Bolton Museum to bring Ancient Egypt vividly to life

Expert Egyptologists will deliver lectures and workshops featuring items from the museum’s world-renown collection at its All About Mummification Egypt Study Day on July 13.

“Bolton Museum has a 140-year history of working with international experts in Egyptology and making this world-leading research accessible to the public,” said Cllr Nadeem Ayub, Executive Cabinet Member for Culture.

“In this year, both the 140th Anniversary of Bolton Museums and Bolton’s year as Greater Manchester Town of Culture, we wanted to do something special.

“The study day is open to absolutely anyone with an interest in ancient Egypt, and you can get hands-on with real ancient material, learning direct from the experts.”

All About Mummification will focus on mummification and burial textiles, featuring the work of the University of York’s Mummy Research Group.

Co-founded by Dr Stephen Buckley and Prof Joann Fletcher, the research group has studied aspects of the Bolton Egypt collection for more than 35 years, making numerous discoveries, including the world’s oldest evidence for Egyptian mummification - based on the analysis of textiles in Bolton’s collection and the likely royal lineage of the Unknown Man, a mummified body housed within the Thutmose III burial chamber gallery.

Annie Barlow

“Bolton has an amazing collection that deserves to be accessed, and events like this are going to give access to ancient Egypt like nowhere else in the country,” said Dr Buckley, who will lead a workshop on mummification recipes and mixtures using ingredients identical to those used by ancient Egyptians.

There will also be workshops on mummification textiles and wrapping, using digital microscopy and real mummy wrappings, and an object handling and examination workshop with real ancient Egyptian objects from Bolton’s collection.

Other highlights include lectures on the history of mummification and the science of mummification, and an exclusive screening of the award-winning documentary, Mummifying Alan: Egypt’s Last Secret.

READ MORE: Legacy of Bolton's Victorian Queen of Egypt Annie Barlow

Life and times of Annie Barlow featured in new BBC documentary

The Victorian mill owner's daughter behind Bolton's vast Egyptology collection

Local Ancient Egypt enthusiasts can also enjoy another first when the ’Queen of Egyptology’ comes to Bolton, 140 years after she helped create the Museum’s Collection.

A newly conserved 130-year-old oil painting of Egypt Exploration Society (EES) founder, Amelia Edwards, will go on temporary display in the museum’s Egypt Galleries from June 14.

Amelia founded the Egypt Exploration Society in 1882 to excavate and record Egyptian heritage after she visited Egypt in 1873, a visit that changed the future of British Egyptology forever.

Her travelogue, A Thousand Miles Up the Nile, would inspire generations after her to take up her message to support and promote Egyptian cultural heritage.

Bolton Museum

She recruited honorary secretaries across the world to raise funds for the work of the Society, including Bolton’s own Annie Barlow, through whom many of Bolton’s 12,000 strong ancient Egyptian collection was formed.

Cllr Ayub said: “Having the painting of Amelia Edwards, who founded the Egypt Exploration Society in 1882, travel to the museum is an honour, and we can’t wait to share and mark this special event with the public.”

This oil painting was donated to the Egypt Exploration Society in 1967 and shows Amelia seated next to a table with Egyptian artefacts.

In advance oof the painting’s arrival, the Director of the Egypt Exploration Society, Dr Carl Graves, will give a free public talk on Wednesday 12 June 2024 at 7pm. He will speak about Amelia’s life and relive her journey up the Nile. The presentation will be illustrated with archival material held by the Egypt Exploration Society as well as original artwork by Amelia.

The event coincides exactly to the day with the 140th anniversary of the opening of Bolton’s first museum, the Chadwick Museum in Queen’s Park, which opened to the public on the 12 June 1884.

Bolton received its first collections of ancient Egyptian material from the EES later that year and is now the largest collection of ancient Egyptian material in a local authority museum in the UK.

• For more information about the Egypt Study Day, including prices and how to book, see Bolton Library and Museum’s event link here: Bolton's Egypt Summer Study Day 2024 - All About Mummification – Bolton Libraries and Museums (boltonlams.co.uk).You can also contact the event leader, Ian Trumble at ian.trumble@bolton.gov.uk.