{"id":323086,"date":"2026-05-19T16:59:41","date_gmt":"2026-05-19T16:59:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/323086\/"},"modified":"2026-05-19T16:59:41","modified_gmt":"2026-05-19T16:59:41","slug":"ancient-treasures-from-lost-egyptian-city-head-to-san-francisco","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/323086\/","title":{"rendered":"Ancient Treasures From Lost Egyptian City Head to San Francisco"},"content":{"rendered":"

In 2020, Egyptian archaeologists discovered the lost \u201cgolden city\u201d of Aten\u2014built under King Tutankhamun\u2019s grandfather Amenhotep III in the late 1300s B.C.E. then abandoned by his heretic son, Akhenaten. \u201cI don\u2019t think you can oversell it,\u201d Salima Ikram, the head of the American University in Cairo\u2019s Egyptology unit, said as crews announced the discovery<\/a>. \u201cIt is mind-blowing.\u201d This summer, dozens of relics unearthed there will debut to American fans in the show \u201cTreasures of the Pharaohs<\/a>\u201d at the de Young Museum in San Francisco.<\/p>\n

The exhibition made its global premier in Rome last November. All of its offerings are on loan from Egypt\u2019s storied institutions, like the Egyptian Museum in Cairo and the Luxor Museum. The country\u2019s famed archaeologist Zahi Hawass<\/a> wrote the catalog.<\/p>\n

The de Young is no stranger to ancient Egypt, though. The museum holds over 500 of Egyptian artifacts of its own, though none will appear in this show. Visiting artifacts often travel through, too. In fact, according to the San Francisco Chronicle, the last traveling Egyptian exhibition that the de Young hosted\u2014\u201cRamses the Great and the Gold of the Pharaohs<\/a>,\u201d in 2022\u2014remains its most popular offering since 2019, welcoming 312,114 visitors.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Armchair of Princess Sitamun, Dynasty 18 (ca. 1391-1353 B.C.E.) Photo by Massimo Listri, courtesy of Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco.<\/p>\n

At the de Young, \u201cTreasures of the Pharaohs\u201d will closely resemble its Roman predecessor. \u201cThe layout by nature of the galleries will be different, and the thematic arrangement has been devised differently for the de Young,\u201d a representative told me over email.<\/p>\n

The show will present 130 artifacts hailing from the ancient Egypt\u2019s origins (around 3100 B.C.E.) through its penultimate Third Intermediate Period (1076 through 655 B.C.E.) across six sections in eight galleries. Per press materials, the full spectacle will offer \u201crare insights into Egyptian society and beliefs\u201d while \u201cdeepening our understanding of their world, government, and gods.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Egyptian pharaohs were considered both deities and leaders,\u201d added Ren\u00e9e Dreyfus, ancient art curator at the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco. \u201cAs the exhibition reveals, their rule depended not only on their position but also on their families, those who served them, traditional symbols of power, and the religious beliefs that shaped their world and afterlife.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Pectoral pendant of Amenemope (1000 \u2013 991 B.C.E.) Photo by Massimo Listri, courtesy of Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco.<\/p>\n

\u201cTreasures of the Pharaohs\u201d will begin with a section explaining Pharaoh-hood itself. Next, it will introduce the hierarchy of subjects surrounding the pharaoh, who made the leader\u2019s reign possible. After that, the show will explore ancient Egypt\u2019s noted spiritual side, which permeated \u201call aspects of Egyptian thought,\u201d according to press materials.<\/p>\n

The following section, centered on the connection between daily life and death in Egyptian culture, will offer an \u201cidealized portrait\u201d of everyday experience crafted from especially elegant jewelry, cosmetics, tools, and furnishings.<\/p>\n

Called \u201cthe Pompeii of Egypt,\u201d the newfound Golden City also offers its own unprecedented view into Egyptian daily life. The 20 new Golden City relics, featured in a standalone section, will include a stone mill, glass vessels, limestone statues. \u201cTreasures of the Pharaohs\u201d concludes with a section on the Egyptian notion of mortality. Of course, for the Egyptians, death was only the beginning.<\/p>\n

\u201cTreasures of the Pharaohs\u201d is on view at the de Young Museum, 50 Hagiwara Tea Garden Dr, San Francisco, California, August 1, 2026\u2013January 31, 2027.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In 2020, Egyptian archaeologists discovered the lost \u201cgolden city\u201d of Aten\u2014built under King Tutankhamun\u2019s grandfather Amenhotep III in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":323087,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[134583,39946,118859,7,104584,12017,134584,9734,12344,111295,134589,6607,134585,134587,134015,101,103,102,104,106,105,1860,134586,134588],"class_list":["post-323086","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-francisco","tag-ancient-egypt","tag-archaeology","tag-artnet-news","tag-california","tag-de-young","tag-egypt","tag-egyptology","tag-exhibition","tag-exhibitions","tag-fine-arts-museums-of-san-francisco","tag-ministry-of-culture","tag-museum","tag-museum-show","tag-pharaohs","tag-renee-dreyfus","tag-san-francisco","tag-san-francisco-headlines","tag-san-francisco-news","tag-sf","tag-sf-headlines","tag-sf-news","tag-show","tag-treasures-of-the-pharaohs","tag-zahi-hawass"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/323086","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=323086"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/323086\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/323087"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=323086"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=323086"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=323086"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}