The
Egyptian Museum, which is second only to the famous
museum in Turin, takes up some of the rooms of
the Archaeological Museum. The first group of
Egyptian antiquities was put together in the 17th
century to include also pieces that had been collected
by the Medici, although it was significantly increased
during the 18th century by Leopoldo II, Grand
Duke of Tuscany, who purchased new collections
and financed, together with Charles X, King of
France, a scientific expedition to Egypt in the
years between 1828 and 1829. The expedition was
directed by Jean François Champollion,
the famous scholar and interpreter of hieroglyphics
and by Ippolito Rosellini from Pisa, who would
soon become the father of Egyptian studies in
Italy and a friend and disciple of Champollion.
After the return of the expedition, the numerous
objects collected during the expedition and during
excavations of archaeological sites or purchased
by local merchants, were equally divided between
Florence and the Louvre.
The Egyptian Museum of Florence was officially
established in 1855. In 1880 the Piedmontese Egyptian
scholar Ernesto Schiaparelli, who was to become
the director of the Egyptian Museum of Turin,
was assigned the task of transferring and organising
the Egyptian antiquities in the present day location,
which is also the seat of the Archaeological Museum.
Schiaparelli suitably increased the collections
of the Museum with objects found during his personal
excavation campaigns and purchased in Egypt before
his final transfer to Turin.
The last group of works acquired by the Egyptian
Museum of Florence includes pieces donated to
the State by private contributors and scientific
institutions.
Today the Museum exhibits over 14,000 pieces,
displayed in nine rooms and two warehouses. The
exhibition rooms have been totally renewed. The
old layout of Schiaparelli has now been replaced
by a new one arranged, when possible, according
to a chronological and topographic order. The
collection comprises material that ranges from
the prehistoric age down to the Age of Copta,
with several groups of steles, vases, amulets
and bronze pieces of different ages. The most
remarkable pieces are some statues dating back
to the age of Amenofi III, the chariot of the
18th dynasty, the pillar of the tomb of Sety I,
the cup of Fayence with square mouth and the belongings
of the wet nurse of the daughter of Pharaoh Taharqa,
the woman portrait of Fayum, the collection of
fabrics belonging to the Copt Age and an important
group of chalk moulds dating of the end of the
19th century.
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