Grand exhibition of ancient Egyptian artifacts to open at Shanghai Museum

The exhibition On Top of the Pyramid: The Civilization of Ancient Egypt will open to the public at the Shanghai Museum on Friday, marking a significant milestone in cultural exchange between China and Egypt.

This showcase, which runs for the next 13 months, is the first exhibition of ancient Egyptian art curated by Chinese scholars and researchers.

Hailed as the largest exhibition of ancient Egyptian artifacts ever held outside their native country, the exhibition represents a pioneering collaboration between an official Chinese museum and the Egyptian government, said Chu Xiaobo, director of the Shanghai Museum, at the opening ceremony on Wednesday.

"This is the largest exhibition that ever traveled from Egypt to come here to China. We value our relationship with China, especially with the Shanghai Museum," said Mohamed Ismail Khaled, secretary-general of Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities.

The exhibition encompasses 492 sets of more than 780 selected artifacts from different periods of ancient Egyptian civilization, sourced from seven renowned Egyptian museums and including the latest archaeological discoveries. Remarkably, over 95 percent of these artifacts will be making their debut in Asia.

"The most meaningful aspect of this exhibition is that our team curated the theme and artifacts based on research by our Chinese scholars into ancient Egyptian civilization, and we selected all 788 objects featured ourselves," said Li Feng, deputy director of the Shanghai Museum.

To provide a fitting showcase for this special exhibition, the Shanghai Museum has renovated and repurposed three exhibition halls to create a total exhibition space of 3,000 square meters. Through the display area, visitors will embark on a journey through three independent narratives: The Land of the Pharaohs, The Secrets of Saqqara, and The Age of Tutankhamun.

Zhong Xiaomin, an official from the Shanghai Municipal Administration of Culture and Tourism, said the exhibition illustrates the continuous expansion of cultural exchanges and cooperation between China and Egypt, celebrating the 10th anniversary of the comprehensive strategic partnership and the China-Egypt Partnership Year.

"We believe that this pioneering exhibition about ancient Egyptian civilization will vividly enact a dialogue across time between two ancient civilizations and will serve as an exemplary instance of exchanges and mutual learning among world civilizations," said Zhong.

Li Junfeng contributed to this story.