“Egypt’s Sunken Treasures” riding high

Every bit as remarkable as the world premiere of the exhibition on “Egypt’s Sunken Treasures,” which is to be shown in Berlin, Germany from 13 May through 04 September, is the manner in which the artefacts will be brought from Alexandria to Berlin: some of them weigh several tons and for the journey they are to be loaded onto the transport aircraft Airbus 300-600ST Beluga, which Airbus is lending for this special cultural undertaking. Having spent thousands of years on the bottom of the sea, the monumental statues, fragments of ancient columns and cult objects will arrive in Germany’s capital aboard an aircraft with today’s most voluminous cargo hold.

By supporting the exhibition Airbus and its parent company EADS wish to make a contribution to cultural life and to enable the city of Berlin and its visitors from all over the world to experience “Egypt’s Sunken Treasures” in what is one of the most famous and beautiful exhibition buildings in Germany – the Martin-Gropius-Bau.

The exhibit will present 489 artefacts discovered during underwater archaeological excavations done from 1992 to 2005.

Those excavations have been performed under the supervision of the Supreme Council for Antiquities of Egypt by the European Institute for Underwater Archaeology (IEASM). Those excavations were performed in the Great Port of Alexandria (the Portus Magnus now submerged) as well as in the bay of Aboukir; more particularly on the sunken city of Heracleion, discovered in 2000, and on the site of East Canopus already partially spotted in 1934 by Omar Toussoum.

Among the “passengers” of the “Beluga” will be the largest free-standing statue of an Egyptian deity ever found, a representation of Hapi, the god of fertility and the Nile flood (height: 540 cm) and a remarkably well-defined sculpture of a female body crafted from dark-coloured stone, thought to be a likeness of the Ptolemaic queen Arsinoe II. Another particularly significant item is the 80 cm high head of a colossal statue dating from the 1st century BC: the youthful look of the face leads archaeologists to suppose that it is a portrait of Cleopatra’s oldest son, Ptolemy XV, her child by Caesar. The people of Alexandria used to refer to him as “Caesarion”, meaning “Little Caesar.”

But the exhibits’ travels are by no means over when they have completed the trip to Berlin on board the “Beluga”. At the end of their stay at the Martin-Gropius-Bau the statues will take off again, this time on a flight to France. From December 2006 to March 2007 “Egypt’s Sunken Treasures” will be on show in the Grand Palais, Paris. By providing the "Beluga" Airbus and its parent company EADS prove once again that they are good corporate citizens and culturally committed companies.

Around 500 objects, among them several monumental statues as well as coins, jewellery and cult objects will be on display to the general public in the world premiere “Egypt’s Sunken Treasures”. The artefacts span from the days of the last pharaohs to Alexander the Great and the period of Greek rule to the Roman conquest that ended after the spread of Christianity with the age of Islam.

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