A day for museums! Not only was it raining on and off again, but we realised that buying an Annual Card that gave you unlimited entrance to these museums was as expensive as buying one entrance ticket for one museum..! So - a no-brainer! We lined up both the Museum of Mediterranean and Near Eastern Antiquities, and the Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities, starting at the former.
Love the beautiful buildings that house the museums in Stockholm. Look at this space!
This museum currently holds the largest collection of artifacts from Cyprus outside the island itself. Their collection spans from the Stone Age to Imperial Rome, and many of these artifacts were actually excavated by the Swedish Cyprus Expedition of 1927-1931. This collection was the reason for the establishment of this museum.
These about 2000 terracotta statuettes come from the small rural sanctuary of Ayia Irini. They were discovered in their original positions facing an altar and a cultic stone. Half of the figurines in question were shipped to Sweden in 1931, and are displayed here, for the first time.
This museum had a Gold Room, just like LAD do.
I giggled a lot at this sign, as this is a question we get all the time at the museum too! It really is something that intrigues everyone.
But something people never ask us at the LAD, is the following question! Ha ha!
I particularly enjoyed the exhibition about the history of Egypt.
They showed for example a timeline of ceramics:
It showed images of many of the Egyptian gods, and a false door of a tomb (similar to the one we display at LAD).
A display about clothes and jewellery:
A familiar face, of Ramses II:
The exhibition continued downstairs, where you could visit the tomb chamber. They talked about the weighing of the heart, from one of the most popular chapters of the Book of the Dead.
A great collection of Fayum portraits:
Ushabtis:
A cool way of showcasing a mummy and the many parts of its sarcophagus:
I always enjoy to see items, artworks and artefacts I recognise and know a lot about, but indeed it's even nicer to discover new things and stories, and feed the mind! I certainly gained a lot of new information and knowledge to incorporate in my future tours.
Coming out of the first museum it was sunny, so we hurried past the Royal Castle, to get to the second museum before the rain came back.
Passed this sculpture by Ai Wei Wei just by Nationalmuseum.
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