Ancient Egypt: the same old audience?
Egyptology exhibitions have always drawn massive crowds, but are they just attendedby regular museum-goers?
Ancient Egypt still has massive appeal to museum visitors, with major shows being held this year at the British Museum in London, the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge and Manchester Museum.
The trend underlines how exhibitions on Egyptology can help boost visitor figures and income, but curators insist that the shows are not an easy option.
The benchmark show was Treasures of Tutankhamun, which ran from March to December 1972 at the British Museum (BM). It attracted almost 1.7 million people, and is still the BM’s most visited exhibition.
Today’s Egyptology exhibitions might not attract those numbers, but they are still very popular. Journey to the Afterlife: the Ancient Egyptian Book of the Dead, held at the BM from November 2010 to March 2011, attracted 192,262 visitors.
Smaller museums also seem to benefit from the “pharaoh effect”.
Catherine Newley, the audience development manager at Verulamium Museum, part of St Albans Museums, says: “We had 6,061 visitors to [last year’s] Ancient Egypt Lives Forever exhibition, which represented about a 25% rise on our usual attendance for that time of year.”
Difference of opinion
Sector professionals are divided about whether the subject matter attracts new audiences.
Joann Fletcher, consultant Egyptologist to Harrogate Museums and arts and archaeology adviser to the museums of Barnsley and Wigan, says: “Based on our experience, helping organise temporary and permanent displays of Egyptian material over the past 20 years or so, such exhibitions do attract a new demographic and definitely increase visitor numbers.”
Campbell Price is the curator of Egypt and Sudan at Manchester Museum, which is showing Gifts for the Gods: Animal Mummies Revealed (until 17 April).
“Pharaonic visual culture is immediately recognisable, as opposed to, say, Persian, Etruscan or some Mesoamerican material, so it’s a more assured crowd pleaser than many topics,” Price says. “I’m not sure [these shows] attract a new demographic, so much as lots more of a museum’s regular demographic.”
The type of audience depends on the subject matter, says Hannah Boulton, the head of press and marketing at the BM. The 2014-15 exhibition Ancient Lives: New Discoveries, which presented a collection of Egyptian and Sudanese mummies, attracted lots of families, whereas the Book of the Dead exhibition appealed more to an “adult audience”, she adds.
Two Temple Place, a neo-Renaissance mansion in London, is launching Beyond Beauty: Transforming the Body in Ancient Egypt this month (30 January–24 April). The gallery showcases art from UK regional collections, and six institutions are collaborating on the show, including Bolton Museum and Macclesfield Museums.
Mary Rose Gunn, the chief executive of the Bulldog Trust, which runs the building, says the exhibition is targeting a key audience.
“In seeking a slightly different focus to our exhibition than many other Egyptology shows, coupled with our efforts to promote connections with modern-day Egypt, we hope to welcome new visitors, especially from London’s North African and Middle Eastern communities,” she says. Crucially, the show is backed by the Egyptian government.
Gunn highlights the retail aspect of the show, pointing out that the merchandise will focus on British-made design inspired by Egyptian art and imagery, as well as Egyptian craft, sourced through the Egyptian State Tourist Office.
“Egypt certainly sells, in retail and commercial value, but more could intelligently be made of this,” says Price of the Manchester Museum. He refutes the charge that shows are unchallenging, saying: “Several Egyptological topics – colonial acquisitions, human remains display – are controversial, though increasingly explored, so I wouldn’t say it’s necessarily low-risk.”
New research is often key to creating compelling ancient Egypt exhibitions. “There is always strong research and often an academic project that underlies the exhibitions, which means the latest information is being presented to the visiting public,” says the BM’s Boulton.
Price, meanwhile, explains why the shows are a critical and commercial success. “Egyptology is popular because of ancient Egypt’s distinctive allure: colourful, exotic, mysterious and sexy,” he says. “New discoveries constantly emerge.”
The trend underlines how exhibitions on Egyptology can help boost visitor figures and income, but curators insist that the shows are not an easy option.
The benchmark show was Treasures of Tutankhamun, which ran from March to December 1972 at the British Museum (BM). It attracted almost 1.7 million people, and is still the BM’s most visited exhibition.
Today’s Egyptology exhibitions might not attract those numbers, but they are still very popular. Journey to the Afterlife: the Ancient Egyptian Book of the Dead, held at the BM from November 2010 to March 2011, attracted 192,262 visitors.
Smaller museums also seem to benefit from the “pharaoh effect”.
Catherine Newley, the audience development manager at Verulamium Museum, part of St Albans Museums, says: “We had 6,061 visitors to [last year’s] Ancient Egypt Lives Forever exhibition, which represented about a 25% rise on our usual attendance for that time of year.”
Difference of opinion
Sector professionals are divided about whether the subject matter attracts new audiences.
Joann Fletcher, consultant Egyptologist to Harrogate Museums and arts and archaeology adviser to the museums of Barnsley and Wigan, says: “Based on our experience, helping organise temporary and permanent displays of Egyptian material over the past 20 years or so, such exhibitions do attract a new demographic and definitely increase visitor numbers.”
Campbell Price is the curator of Egypt and Sudan at Manchester Museum, which is showing Gifts for the Gods: Animal Mummies Revealed (until 17 April).
“Pharaonic visual culture is immediately recognisable, as opposed to, say, Persian, Etruscan or some Mesoamerican material, so it’s a more assured crowd pleaser than many topics,” Price says. “I’m not sure [these shows] attract a new demographic, so much as lots more of a museum’s regular demographic.”
The type of audience depends on the subject matter, says Hannah Boulton, the head of press and marketing at the BM. The 2014-15 exhibition Ancient Lives: New Discoveries, which presented a collection of Egyptian and Sudanese mummies, attracted lots of families, whereas the Book of the Dead exhibition appealed more to an “adult audience”, she adds.
Two Temple Place, a neo-Renaissance mansion in London, is launching Beyond Beauty: Transforming the Body in Ancient Egypt this month (30 January–24 April). The gallery showcases art from UK regional collections, and six institutions are collaborating on the show, including Bolton Museum and Macclesfield Museums.
Mary Rose Gunn, the chief executive of the Bulldog Trust, which runs the building, says the exhibition is targeting a key audience.
“In seeking a slightly different focus to our exhibition than many other Egyptology shows, coupled with our efforts to promote connections with modern-day Egypt, we hope to welcome new visitors, especially from London’s North African and Middle Eastern communities,” she says. Crucially, the show is backed by the Egyptian government.
Gunn highlights the retail aspect of the show, pointing out that the merchandise will focus on British-made design inspired by Egyptian art and imagery, as well as Egyptian craft, sourced through the Egyptian State Tourist Office.
“Egypt certainly sells, in retail and commercial value, but more could intelligently be made of this,” says Price of the Manchester Museum. He refutes the charge that shows are unchallenging, saying: “Several Egyptological topics – colonial acquisitions, human remains display – are controversial, though increasingly explored, so I wouldn’t say it’s necessarily low-risk.”
New research is often key to creating compelling ancient Egypt exhibitions. “There is always strong research and often an academic project that underlies the exhibitions, which means the latest information is being presented to the visiting public,” says the BM’s Boulton.
Price, meanwhile, explains why the shows are a critical and commercial success. “Egyptology is popular because of ancient Egypt’s distinctive allure: colourful, exotic, mysterious and sexy,” he says. “New discoveries constantly emerge.”