Presentation
The Egyptian Museum of Florence hosts one of the most important collections in Europe, and the second in Italy, after the Egyptian Museum in Turin.
A first group of Egyptian relics has been present in Florence since the 18th century in the Medici collections, and during the 19th century this was greatly increased by the Grand-duke of Tuscany Leopold II, who bought some collections and sponsored a scientific expedition to Egypt from 1828 to 1829. The expedition was led by Jean François Champollion and Ippolito Rosellini from Pisa, the father of Italian Egyptology.
The Egyptian Museum of Florence was established in 1855, and in 1880 was rearranged by the Egyptologist Ernesto Schiaparelli in the present location. Schiaparelli also significantly increased the Florentine Egyptian collections, thanks to his excavations and purchases made in Egypt, prior to his becoming Director of the Egyptian Museum of Turin in 1894.
The last group of relics acquired by the Egyptian Museum of Florence was made of donations from private citizens and scientific institutions; particularly noteworthy are the finds donated by the “G. Vitelli” Papyrological Institute of Florence from excavations in Egypt at El Hibeh and Antinoe between 1934 and 1939.
Now the Egyptian Museum of Florence holds over 14,700 finds, with materials ranging in date from the Prehistoric to the Coptic Periods: the most important objects are displayed throughout eleven rooms.
The Museum stores about 100 sarcophagi, most made of wood; many of these sarcophagi have never been published before. During the period in which Ernesto Schiaparelli was the director of the Florence Museum many new accessions occurred. Among them, one may notice the Lot V from Bab el-Gasus tomb. This bulk of artifacts, including coffins, shabtis and shabti-boxes, have never been studied nor photographed before.
Therefore I especially want to acknowledge my dear colleague Rogério Sousa, who, with his Gate of the Priests Project, has been able to fill in the gaps of knowledge of the coffins stored in the Egyptian Museum of Florence. Without him the present book would never have seen the light.
M. Cristina Guidotti
Director of the Egyptian Museum of Florence
Florence