Ancient Egypt lives forever here at Immortal Egypt

With ‘Tut’22: the life of Tutankhamun’ welcoming more than 40,000 visitors in its five month run, some from as far afield as Barcelona and Cairo(!), the doors were finally closed for the last time on 18th March. But thanks to the magic of some truly amazing technology, the exhibition will live forever online here at Immortal Egypt and we couldn’t be more delighted!

Our final event ‘An Evening with Jo and Stephen…’ on 16th March was also a wonderful way to celebrate our local links to Tutankhamun and ‘the greatest archaeological discovery of all time’ in the very best of company. Hosted by Barnsley College who had an auditorium big enough to seat the sell-out crowd, the event was live streamed to bring viewers in from as far afield as Germany, Spain and of course Egypt, where the comments were as kind and moving as those asked by our live audience. Thank you all so much to everyone who attended, to Graham, Josh and Harry from FrontRowLive for their expert production and to Lynn, Alison and Devinia from Barnsley Museums, making it a night with friends we’ll never forget!

Graham Walker chatting with Jo and Stephen at their ‘Audience with….’ event

So too in Scarborough, where our complimentary exhibition ‘Resurrecting Ancient Egypt: a Monumental Yorkshire Journey’ also ended on 18th March. Reflecting the West’s enduring fascination with Egypt’s ancient monuments, copied and constructed for centuries right across Europe, this is no more so than in God’s Own County - Yorkshire, obviously - which has more pyramids than any other part of England, the oldest obelisk erected in Britain and the only full-sized replica of an Egyptian temple in the country. As something we’ve been researching for over 30 years as part of our ‘Ancient Egypt in Yorkshire’ project, the exhibition features images by Kyte Photography, and was initially part of our Ancient Egypt trilogy at Barnsley Museum venues back in 2017, Gods’ Land in God’s County - listen here to AUDIO TOUR: Ancient Egypt In Yorkshire with Prof Joann Fletcher.

Jo’s ancient Egypt exhibitions in Barnsley in 2017-2018

Barnsley then kindly loaned ‘Resurrecting Ancient Egypt’ to Scarborough’s stunning Art Gallery, whose front of house team did their usual wonderful job welcoming visitors from across the county. And with plans for a third Yorkshire venue next year, the exhibition again lives on at Immortal Egypt with an online tour here - which we will expand with a further layer of content in the future.

But not only does this new technology allow our exhibitions to last forever in a virtual sense, many of you who came to our venues in person told us they’d like to accompany us on our next adventure, not only to Egypt but around Yorkshire where we’re planning visits to some wonderful museum collections and spectacular Egyptian monuments. So its most appropriate that at the start of English Tourism Week, we can say to the world 'come to Yorkshire and see ancient Egypt'!

The Tut’ 22 exhibition advertising ‘English Tourism Week’ (courtesy Barnsley Museum)

Obviously we can’t guarantee the sunshine, but we do find an umbrella to be the perfect thing for either destination…….

Jo : )