New Virtual Tour through the Exhibition Achmim: Egypt’s Forgotten City

10.01.2022
James-Simon-Galerie

In summer 2021, the city Achmim in Upper Egypt was the focus of a large exhibition at the James-Simon-Galerie. Now the exhibition can be explored online on a 3D virtual tour.

Due to the pandemic, the exhibition Achmim: Egypt’s Forgotten City  (23 May – 12 September 2021) was only able to open to a limited number of visitors. To permanently present the exhibition to a broader audience, the exhibition space has been digitised as an explorable 3D model.

Users taking the new virtual tour can move about freely in the exhibition and have easy access to introductory texts on individual subject areas and all the important information about the exhibited objects. Additional explanations on highlights are featured along with links to the lending museums. The realisation of the digital tour was funded by the Verein zur Förderung des Ägyptischen Museums Berlin e. V.

The Exhibition Achmim: Egypt’s Forgotten City

Achmim is one of the oldest cities in Egypt, with a history spanning more than 6000 years. Only a few archaeological remains still attest to the long period of settlement in this ancient metropolis in Upper Egypt, its large temples and vast necropolis. Due to the history of excavations and collection activities, the true treasure of artworks, statues, reliefs, everyday utensils, cult objects, sarcophagi, burial objects and texts is scattered among several museums around the world. An essential inventory can now be found in the colllections at the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin and the Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin (Berlin State Library).

In seven subject areas the special exhibition Achmim: Egypt’s Forgotten City illustrates the cultural and political role of the city, its influence as a religious centre, importance as the birthplace of known historical personalities in Egyptian history and long tradition in burial rituals and related artisanry. The historical presentation is enhanced by a review of a century of research. More than 160 objects were exhibited at the James-Simon-Galerie. The exhibits came primarily from the collections of the Ägyptischen Museums und Papyrussammlung (Egyptian Museum and Papyrus Collection) and the Skulpturensammlung und Museum für Byzantinische Kunst (Sculpture Collection and Museum of Byzantine Art), although the collection holdings were supplemented by loans from Germany and abroad.