Egyptian Hall of the Museum of Fine Arts. Getting to know the culture of ancient Egypt. children's educational tour of the Egyptian hall of the Pushkin Museum. Immersion in the culture of Ancient Egypt

I invite you to an educational walk through the halls for children and adults Ancient Egypt. During the excursion, the children will get acquainted with Egyptian art and unravel the secrets of the mysterious ancient civilization: they will find out who invented the mummy, why the pyramids were built, what the fancy hieroglyphs mean and what function the priests performed. And at the end the participants are waiting creative task, which will allow game form consolidate the material and better remember new interesting facts!

What awaits you

Immersion in the culture of Ancient Egypt

In the halls of the museum, children will get acquainted with one of the world's best collections of objects of ancient Egyptian civilization. Will consider ancient mummy and sarcophagi, a real sphinx, a sculptural portrait of a pharaoh, Egyptian papyri and reliefs covered with hieroglyphs, as well as masterpieces of the collection - a paired sculpture of the priests Amenhotep and Rannai and a cosmetic spoon from Ivory, in which paints and incense were stored. Each item in the collection will tell children about the art of Ancient Egypt, religious cults and Everyday life Egyptians, their way of life and writing.

Mysteries of Egyptian civilization

The Egyptians left us many mysteries and symbols that you will have to unravel during the tour! You will learn how and why the Egyptians made mummies, why the pyramids were built, what is special Egyptian hieroglyphs, who are the sphinxes and why do the Egyptian gods have animal heads. And at the end of the excursion, to reinforce the material, children will receive a “papyrus” with empty windows, which will be filled with stickers with images of Egyptian masterpieces, and will answer the question why the Egyptians created these works of art.

Who is the excursion suitable for?

The excursion is designed for children 10-12 years old; the program can also be adapted for an adult audience.

Organizational details

• Depending on the composition of the group participants (children or adults), the cost of the program may vary.
• Tickets for schoolchildren in the museum are purchased separately. Tickets are free, but must be obtained from the box office
• Adults accompanying children purchase entry tickets at the museum ticket office. The cost of a full ticket is 300 rubles. To receive the benefit you must present a document.
• The day of the excursion must be agreed upon at least 7 days before the required date.

In the hall of art of Ancient Egypt, about 800 exhibits are exhibited, representing all periods of the history of the development of the country of the pharaohs, starting from the 4th millennium BC. until the 4th century BC These are wooden and stone sarcophagi, statues, reliefs, household and funerary objects, mummies of people and animals, papyri, vessels and jewelry, figurines of deities and amulets. The hall itself is decorated architectural elements, characteristic of an ancient Egyptian temple: the ceiling is painted, false beams are supported by graceful columns in the form of a bunch of papyrus. This gives the hall special atmosphere and immediately sets up the person entering to communicate with ancient Egyptian art.

The most ancient exhibits Egyptian collection The Pushkin Museum includes stone tools (c. VI - V millennium BC), as well as slate pallets and painted clay vessels of the Nagada I - III cultures (IV millennium BC). Along with rich and varied mass material - sacrificial gifts originating from tombs and intended for a prosperous life after death - the collection of the Pushkin Museum presents outstanding works of ancient Egyptian art (the upper part of the statue of the king of the Middle Kingdom Amenemhat III, figurines of the priest Amenhotep and the priestess Rannai, a cosmetic spoon of the New kingdoms and others).

Most of the items presented in the hall have been on display since the opening of the Museum. fine arts in 1912 and form the core of one of the world's finest private collections of ancient Egyptian art. It's about about the Russian orientalist Vladimir Semenovich Golenishchev (1856 - 1947). His collection, numbering approx. 8 thousand items, became the first museum acquisition of originals in 1909. In 1913, the museum bought a collection of monuments from the major Moscow collector L.I. Ginzburg, including a relief block depicting mourners. Several truly precious gifts were brought to the museum by Yu.S. Nechaev-Maltsov: these are excellent Fayum portraits, a golden diadem and a statue of Harpocrates. After October revolution The Egyptian collection was replenished with exhibits transferred from various museums and private collections. Presented to the Department Ancient East Egyptian monuments belonging to them and scientists whose activities were inextricably linked with the museum - B.V. Farmakovsky, T.N. Borozdina-Kozmina, A.V. Zhivago. The museum's collection was significantly enriched after the acquisition in 1940 from N.A. Prahov of the collection of his father, philologist and art critic A.V. Prahov, numbering 217 exhibits. In subsequent years, the collection was replenished through donations, archaeological excavations, periodic purchases.

