows that he was the son of a noble family.

A young man from Greco-Roman Egypt It is the last mummy in the exhibition.

The cardboard mask tells us better the time in which he lived and the place of burial, in the necropolis of Howl.

He died at the age of 18, according to tomography scans that reveal that he had not completed all his bone development.

His identity remains a mystery as no inscription appears in a visible place.

How to know what the mummies of Egypt hide

Thanks to an investigation by British museum, aspects hidden until now from the human eye have been discovered.

The latest advances in CT scan e three-dimensional picture have allowed the hidden layers of these remains to be virtually unwrapped without them suffering any damage.

A non-invasive scanner analyzes all stages one by one and reconstructs them to account for their appearance and habits. Everything can be seen on screens that offer us 3D and digital images.

The skeleton tells us your age, sex and your state of health. From tooth infections to bone cancer, these are some of the diseases that this advanced technique reveals to us.

What mummification was like in ancient Egypt

The ancient Egyptians were convinced that the presentation of the body had to be correct in order to continue living in the afterlife.

La mummification allowed each individual to follow the path marked by Osiris, god of the afterlife and the first to be mummified.

It is not known exactly When the Egyptians began to perform mummifications, although the first date from between 4000 and 3500 BC

It was the heat of the desert itself that dried the bodies buried in shallow graves; It is believed that this discovery guided his work towards conservation.

The work of the embalmers to prepare the bodies, it is quite a challenge.

In the workshop the deceased was washed completely, then the process of gutting, where the brain and organs of the body were removed, to then proceed to dehydration and apply bandages.

Techniques vary over time and by region.

Ancient Egyptian objects on display Mummies

The section dedicated to the world of music; It was a very important part of the life in ancient egypt.

Proof of this is that many are preserved instruments of this era, such as the flute, the harp or a type of lute that we can see in the exhibition, in addition to a wide range of percussion, wind and string instruments.

Women are usually represented playing instruments in temples, where they accompanied the rituals of the priests.

In the numerous display cases we can also find a papyrus from the book of the dead reri, statues of different people and even compositions of everyday scenes from their daily lives.

In the burials there were also numerous ornaments and jewelry, such as bracelets, earrings, rings, bracelets and necklaces to show the status of their owner.

But the presence of Cosmetics, such as makeup, oils and perfumes to take care of your appearance in the afterlife. He kohl was very common to line the eyes, it would be something like the eyeliner figure.

El hair and wigs They were also a symbolic element that informed about age and social status. The more elaborate, the higher the level.

Children had their heads shaved or with a braid on one side. Women's hair had erotic connotations; they worked it with curlers, combs and barrettes that we can also see in this exhibition.

Featured section is the portraits of mummies, which give us a more real idea of ​​what those people were like in the flesh.

They are very realistic, they were made on the sarcophagi themselves and on other occasions on wooden boards.

During the Roman period, the cardboard masks in the shrouds. They are really accomplished, taking into account the technical difficulties of the time.

Mummies exhibition hours at CaixaForum in Seville

CaixaForum of Seville is in the Torre Sevilla Shopping Center, López Pintado street s/n, and the Visiting schedule They are, every day of the week, from 10 a.m. to 20 p.m.

El price of admission general is 6 euros, and the visit is free for CaixaBank customers, Youth Card and minors under 16 years of age.