It seems difficult for Polish cities to compete for the position of the cultural capital with a city so bombarded with tourists as Cracow. One can say about a great deal of cultural elements in the following way: Cracow has it all! Possibly the lovers of Egyptian mummies, sarcophagi and ushabti figurines will adhere to this statement. As many as two out of four our museum collections are located precisely in Cracow. Apart from Lady with an Ermine by Leonardo da Vinci, the Czartoryski Museum is famous for its Egyptian collection. But still, the prize for the biggest set in the entire Małopolska province is won by the Museum of Archaeology. Let us have a look at the treasures it houses.
Before the Egyptian gods arrived…
The Archaeological Museum in Cracow was established in 1850. At first, it was based in the Jagiellonian Library. Since 1864 it has been seated in the new premises in the 17 Sławkowska Street. In the 70s of the 19th century the institution tied with the Skills Academy activity. The first exhibition was organised in 1857 in the Lubomirski Palace in St.John’s Street. The findings from all over Poland coming from various prehistoric periods were presented then, including the well-known monument of Światowid (also called the Zbruch Idol).
From the beginning up to 1893 the collection also comprised souvenirs related to the history of Poland, however, all the militaria, maps and works of art were later handed over to the National Museum. The number of exhibits was increasing due to the excavation works conducted in the Małopolska region.
The excavations carried out by Gotfryd Ossowski in Bilcz Złoty on Podole (painted ceramics and cult objects) as well as in Ryżanówka in Ukraine provided the museum with a number of beautiful relics.
Let us have a look, however, at the exposition of Egyptian monuments.
The offering the king makes to Osiris, the One who is in charge of the West. The tomb equipment
Heading left of the entrance (the ticket office is on the right) we go up the stairs to the inside of the building. We climb the stairs to the first floor in order to admire the Egyptian gallery called “Gods of Ancient Egypt”.
The collection consists of three parts two of which come from the excavations conducted by Tadeusz Smoleński and Hermann Junker. The third one is a gift from the soldiers of the Independent Carpathian Rifle Brigade. The first Egyptian monument, however, to be found in the museum collection in Cracow was a sarcophagus from the 22nd Dynasty offered by count Ludwik Bystrzonowski in 1934. At the same time, it was one of the first sacrophagi in the whole of Polish museum collections.
The visit has begun. The first room called the Blue one houses four wooden sacrophagi. In the middle we can see a display cabinet with cartonage masks, ushabti, a pretty alabaster male torso from the Ptolemaic period and heads of rulers swathed in nemes scarfs. Among the monuments which are easy to notice, a small, 8,5 cm (about 3.4 inches) tall statuette from the 5th Dynasty of a man sitting is worth taking a closer look. The relic comes from Heluan and it was bought from the antiquary Albert Eid in Cairo. By the wall to the right of the entrance in another showcase rest the figurines of ibises, symbols of the god Tot, purchased at the Egyptian Museum in Cairo. Below we find grain mummies in wooden “falcon” sarcophagi as well as carefully wrapped up cat and falcon mummies. The way they had been bandaged reveals the creation period: the Ptolemaic-Roman time.
Paleuis son of Paraus delivered 21 ardebs of wheat or the precision of the ancient bureaucracy…
Heading towards the next room we will definitely be surprised, after a long stay in the dark Blue Room, at the natural light falling from the windows. In the corridor we come across two display cabinets: a numismatic one and the other housing Greek ostracons. The majority of the ostracons were discovered in Upper Egypt and in oases where papyrus was not grown on a large scale. If we know Greek and demotic, we are able to read the details of the practice of paying taxes in crops and money about 150 years BC. Judging from the content of the ostracons, the role banks played in the centralised economy of Ptolemaic Egypt was mostly based on receiving taxes paid in cash.
A rich collection of Ptolemaic and Roman coins coming from Jarosław Sagan’s Field Museum exposition is hanging in wing display cabinets on the opposite wall of the room.
Nut made me god without enemies – Aset-iri-khet-es and her belly sarcophagus
Again, we enter a dim room from which emerge beautifully-lit exhibits. We will see here plenty of figurines of Osiris, fragments of shrouds, stelae from the 2nd and the 3rd century AD, ushabti from the 26th Dynasty, jewellery but, above all, sarcophagi and mummies. It appears difficult not to notice the biggest belly sarcophagus belonging to Aset-iri-khet-es. The owner potentially coming from the area of Abydos or Asuan was by no means big, as one might conclude by looking at the coffin. According to the investigation, the mummy was only 152 cm (about 5 feet) tall. The belly-type of the antropoidal sarcophagus, which we can carefully examine after placing a mirror underneath, is characterised by a shallow bottom and a magnificent convex lid. The head of the deceased is covered with a blue wig and on her breasts we can see an ornamental necklace crowned with falcon heads. On the back side of the bottom of the sarcophagus visible thanks to the abovementioned mirror, one can see an exceptionally well-preserved figure of Isida-Hathor. The face of the goddess reveals the influence of the Hellenistic trend in the Egyptian arts. Next to the sarcophagus one can notice Aset-iri-khet-es’ cartonage resting on a mummy-shaped molding.
The magic of divine eternity vs every-day reality. A summary
The type of light that was applied in showcases is the fibre optic lighting. It keeps monuments secure and does not increase the temperature of the surrounding.
Although the exhibits are very well-exposed, their descriptions are rather scant. Faint light falling solely on the monuments creates both an unusual impression and an interesting atmosphere, what very much resembles an Egyptian tomb. In additon, the ceiling is covered with stars typical of tomb decoration. Two dark rooms house objects associated with the Egyptian funerary ritual and the other world. These chambers are connected with each other through a light-filled corridor that not only can be interpreted as a bridge to the Egyptian underworld, but also as a link between us and our every-day life. The Egyptians strove for unification with their gods. Nowadays, a human being also conceals his/her spiritual desires. And yet, it would be difficult for the Old Egyptian and our civilisation alike to do without taxes, documents and money. It seems that we have been doomed to the ostracon or paper work for 5 thousand years…
The quotations come from the exhibition catalogue edited by Hanna Szymańska and Krzysztof Babraja. ( Bogowie Starożytnego Egiptu [Gods of Ancient Egypt], Kraków 2000)
PS. Photographs from the exposition are available on the official web page of the Archaeological Museum in Cracow