The first exposition of the hall of Ancient Egypt, timed to coincide with the opening of the Museum of Fine Arts, was made by the outstanding Russian Egyptologist Boris Aleksandrovich Turaev (1868 - 1920), the second, post-war, by Professor Vsevolod Vladimirovich Pavlov (1899 - 1972). The present exhibition opened in 1969. Its inspirer and organizer was the head of the Department of Ancient Orient, Doctor of Art History Svetlana Izmailovna Khodzhash (1923 - 2008).

The monuments in the hall are located in chronological sequence, starting with the most ancient - stone tools VI - V millennium BC (?), slate pallets and painted clay vessels of the Nagada I - III culture (IV millennium BC). The various forms of ceramic products and the presence of paintings give an idea of high level development of the artistic craft of this era. A rare exhibit is a clay dish with the image of a masked hunter holding four dogs on a leash. All objects were found in burials and are evidence of ritual practices of the Predynastic period. Already at this time, the main features of ancient Egyptian art appeared: conditioned by religious ideas, convention, symbolism, monumentality, which were fully developed after the unification of Upper and Lower Egypt into a single state (late 4th millennium BC) - during the Ancient kingdom(XXVIII-XXIII centuries BC).

The Ancient Kingdom is the time of the first flowering of Egyptian architecture, the final design of the pictorial canon, which Egyptian masters would adhere to for several millennia. During the same period, one of the greatest achievements art - sculptural portrait. The principles of decorating tombs with wall relief images, as well as the peculiarities of rendering the human figure and objects on a plane, are illustrated by a series of blocks from the tombs of the “chief of the royal treasury” Isi, the Egyptian Merit, the Egyptian Tepemankh (all - ca. 25th century BC), “ gardener of the pyramid of King Pepi II" Hiiu (c. 23rd century BC)

The visual arts of the ancient Egyptians were inextricably linked with religious beliefs and the requirements of the funeral cult. In particular, the portrait resemblance of the image to the person being portrayed was due to the belief that every person has a “double”, or “Ka” - a certain vital essence, which, being immortal, must have a permanent home in some image of the deceased. The idea that all monuments were intended for eternity and should not contain anything accidental, fleeting, determined the features of the conventional artistic language Egyptian plastic art: closed and undifferentiated volume, static, lack of excessive detail. Reliefs and statues of the V-VI dynasty (showcase No. 6) and a free-standing sculptural group the official Uja-dzher and his wife are clear examples of the embodiment of the canonical rules of depicting a person in sculptural images.

Showcase 6 contains individual objects that were placed in the tomb, and a unique exhibit - the mask of Pepi II (XXII century BC, VI dynasty), brought by V.S. Golenishchev from excavations at the site of the pyramid of this king.

The Middle Kingdom (XXII-XVIII centuries BC) is represented by such masterpieces as the portrait of King Amenemhet III (XIX centuries BC) and the stele of the “great steward” Khenenu (XXI-XX centuries BC .) from pinkish limestone.

The upper part of the statue of Amenemhat III brilliantly illustrates best features sculptural portrait of the Middle Kingdom during its heyday - interest in the individual and age characteristics of a person. The viewer can also see small examples of sculptural works (window No. 9), including a portrait of King Senusret II.

Two showcases display objects from the tombs of the Middle Kingdom that were necessary for the deceased in the afterlife - wooden models of funeral barges and figurines of servants (display case No. 10), as well as “magic wands”, magical female figurines, palettes in the shape of animals, small vessels made of stone (showcase no. 9).

The art of the New Kingdom (XVI-XI centuries BC) bears the imprint of the triumph of the Egyptian state after the expulsion of the Hyksos from the country.

