From the Nile Delta to Karlsruhe: Or How to Present Mud Bricks in an Exhibition

Abstract

Since 1980 the Qantir‐Pi‐Ramesse project, based at the Roemer‐ und Pelizaeus‐Museum Hildesheim, has been working in Egypt’s Nile Delta, excavating the country’s Ramesside capital Pi‐Ramesse around the modern village of Qantir. From 17 December 2016 until 18 June 2017 the results of the project are being presented as part of the temporary exhibition “Ramses – Divine Ruler on the Nile” in the Badisches Landesmuseum, Karlsruhe, Germany.¹

Even though Pi‐Ramesse can be considered as one of the most important archaeological sites of the Late Bronze Age in Egypt, if not the whole Eastern Mediterranean, the most spectacular discoveries are not in the form of appealing objects or easily recognizable remains of monumental architecture. Therefore, a strategy had to be implemented to achieve an aesthetically and educationally sound solution for the presentation of the projects’ most important results. This article will highlight the major problems and the chosen strategies to overcome them.

¹ See http://www.landesmuseum.de/website/Deutsch/Sonderausstellungen/Aktuell/Ramses.htm. The exhibition is complemented by a catalogue: Badisches Landesmuseum (ed.), Ramses – Göttlicher Herrscher am Nil (Karlsruhe, 2016).