Why we still dig in Egypt - the enduring fascination of Egypt
Times Online (Neil MacGregor, Director of the British Museum)
The British Museum’s collections span almost every corner of the globe and every period of human history, but, for many, the images conjured up by the words “British Museum” are of mummies and animal-headed gods. The Egyptian galleries remain the museum’s most visited areas, and the Egyptian collection, the most importantany-where outside Egypt, has played a significant role in shedding light on the ancient Egyptian world for tens of millions of people. School visits make a beeline for the mummy galleries, eager to learn about Egyptian attitudes to life and death.
Perhaps the best-known object in the collection is the Rosetta Stone, a stele from the 2nd century BC that bears inscriptions in three ancient scripts, and proved the key to deciphering Egyptian hieroglyphs. That decipherment at last revealed the world of ancient Egypt, revolutionising our understanding of this civilisation.
If the Rosetta Stone is the most famous Egyptian object in the British Museum, the most loved is a very stylish cat sporting a raffish gold earring, called the Gayer-Anderson Cat, after the retired army major from whom the object was acquired. It is perhaps the finest bronze statue to survive from ancient Egypt, a superb example of ancient metal craftsmanship, and its elegant form, gold jewellery and elaborate necklace with solar symbols encapsulate the mysteriousness of Egyptian religion.
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