The art of this extended period is characterized, on the one hand, by the strengthening of realistic tendencies, interest in depicting nature, the desire to convey movement, and on the other hand, by an increase in decorativeness, refinement and at the same time the formalization of artistic language. These qualities are clearly visible in monuments from the reigns of pharaohs Amenhotep III and Amenhotep IV (XIV century BC): in faience vessels and inlays on walls and furniture from Amarna, cosmetic spoons, playing chips, small figurines, as well as in a portrait of a young man from limestone. One of the masterpieces of the collection is distinguished by its exquisite beauty - a cosmetic spoon in the shape of a pink lotus flower, with a handle in the shape of a swimming girl. An excellent quality wooden spoon in the shape of a girl among thickets of papyrus, a wooden oval box with a retractable lid inlaid with earthenware inserts - wonderful examples of the art of ancient Egyptian woodcarving masters.

The undisputed masterpiece of the Egyptian collection of the Pushkin Museum is the paired sculptural group of the priest Amenhotep and his wife priestess Rannai, dating back to the reign of Hatshepsut. The figurines are made of rare ebony, imported to Egypt from the southern regions of Africa; the eyes of the spouses are inlaid with glassy paste. Slender figures, thin limbs, the presence of exquisite details - gilded jewelry and a luxurious women's wig - bring to us all the unique and recognizable beauty best works ancient Egyptian art.

Showcase No. 14 displays a relief from a private tomb late XVIII din. in Saqqara depicting mourning for the deceased. The dynamic composition and the depiction of human figures from complex angles give this fragment of the funeral procession drama and expressiveness.

The funeral rite, which played a huge role in the religion of the Egyptians, gave rise to a variety of objects directly related to the funeral cult and ideas about the fate of the deceased after death. These are sarcophagi, canopic jars (vessels for storing the embalmed entrails of the deceased), funeral masks, ushabti figurines and boxes for their storage, figurines of gods. In one of the display cases there is a swaddled mummy of the priest Khor-kha, covered with a net of faience beads, and the head of a woman’s mummy, as well as mummies of sacred animals - a cat and a falcon. Nearby, on the podium, is a set of canopic jars with lids in the form of the heads of the sons of the god Horus. The sarcophagi that are exhibited in the hall belong to different eras, starting from the 3rd millennium BC. (a simple clay box with a relief image of a boy in a fetal position on the lid). The brightest sarcophagi, completely covered with paintings, date back to the New Kingdom and are exhibited in the central part of the hall. Two stone sarcophagi date back to the second half of the 1st millennium BC.

Several display cases display numerous gods of the Egyptian pantheon. They are made of bronze, stone (statues of Osiris in showcases No. 24 and No. 26), small figurines of gods made of carnelian and rock crystal (display case No. 12). The figurine of the god of vegetation Nefertum is cast from silver (display case No. 18), and the sacred ibis of the god Thoth (display case No. 12) is made of white stone, with a bronze head and paws. All figurines are distinguished by high quality casting and fine detailing.

A significant part of the monuments consists of alabaster vessels, faience bowls, painted clay jugs, bronze situlas (ritual vessels) and mirrors, bronze weapons, jewelry made of semi-precious stones and Egyptian faience.

TO Late period(1st millennium BC) include statues and sculptural portraits (display case No. 26). Among them, a granite statue of the queen stands out, whose face has pronounced portrait features (first half of the 7th century BC). Made of solid stone, portraits from the period of the Sais dynasty (second half of the 7th-6th centuries BC) imitate ancient examples and reveal the craftsmen’s desire for perfection of form and ideal processing of the stone surface. The Sais period was a time of new flowering of artistic craft.

The so-called “sculptor's corner” allows you to get an idea of ​​the process of creating reliefs and sculptural works by Egyptian masters: here you can see unfinished reliefs or copies made by students, as well as drawings on pieces of limestone (ostraca).

Show full text

I’ve been meaning to talk about what is probably my favorite Moscow museum for a long time - the State Museum. fine arts them. A.S. Pushkin. I'll have to split the post into two parts, it's too big and... interesting museum.




PART 1

Don't expect to go around the whole State Museum Fine Arts named after. A.S. Pushkin in one visit. It's practically impossible. Is it just running, glancing briefly at the rich exhibits presented on two floors in 30 halls!
Therefore, I suggest you take a quick “run” through the halls of the museum with me right now, and let everyone thoroughly familiarize themselves with it on their own and preferably over several visits!
Just a little about the history of the museum. The groundbreaking ceremony for the Museum took place on August 17, 1898. The Museum of Fine Arts named after Emperor Alexander III at the Moscow Imperial University received its first visitors on May 31, 1912.

