Please note the changed opening hours from 16 April 2024. More

“China and Egypt” exhibition already attracts 100,000 visitors

10.08.2017
Neues Museum

The special exhibition “China and Egypt: Cradles of the World” at the Neues Museum has already attracted 100,000 visitors in just five weeks. The show is a cooperation between the Ägyptisches Museum und Papyrussammlung of the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin and the Shanghai Museum. It is open until 3 December 2017 and can be visited at the Museumsinsel Berlin.

The director of the Egyptian Museum and Papyrus Collection, Prof. Dr. Friederike Seyfried and curator Mariana Jung, today welcomed the 100,000th visitor at the Kollonnadenhof: Bernd Rödel, his wife and son who had travelled from Düsseldorf to visit the exhibition as well as the neighboring Pergamonmuseum.

After greeting the visitors, Friederike Seyfried said: “We are delighted to hear that so many visitors have seen this extraordinary display in such a short period of time. The vast interest proves that our approach and concept has paid off; the exhibition provides an important milestone on the path to the Humboldt Forum.”

Special exhibition “China and Egypt. Cradles of the World”

The exhibition presents ancient Egyptian and ancient Chinese artefacts side by side for the first time. Thanks to several remarkable loans from the Shanghai Museum, enriched by objects from the Staatliche Museen’s own Ethnologisches Museum and Museum für Asiatische Kunst, many of the objects are on show in Berlin for the first time. The exhibition features about 250 unique art treasures from both civilizations, and covers a time span ranging from 4500 BC well into the Greco-Roman period, which lasted from 332 BC to 312 AD.

“China and Egypt: Cradles of the World” presents the development of both regions that have formed the basis of great civilizations. Although there was no direct contact between ancient China and ancient Egypt, surprisingly many similarities have come to light. Each of the objects shown has its own history and is representative of its culture. The exhibition tells those stories based on five subject areas:

  • Everyday Life
  • Writing
  • Funerary Cult
  • Religious Life
  • Forms of Government

Special offers and tickets

A variety of services such as tactile objects, labeling in Braille, an audioguide in simple German as well as an extensive educational program for visitors with disabilities provide multisensory access to the objects and contents of the exhibition. In addition, adults and children have the opportunity to further engage with the exhibition content, for example through workshops, tours with the curators and tandem guides with experts.

Timed tickets, which allow an exhibition visit without lengthy queueing, can be booked online: shop.smb.museum.