Ancient Egyptians across West Yorkshire

Wakefield Museum has recently opened a new exhibition about death and the afterlife in ancient Egypt. Gateway to Eternity invites visitors to step inside a recreated ancient Egyptian tomb.

Treasures on display include grave goods borrowed from The British Museum and National Museums Liverpool, World Museum. These are displayed alongside the mummy of a woman named Perenbast, a temple singer who lived over 2500 years ago, on loan from The Manchester Museum, The University of Manchester.

The exhibition also features objects from Wakefield's own collection, including a mummified baby crocodile. These were collected by local merchant, William Fennell, who helped fund some of the first scientific excavations in Egypt in the 19th century.

Wakefield Museum is on the lower ground floor of Wakefield One, Burton Street, Wakefield, WF1 2DD. The exhibition runs until July 2020 and is free to visit.

We aren't the only museum in West Yorkshire with exhibitions about ancient Egypt! Why not go on an intrepid journey to discover more fascinating collections. From fashion and jewellery, to writing and art work.  Meet Nesyamun and see the sarcophagus of Ta-di-ta-nebet-hen. Can you visit them all?

Bagshaw Museum

Wilton Park Batley WF17 0AS

Tuesdays to Thursdays 11am - 5pm 

Saturdays and Sundays 12noon - 5pm
[From September Bagshaw Museum is open on weekends and Kirklees school holidays - 12noon - 4pm]

Free entry

Ancient Egypt: the Kingdom of Osiris

Discover this stunningly atmospheric gallery where dramatic lighting effects help you to imagine exploring the interior of an ancient Egyptian tomb.

• Marvel at a very rare complete cartonnage mask, the face an Egyptian woman presented to the gods in the afterlife.
• Find the mummified human hand and learn about the process to preserve the body after death.
• Admire the jewellery, cosmetics, mirrors and containers the dead considered essential to accompany them into the next life.
• Discover the sarcophagus of Ta-di-ta-nebet-hen with all its intricate and mysterious decoration.
• Learn what ancient Egyptians ate, the textiles they wove, and how they recorded their lives.

For more info visit: Bagshaw Museum 

@BagshawMuseum

Bagshaw Museum: Cartonnage Mask

Bagshaw Museum: Mask

Bankfield Museum

Boothtown Road, Halifax, HX3 6HG

Tuesday – Saturday 10am – 4pm

Free entry

The Fashion Gallery

Showcasing Calderdale Museums’ fashion and textile collections from ancient Egypt to modern day.

Calderdale Museums has one of the best but little known textile collections in the country. There are 17,000 objects, collected from all over the world. The collection began when the museum first opened in 1887. It represents the influence of world textiles on local production as well as how local textiles have been exported around and influenced the world. The collection includes significant objects from Ancient Egypt, The Balkans, China, Japan and the Indian Subcontinent. A range of English embroidery, samplers, costume, court dress, military uniforms, pattern books from West Yorkshire manufacturers and the design archive of Crossley’s Carpets. On display in the new Fashion Gallery are highlights from this fascinating collection.

For more info visit:  Bankfield Museum - Fashion Gallery

@BankfieldMuseum

Bankfield Museum: Fashion Gallery poster

Cliffe Castle Museum

Spring Gardens Lane, Keighley, BD20 6LH

Tuesday to Friday 10am - 4pm 
Saturday, Sunday and Bank Holiday Mondays 11am - 4pm
Last admission 3.30pm

Free entry

Cliffe Castle Museum has a small dedicated ancient Egyptian Gallery whose centrepiece is the black sarcophagus (coffin) made of sycamore fig, probably of a Pharaoh or nobleman, dated around 800 BCE. This came from a collection at Penrhyn Old Hall, Llandudno and was gifted to Keighley Museum in 1948. Cliffe Castle Museum also has its own mummy that was found at Thebes. It is of a young girl from the 4^th century, thought to be the daughter of a temple priest. The mummy was donated to Keighley Museum in 1901 by Sir John Briggs who had a passion for Egyptology. There are also many hundreds of ancient Egyptian artefacts on display in the gallery including, jewellery, beads, amulets and cartonnage masks.  

For more info visit: Cliffe Castle Museum 

@BradfordMuseums 

Cliffe Castle Museum: sarcophagus

Cliffe Castle Museum: Cartonnage Mask

Cliffe Castle Museum: Gallery displays

Leeds City Museum

Millennium Square, Leeds, LS2 8BH

Monday: closed

Tuesday to Friday: 10am–5pm

Weekends: 11am–5pm

Free entry

Ancient Worlds Gallery

Find out how the Egyptians, Romans and Greeks lived and died through investigating objects in the Ancient Worlds gallery.

Visit the final resting place of Nesyamun, the 3000 year old Leeds Mummy, and the only known mummy from the 20th Dynasty. Discover clues to the past in art and architecture, objects in the earth, ancient writing and burials.

The Ancient Worlds gallery is located on the third floor of the museum.

For more info visit: Leeds City Museum - Ancient Worlds Gallery 

@LeedsCityMuseum

Leeds City Museum: bead collar necklace c.728-663 BC

Leeds City Museum: outer coffin of the mummy Nesyamun

Let us know how many of the above you have visited @WFMuseums #Perenbast #GatewayToEternity

The loans in Gateway to Eternity are supported by the Weston Loan Programme with Art Fund.

Created by the Garfield Weston Foundation and Art Fund, the Weston Loan Programme is the first ever UK-wide funding scheme to enable smaller and local authority museums to borrow works of art and artefacts from national collections.