PHILADELPHIA, PA.- A century after first opening its Egyptian Galleries, the Penn Museum will unveil its reimagined Egypt Galleries: Life and Afterlife on December 12, a major milestone in the largest transformation project in the institution’s 139-year history. Drawing from one of the most important Egyptian collections in the United States, the new galleries will bring together more than 1,000 artifacts spanning 4,000 years to explore how ancient Egyptians lived, worked, worshipped, and prepared for eternity.
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Representing the first phase of the bi-level 14,000-square-foot Ancient Egypt and Nubia Galleries, the Egypt Galleries: Life and Afterlife extend across a large, central gallery and three connecting spaces, comprising the entire 7,000-square-foot Main Level of the Museum’s Eckley B. Coxe Wing—first constructed in 1926 and fully renovated ahead of the gallery reinstallation.
“The Egypt Galleries will be a point of pride for Penn and the City of Philadelphia and an international destination for anyone interested in the ancient world,” says Dr. Christopher Woods, Williams Director of the Penn Museum and Avalon Professor of the Humanities in Penn’s School of Arts and Sciences. “A hundred years after these galleries first opened, we are realizing a long-held vision for one of the most significant ancient Egyptian collections and creating a new experience that will invite visitors—from schoolchildren to lifelong learners—to connect with ancient Egypt through the lives, beliefs, and aspirations of the people who created and used the objects on view.”
Through a visitor experience enhanced with multimedia elements, the Egypt Galleries: Life and Afterlife will present ancient Egyptians not as distant, unknowable figures but as real people with names, families, professions, beliefs, and hopes for the world beyond this life.
At the heart of the galleries will be the newly conserved 4,300-year-old Tomb Chapel of Kaipure (E15729), a high-ranking treasury official during Egypt’s Old Kingdom (2686–2181 BCE). Excavated more than a century ago at Saqqara—a burial ground near modern-day Cairo—the chapel served as a sacred space where priests performed funerary rites and placed offerings intended to sustain Kaipure in the afterlife.
The Tomb Chapel of Kaipure features a monumental five-ton “false door,” a symbolic threshold through which the deceased’s spirit could access offerings from the living world. Following extensive conservation, the original pigment is now more visible on its nearly 100 carved and painted limestone blocks, providing clearer depictions of everyday life, offerings, rituals, hieroglyphic inscriptions, and representations of Kaipure. Visitors will now be able to enter and move through the chapel, experiencing the space firsthand.
“As one of the largest and most important collections of Egyptian and Nubian antiquities in the U.S., the Penn Museum offers visitors a rare opportunity to encounter ancient Egypt at an unparalleled scale,” says Dr. Jennifer Houser Wegner, the Curator-in-Charge of the Egyptian Collection at the Penn Museum. “Part of our goal is to humanize the ancient Egyptians and move beyond the idea that they were concerned only with death. The people who made these artifacts, carved the stone, wrote on papyrus, and painted the statues were once living, breathing individuals. They had jobs, families, relationships, worries, celebrations, and dreams— just as we do.”
Organized chronologically from the Predynastic Period to the Greco-Roman Period, the Egypt Galleries: Life and Afterlife will examine ancient Egyptian civilization through objects, texts, architecture, and interactive experiences that illuminate both daily life and preparations for the afterlife.
In an Introduction section, guests will encounter a timeline of ancient Egyptian history and a large interactive map indicating Egypt’s and Nubia’s location within the continent of Africa— highlighting the sites where Penn archaeologists have led excavations for more than 100 years, including those of Abydos and Dra Abu el-Naga.
The Life Along the Nile area will explore how ancient Egyptians lived and worked through the objects and extensive writings they left behind. Visitors can engage with the past in new ways through interactive elements, such as tactile blocks that show how sentences are constructed using hieroglyphs; protective drawers housing delicate papyrus manuscripts; and a 3-D model of an ancient Egyptian home during the New Kingdom. A whimsical animation of The Instruction of Dua-Khety, also known as The Satire of the Trades, will bring to life one of ancient Egypt’s notable literary works, in which a father encourages his son to become a scribe by humorously exaggerating the hardships of other professions, from bricklayer to fisherman. In addition, tools, raw materials, crafts, and furniture will reveal the textures of everyday life.
The Journey to the Afterlife section will explore ancient Egyptian funerary beliefs, deities, rituals, and burial preparations. On view will be objects considered essential for a successful afterlife, including canopic jars used to protect internal organs, boat models for transportation, and funerary masks.
The Main Gallery, along with two adjacent smaller galleries, will house a chronological presentation of evolving burial practices across ancient Egyptian history. Objects related to mummification and burial—including beautifully decorated coffins, stelae, cartonnage, funerary statues, amulets, heart scarabs, and an embalming tool—will show how preparations for eternity changed over thousands of years. A focal point of this section will be a wall displaying nearly 100 mounted “shabti” figurines, which were believed to carry out agricultural work and other tasks for the deceased in the next world.
Throughout the galleries, ancient Egyptian names and language will be used to identify individuals whenever possible. This approach reflects the ancient Egyptian belief that preserving a person’s name was essential to sustaining their identity in the afterlife. For example, the funerary stela of Nefersefekhy from the First Intermediate Period lists his name and requests eternal offerings of food and drink, ensuring his continued sustenance beyond death.
“To stand inside a reconstructed Old Kingdom chapel outside of Egypt is an extraordinary experience. Few museums in the world could accomplish a project of this scale. The conservation and reconstruction of this monument represent an exceptional achievement, allowing visitors to experience ancient Egypt in a way that is unforgettable. The Penn Museum has created something remarkable that will inspire future generations to appreciate ancient Egyptian civilization,” explains Dr. Zahi Hawass, the internationally renowned Egyptian archaeologist, former Minister of State for Antiquities Affairs, and a Ph.D. graduate of the University of Pennsylvania.
The second phase, the Egypt and Nubia Galleries: Royalty and Religion, will showcase the colossal 3,000-year-old palace of the Pharaoh Merenptah, with towering 30-ft. columns displayed at their full height for the first time since their excavation more than 100 years ago. Scheduled to open in 2029, these galleries will be located on the Penn Museum’s Upper Level—completing the five-year Ancient Egypt and Nubia Galleries transformation.
“The new galleries at the Penn Museum represent an exciting new chapter in sharing the story of ancient Egypt and Nubia. They bring together more than a century of archaeological discovery with innovative displays that allow visitors to experience these remarkable civilizations in a new way. The Penn Museum is home to one of the finest Egyptian and Nubian collections in the U.S., and these galleries showcase it with outstanding scholarship, thoughtful interpretation, and a respect for the people who created these extraordinary objects,” adds Hawass. “Visitors can appreciate these masterpieces knowing they were responsibly and legally acquired through scientific excavation and long-standing archaeological partnerships with Egypt. That confidence allows people to focus on the beauty, history, and enduring legacy of ancient Egypt and Nubia. These are galleries that people will want to visit again and again.”
In addition to the opening celebration on December 12, hour-long public tours through the Egypt Galleries: Life and Afterlife will be offered most Saturday and Sunday afternoons at 2:00 pm, from December 19, 2026, through March 27, 2027.
The Egypt Galleries: Life and Afterlife were made possible with lead support from the Selz Foundation, Lisa and Bernard Selz, and with additional support from the Graham Family Foundation, Ingrid A. Graham and Donald C. Graham, and Erica Weissman Desai, C’96, and Anand Desai, C’96, W’96.
