{"id":319184,"date":"2026-06-25T09:25:10","date_gmt":"2026-06-25T09:25:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/319184\/"},"modified":"2026-06-25T09:25:10","modified_gmt":"2026-06-25T09:25:10","slug":"tampa-museum-of-art-opens-ancient-egyptian-art-exhibition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/319184\/","title":{"rendered":"Tampa Museum of Art opens ancient Egyptian art exhibition"},"content":{"rendered":"

For the next two years, the Tampa Museum of Art<\/a> will be home to an eye-opening collection of ancient Egyptian art \u2014 the first such exhibition ever in Tampa.<\/p>\n

Branko van Oppen, curator of ancient art at the museum, said he has wanted to have something about Egypt on display since he was appointed in 2022.<\/p>\n

The museum currently has Greek, Roman and Etruscan art exhibits.<\/p>\n

Mysteries of the Nile: Ancient Egypt is an overview of what life at the time was like, van Oppen said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere’s a little bit about everyday life and about power, about the pharaohs and queens, about the elites, the priests and the scribes of ancient Egypt,” he said. <\/p>\n

ALSO READ: Tampa Museum of Art is kicking off its expansion project with new dog parks<\/a><\/p>\n

“There is also attention to mummification and the Egyptian ideas about the afterlife, how in the hereafter the Egyptians dream to live on in the Field of Rushes<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

The exhibition is made up of 117 items, a third of them loaned from the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto.<\/p>\n

Van Oppen said the exhibition also includes artifacts from the museum\u2019s own collection, as well as some items on loan from private collectors.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe museum now has more than 60 objects in the collection that are related to ancient Egypt, we should celebrate that and we should let the people know that there are other ancient civilizations that are worth our attention.\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\n 1 of 4
\n \u00a0\u2014\u00a0Sarcophagus bust 2000.02.03\n <\/p>\n

Wood sculpture, gesso, paint; modernly repainted; Egypt; Late Period \u2013 Hellenistic Period; 26th Dynasty \u2013 Ptolemaic Dynasty, ca. 664\u201330 \u0299\u1d04\u1d07. Loaned to the Tampa Museum of Art from the Sorvats-Trebor Collection (2000.02.03).<\/p>\n

Tampa Museum of Art \/ Courtesy<\/p>\n

\n 2 of 4
\n \u00a0\u2014\u00a0Bust of Nefertiti.jpg\n <\/p>\n

Plaster sculpture, replica; Egypt; Modern, 1933. Loaned to the Tampa Museum of Art from the Royal Ontario Museum, Gift of the Egypt Exploration Society (933.64.10).<\/p>\n

Tampa Museum of Art \/ Courtesy<\/p>\n

\n 3 of 4
\n \u00a0\u2014\u00a0Feline Goddess Bastet.jpg\n <\/p>\n

Bronze figurine; Egypt; Late Period, 26th Dynasty, ca. 664\u2013525 \u0299\u1d04\u1d07. Tampa Museum of Art, Joseph Veach Noble Collection, 1986.166.<\/p>\n

Tampa Museum of Art \/ Courtesy<\/p>\n

\n 4 of 4
\n \u00a0\u2014\u00a0Ovoid Head of Aged Man.jpg\n <\/p>\n

Basalt sculpture; Egypt; modern replica. Loaned to the Tampa Museum of Art from the Sorvats-Trebor Collection (2002.005).<\/p>\n

Tampa Museum of Art \/ Courtesy<\/p>\n

One of the items from the Tampa Museum’s collection is a linen bag containing a mineral called natron, which was used in the mummyfication process.<\/p>\n

Van Oppen said the bag was found randomly in the archives about six years ago.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s crazy that we have that in our collection, but it’s an object that was directly related to preparing the body for the afterlife, and in this case, for preparing King Tut’s body for the afterlife,\u201d he said. \u201cSo we’re really excited to have that on view. We had no idea that we had that in our collection. It was sitting on the shelf for 40 years.\u201d<\/p>\n

ALSO READ: USF research of a 2,000-year-old mug shows ancient Egyptians used hallucinogens<\/a><\/p>\n

Van Oppen said the exhibition was designed to be family-friendly in the hope it will bring in people who may not have visited the museum before.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe’ve tried to make the texts, the labels, as accessible as possible, not being scholarly or academic, trying to use as little jargon and technical terms as possible so that everyone can enjoy it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

He said the exhibition will add to the museum\u2019s already diverse collection of both ancient and modern art.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are always looking for another civilization, that could be ancient India or that could be Mesoamerica,\u201d he said. \u201cBut in this case, it’s ancient Egypt. And I think that variety is adding to what we have on view in the museum.\u201d<\/p>\n

The exhibition offers viewers a glimpse into how Egyptians thought about the meaning of life and death through objects like statues, amulets and elements of worship.<\/p>\n

Van Oppen said this makes for an interesting experience because although things differ depending on culture and time period, the act of contemplating and interpreting life is something all humans do.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is good to see that that long ago, people were struggling with the same kinds of thoughts, the same kind of making sense of life,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"For the next two years, the Tampa Museum of Art will be home to an eye-opening collection of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":319185,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[135,137,136],"class_list":["post-319184","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tampa","tag-tampa","tag-tampa-headlines","tag-tampa-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/319184","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=319184"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/319184\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/319185"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=319184"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=319184"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=319184"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}