"Mummy: Secrets of the Tomb" at the VMFA November 19 to March 11

From the world famous Egyptian collection of the British Museum comes an exhibition that examines death and the afterlife in ancient Egypt.  Human and animal mummies and over 100 objects--a guilded mask, jewelry, canopic jars, monumental stone sarcophagi, statuary, tomb lintels, and more--will immerse visitors in the life and death of a 3000-year-old mummy named Nesperennub, who served as a temple priest.

This stunning exhibition at our own Virginia Museum of Fine Arts takes visitors on a journey all the way back to 800 BC to explore Nesperennub's world through objects found in his tomb--and inside his mummy.  The experience begins with a 3-D film that uses the most advanced scanning technology to "virtually unwrap" the mummy of Nesperennub.  This fascinating process provides insight into life expectancy, health, disease, and funerary beliefs in ancient Egypt, as well as the complex procedures of mummification.  John Taylor, assistant keeper in the Department of Ancient Egypt and Sudan at the British Museum and curator for Mummy: Secrets of the Tomb, states that Nesperennub's mummy was selected for this project because it was completely untouched and Egyptologists knew that his tomb had never been opened.

Mummies have fascinated humans for centuries.  "It's the mystique," Taylor says.  "You are confronting someone from the distant past, a recognizable human being, not just bones."  This special exhibit will run from November 19, 2011 to March 2, 2012.  Maury Place at Monument is just a short walk from the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts.

Mac Pence and Jeff Wells
your Richmond Virginia Bed and Breakfast Innkeepers at Maury Place at Monument