Exhibition: In the footsteps of mummies, at the Toulouse Museum
The theme of mummies chosen for the new temporary exhibition at the Toulouse Museum, goes beyond the question of Egyptology. Whether artificial mummies, witnesses of ancient funeral rites, or natural mummies formed by the action of frost, salt, peat or even amber, this exhibition focuses on the conservation of body, whether human or animal. She also looks at contemporary conservation techniques and raises ethical and deontological questions related to the conservation of human remains.
The choice of Museum is far from trivial. Programming an exhibition on mummies is to question humanity on its relationship to timein search of eternity and death.
Mummies question us about our relationship to death
This is the first time that such an exhibition has been presented in Toulouse.. By the diversity of the themes evoked, Mummies, preserved bodies, eternal bodies covers many disciplines: archaeology, anthropology, embalming, forensic medicine, ethnology, biology, genetics, sociology…
Admittedly, mummification evokes in the first place this practice of ancient Egypt consisting in preparing the bodies of the deceased in order to ensure their preservation over time. Corn did you know that this funeral rite appears in other cultures and civilizations, particularly in South America? What can nature also cause mummies to arise?
Human or animal, whether artificial or naturally preserved thanks to particular climatic conditions, the mummies question us about our relationship to death, our beliefs in a beyond, our universal desire for eternity.
Evoked by all civilizations, death remains taboo
So many themes explored by the exhibition through a vast field of scientific disciplines (archaeology, anthropology, embalming, forensic medicine, ethnology, biology, genetics, sociology, etc.), and thanks to new technologies used to explore mummies and the conservation of human remains.
“For millennia, our human societies in all their diversity, across time and space, questioned what happened to the living after their death. The choice of the Museum is therefore far from trivial. Programming an exhibition on mummies means questioning death…” highlighted Francois Duranthondirector of Toulouse Museum.
He pursues : “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, the significant development of cremation and funeral contracts, all these subjects give rise to heated debates. Paradoxically, death remains taboo, either through concealment or through excess…”
The year 2022, with this symbolic anniversary of the discovery of the tomb of Tutankhamun, it was affirmed Mr. Duranthon “The year when these questions were to be rejected at the Museum. Because today, in the troubled context that we are going through, to dare to speak of death is to give the possibility of understanding it beyond individual questioning and to question our collective relationship to the cycle of life.
“The specimens and collectibles collected by museums are extensions of living beings on the planet beyond their physical death. With advances in conservation techniques and scientific research, human or animal remains can be preserved for the long term. The reasons for these conservations are numerous, as are the ethical questions that require them.. Thus, our collections become a link between the world of the dead and that of the living,” emphasizes on her Isabelle Nottaris (deputy director of the Museum).
An exhibition divided into 4 large “zones”
Suspended times, eternal times, corrupting or preserving times… The relationship to the course of time is implicit throughout the course of
the exhibition. It echoes our questions about our nature and more broadly about life. Pour as much, the common thread of the exhibition is not chronological
but rather narrative. It is organized into four main areas:
Area 1: The question of mummies immediately arises that of death and the preservation of bodies. For the destiny of the vast majority of lifeless bodies is indeed decomposition. Retained bodies are therefore exceptions. to the most common natural processes.
Area 2: When we talk about mummies, we immediately think of ancient Egypt. But this way of preparing the bodies of the deceased is also attested in many cultures and civilizationsto justify the physical preservation of the dead is part of the societal, ritual or religious dynamic.
Area 3: Mummies are not all artificial, far from it. Some are naturally mummified by the action of cold, drought, lack of oxygen, salinity or acidity of the environment. These natural mummies are real time capsulesoffering us a window on the past of our ancestors or on the ways of life of species for some extinct today.
Area 4: This exhibition also aims to present the history and evolution of modern preservation techniques Used by anatomical preparers, museum conservation teams or by the heirs of the embalmers of the
past: embalming.
Particular emphasis is placed on the adolescent publicwith mediations adapted to understand the issues related to life and death, the relationship to the body, to health and more broadly to the question of identity.
Philippe MORET
Toulouse, city of museums
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