mummies, preserved and eternal bodies
Whether they fascinate or frighten, mummies will be honored at the Museum of Toulouse (Haute-Garonne) from October 22. An exceptional exhibition which has been recognized as being of national interest by the Ministry of Culture.
The Interceltic Festival of Lorient 2022
On the occasion of the bicentenary of the deciphering of hieroglyphs by Jean-François Champollion and the centenary of the discovery of the tomb of Tutankhamun, the Museum of Toulouse (Haute-Garonne) has chosen the theme of mummies for its new large temporary exhibition.
Mummies, a funerary rite that fascinates us
The opportunity to question our relationship to the grim reaper. Indeed, there was a time when corpses and the mummies therefore did not cause fear and repulsion. On the contrary, for many civilizations for millennia and on all continents, celebrating death was a real rite to accompany the deceased to the afterlife.
The mummies, his famous human remains that have been preserved, are part of these funeral rites that still fascinate us today.
Addressing a taboo subject, without taboo
In this exceptional exhibition, recognized as being of national interest by the Ministry of Culture, from the start of the visit, the public is invited to wonder about the death, both in its cultural and scientific aspects. The exhibition also welcomes us with a “Memento Mori!” (Remember that you are going to die!”). Which very quickly sets the tone. The Museum of Toulouse has decided to tackle this taboo subject without taboo.
The first part of this exhibition therefore focuses on so-called “artificial” mummifications. Those made by men for a sacred, religious or cultural purpose. We learn that the oldest mummies in the world were not in Egypt but in the Atacama Desert in Chile in South America 7000 years ago. A Chinchorro mummy, this people of semi-nomadic hunter-gatherers, has been reconstructed in 3D for the occasion.
A mummy of an Egyptian child from the Ptolemaic era
We then arrive in the part devoted to ancient Egypt because mummification is inseparably linked to the funeral rites of the Egyptians. Embalming technique, procedures, canopies, these vases which collected the viscera of the deceased, all aspects of mummification are offered.
At the heart of the room, some Egyptian mummies are exhibited. The Museum has thus favored exceptional loans to enable visitors to observe these bodies preserved for eternity. Like this coffin with this mummy of a little girl aged 2 to 3 from the Ptolemaic period (310 to 30 BC) on loan from the Musée d’art et d’archéologie de Guéret.
Thanks to 3D scanning by tomography, a visual exploration of this mummy is possible. Under the strips, the presence of amulets, a roll of papyrus and numerous jewels are visible. Offerings for the passage to the afterlife.
A fardo, a funeral package
But other mummies attract attention. Like the ones in the room on one side hail from South America. We discover a fardo, a funeral package that was made by the Chancay civilization in Peru between 1000-1450.
These fardos are textile envelopes with more or less sophisticated false heads, inside is a mummified body, which is often upside down. The body is placed in a fetal position to allow rebirth. The deceased is also often accompanied by offerings for the afterlife: corn for food, cotton seeds for clothing and spindles for spinning fabric…
Questioning our relationship to death
These mummies are a good illustration of this quest for eternity sought by all civilizations and which echo questions about the relationship to death in our contemporary societies.
To program an exhibition on mummies is to question death. In a few decades, our societies have experienced profound changes in the apprehension of death and the end of life. The emergence of palliative care, the debates around euthanasia, all these subjects give rise to passionate debates. Paradoxically, death remains taboo, either by its dissimulation, or by excess (…) To dare to speak of death is to give the possibility of understanding it beyond individual questioning and of questioning our collective relationship to the cycle of life.
Francis Duranthon, director of the Toulouse Museum
Beyond the questions around death, the exhibition also focuses, in another room, on artificial mummifications. Those that have occurred due to climatic and environmental factors. Because nature can also transform bodies into mummies whether they are humans or animals.
Global warming that leads to the retreat of glaciers or the melting of permafrost in Siberia has indeed led to the discovery of artificial mummies dating back to prehistoric times. As a woolly mammoth leg discovered in 1908 on the Lyakhov Islands in Russia pendant totally intact and preserved by the ice 12000 years. A major piece that is to be discovered in this exhibition on mummies.
The tissues are so well preserved that they are the subject of physiological, anatomical and phylogenetic studies.
The quest for immortality
At the end of the exhibition, the visitor will then look at the scientific mummies. Those made by man for scientific purposes. There no visible mummies, just animals preserved with formalin or ethanol for example.
Techniques for preserving corpses have improved so much that bodies can be perfectly preserved. The exhibition then approaches the theme of immortality at the end. A scientific quest that is not concerned with many ethical and deontological questions.
“Mummies, Preserved Bodies, Eternal Bodies” to discover at the Muséum de Toulouse from October 22, 2022 until July 2, 2023.