As was customary in those glorious years, the museum was built with donations from philanthropists. Most of the money was contributed by the great Russian philanthropist Yuri Stepanovich Nechaev-Maltsov.
The creator of the museum, Ivan Vladimirovich Tsvetaev (1847 - 1913) is a Russian scientist-historian, archaeologist, philologist and art historian, corresponding member of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences, professor at Moscow University (father of Marina Tsvetaeva).

So, go ahead, on the 1st floor!

Hall 1. ART OF ANCIENT EGYPT. IV-I millennium BC

The richest collection of ancient Egyptian art presented in the exhibition of this hall introduces the stages of development of Egyptian culture, starting from the pre-dynastic period (IV millennium BC) until the time of the New Kingdom (XVII-XII centuries BC). The architecture of the hall reproduces character traits temple architecture of the 2nd millennium BC. The ceiling paintings, made by the artist I.I. Nivinsky in 1912, represent a free variation on the theme of decorative design of mortuary temples and tombs.

Statue of Amenemhet III. Middle Kingdom, XII Dynasty, mid to late 19th century BC.

Sarcophagus of the nobleman Mahu. New Kingdom, XVIII dynasty, XIV century. BC.

Statue of the god Anubis. New Kingdom, II millennium BC.

These “notes” are over 4000 years old!!!

Hall 2. ANCIENT CIVILIZATIONS (Mesopotamia, Urartu, Iran, Cyprus, Parthia, India, America)

The exposition of this hall introduces the art of ancient peoples who inhabited Western Asia, the Mediterranean, the Indian Peninsula and Latin America. The decoration of the hall uses motifs from the paintings of the palaces of the Assyrian kings: gate demons “shedu” and reliefs from the royal palaces (casts). In the center of the hall, on a pedestal, there are authentic Urartu vessels, ancient state(current territory of Armenia).

The display cases contain authentic items from ancient civilizations.
Peru. Culture Rekuay. 1st millennium AD Figure of a warrior-priest. Reminds me of our Vanka-Vstanka

Scythians. 7th-5th century BC Clay tent (possibly a toy).

Four-armed Vishnu with attributes in his hands: club, wheel, conch and lotus.
Sandstone, 9th century. AD Gift from Indira Gandhi, Prime Minister of India.

Relief depicting a winged spirit in a pose of blessing.
Cast. Original 9th ​​century BC is in British Museum, London.
To work on casts of I.V. Tsvetaev in different years attracted famous Russian scientists and outstanding artists. Plaster casts and galvanocpies were ordered in 1890 - 1911 from famous European workshops.

Hall 3. TREASURES OF TROY

A collection of 259 items from treasures discovered by Heinrich Schliemann during the excavations of Troy in 1871-1890 is stored in the Pushkin Museum. A.S. Pushkin since 1945. The collection was transferred Soviet Union together with other artistic values ​​by decision of the Soviet Control Commission as partial compensation for damage caused by the Nazis.

Hall 4. ART OF THE ANCIENT WORLD (Cyprus, Ancient Greece, Etruria, Ancient Rome)

The collection of antique originals is one of the earliest in the Pushkin Museum's collection. The first ancient Greek vases and terracottas were purchased for the Cabinet of Fine Arts of Moscow University in the 50-60s of the 19th century. Today the collection contains more than ten thousand originals dating back to the period from the 3rd millennium BC. to the 4th century AD More than half of them were found by expeditions of the Pushkin Museum during archaeological excavations.

In four sections of the hall - Cyprus, Ancient Greece, Etruria, Ancient Rome - monuments of the main artistic regions and centers of the ancient Mediterranean are presented.
Central to the art section Ancient Rome occupies a sarcophagus with Dionysian scenes (c. 210) - one of the most famous monuments Museum collections.

Torso of a naked Dionysus with a sword and a grape vine. First half of the 2nd century, marble.

Hall 5. ART OF THE NORTHERN BLACK SEA REGION

The exhibition is based on materials found by expeditions of the Pushkin Museum. A.S. Pushkin in the south of Russia and Crimea.

Portrait statue of a ruler from Gorgippia. Marble, 80s II century
Found in 1939-1940. in Anapa (ancient Gorgippia).

Hall 6. COPTIC AND HELLENISTIC ART

In the first centuries AD, it began to spread in Egypt christian religion. Christian Egyptians were called Copts.
The hall represents the art and culture of Egypt after the campaigns of Alexander the Great, when Egyptian art absorbed the features of the art of the Greeks (“Hellenes”). Most of the exhibits are related to the funerary cult - sarcophagi, burial shrouds and masks. In the center of the hall there is a display case with Egyptian sarcophagi and mummies of the 6th-1st centuries BC.

Of particular interest is the collection of 16 Fayum portraits, made using the most sophisticated technique of wax paints.
Portrait of a woman, second half of the 2nd century.

Mummy masks, 2nd century.

Hall 7. BYZANTINE ART of the XIV-XVI centuries. ART OF ITALY VIII-XVI centuries

Byzantine painting is represented mainly by monuments of the 14th century. Among the world-class masterpieces is the icon of the “Cathedral of the Twelve Apostles,” which is exceptional in its subtlety of execution.

Collection Italian art- one of the best in the Pushkin Museum collection.

Giovanni Antonio Boltraffio. Portrait of a young man in the image of Saint Sebastian. Late 1490s.

Giulio Pippi. Lady at the toilet. Early 1520s.

Hall 8. ART OF GERMANY AND THE NETHERLANDS XV - XVI centuries

Art Northern Renaissance presented for the first time in a separate room. These are six boards by Lucas Cranach the Elder, “The Flagellation of Christ” by the largest Münster master Johann Körbecke, “The Annunciation” by the Master from Hoogstraten, etc.
The Pushkin Museum's collection of German art of the 15th century is the best in Russia in terms of the number and quality of works.
There is also a section on Dutch art.

Hall 9. Flemish Art XVII century.

The Flanders Painting Hall gives a holistic view of the Flemish school. Along with the brightest names such as Rubens, Van Dyck, Jordaens, Snyders, the number of exhibited paintings has increased, primarily due to large-format canvases, in the hall you can now see the works of their students and contemporaries (about two dozen new canvases).

Hall 10. Rembrandt and the masters of his school.

For the first time, six paintings by Rembrandt, as well as works by his students and followers, are shown as an independent section.

Hall 11. Dutch painting XVII century.

Paintings Dutch school The 17th century constitutes one of the most numerous and attractive sections of the Pushkin Museum’s exhibition. In conditions of severe dependence on market competition, Dutch artists focused on one or several genres where they felt most confident. Some preferred to paint pictures on religious and mythological subjects (works by Hendrik Goltzius, Gerrit van Honthorst, Nicholas Berchem), others - landscapes, and still others - genre scenes and still lifes.

Hall 14. GREEK YARD. Art Ancient Greece. 2nd half of the 5th - beginning of the 4th century BC. Casts.

One of the most beautiful halls of the museum. The complex organization of movement along three floor levels made it possible to convey with amazing accuracy the free picturesque ensemble of the Athenian Acropolis.

Hall 15. ITALIAN YARD. Art of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. Casts.

Italian courtyard built as a reduced repetition courtyard Palazzo Bargelo: corner staircase leading to the second floor, small columns with floral capitals supporting the balcony, light arcade, well in the center. The accuracy of the choice of architectural prototype made it possible to combine samples in the exhibition hall classical art German Middle Ages with works of famous Italian sculptors of the Renaissance.

An interesting study was started at the Kurchatov Institute, the same institute that was created by Igor Vasilyevich Kurchatov, the father of the Soviet atomic bomb. Explore Egyptian mummies with your own modern technology. The mummies were taken from the museum. This is a joint project of the Kurchatov Institute and Pushkin Museum.

Scientists hope to obtain new information about the distant past. What illnesses did people have in Ancient Egypt, how they were treated, how they ate. It's better to understand how they lived thousands of years ago. Let's hope the mummies don't come back to life after these high-tech exercises.

TO modern technologies the world gets used to it quite quickly. It no longer surprises anyone that a CT scanner can tell literally everything about a patient.

“Before you is the cocoon of this mummy. And with X-ray tomography you can see the details. You see, the whole picture appears before you. Well, now from here you can do a set of anthropological, medical, forensic, genetic, chemical, physico-chemical studies and so on. That is, a new planet is opening up before you,” says Mikhail Kovalchuk, President of the National Research Center “Kurchatov Institute”, Corresponding Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

The President of the Kurchatov Institute, Mikhail Kovalchuk, is not exaggerating - hundreds of books have been written about the life of the ancient Egyptians, and in them thousands of versions of the development of civilization, which archaeologists have been arguing about for decades, based on rare finds and scraps of descriptions from thousands of years ago, and now something appears that you can literally touch - and even more. A 3D printed model of an Egyptian mummy's skull can, it turns out, tell an incredible amount.

“You can make an impression using a fundamentally new technological approach - once. The second thing, the next step is culture, we have it at a very high level - at the Institute of Ethnology, in particular, there was such a Gerasimov, then Academician Alekseev, you can now restore the appearance, the face from the skull, this is the basis, for that we already we are taking the next step to restore the real appearance of the face,” explains Mikhail Kovalchuk, President of the National Research Center “Kurchatov Institute”, Corresponding Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

And this is no longer just a skull. The Pushkin Museum admits that it was not easy to decide on such a project - priceless exhibits rarely leave the museum walls, but here is a large-scale study - how not to worry? But already the first results changed the idea of ​​what had been before our eyes for so many years.

There are still paleogenetic studies ahead, they will tell even more. For the director of the Pushkin Museum, Marina Loshak, cooperation with the Kurchatov Institute was a real revelation - who would have thought what could be achieved by ending the eternal dispute between physicists and lyricists.

“Not every country has the opportunities that the Kurchatov Institute can provide us with the full range of diverse knowledge. This is not only about modern installations and devices, not only about CATE and MRI. But the point is who are the scientists who are engaged in this research with them, thanks to which we can get an idea about the person whom we now actually call the word mummy, about his structural features, about his diseases,” - Director of the Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts named after A. S. Pushkina Marina Loshak.

Diseases of the ancients are another discovery. Although we are separated by millennia, if you look at it, it’s not that far modern man left the Egyptian pharaohs.

“It opens completely new world, which will help you and I better understand the nature of diseases and what is happening to us. You know, we often talk about the fact that, say, osteochondrosis or periodontal disease is a disease of modern civilization. But, you see, these people whom we now see in the form of mummies, they sometimes have pronounced symptoms of what is called osteochondrosis or periodontal disease, and so on. That is, in fact, there are a lot of interesting things here,” notes Mikhail Kovalchuk.

There is so much that it is enough for dozens of scientific papers, and yet the project is still approximately halfway through. But it is already obvious: visitors to the Pushkin Museum will soon see a completely different Egyptian hall, and the familiar word “mummy” will perhaps receive a new meaning.

“The main revelation from a person with imagination is the visualization and idea that we are talking about a specific biological being that had its own life, its own context of life within this historical period. He had his own worries, his own life traumas, he lived, he ceased to be just an object of art, or part of an object of art, or not just a museum exhibit. We brought closer to ourselves real life real person“- notes Marina Loshak.

This is what the lyricists got - physicists seem to think globally. For them, working with the Pushkin Museum, a place where artifacts of the past are stored, turned out to be, in a sense, a door to the future.

“Today we are present with you at a paradigm shift in the development of science. Today we have a merging of the humanities and natural sciences. scientific knowledge, which for 300 years divided into two independent branches. It would seem that the Kurchatov Institute, the place where the country’s nuclear shield was created, nuclear submarines, and this spotlight is as bright as it illuminated at one time, drawing the contours of a nuclear breakthrough, in the same way it looks towards culture, art and living life. Because this is a kind of frozen, but living life that once existed,” says Mikhail Kovalchuk, President of the National Research Center “Kurchatov Institute”, Corresponding Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

Scientists still have hundreds of analyzes and studies to do. The result joint project The Pushkin Museum and the Kurchatov Institute will host an exhibition; it should open in 2019. Visitors here are already promised that there will be something to be surprised by.

The collection of Egyptian originals came to the museum from St. Petersburg academician Vladimir Semenovich Golenishchev. V.S. Golenishchev was a scientist, archaeologist, he traveled to Egypt with an expedition from State Hermitage and acted as a work supervisor. At the same time, he was collecting a collection for himself. The St. Petersburg collection was collected during excavations, so its objects are precisely dated, attributed and tied to a particular tomb. And for himself, V.S. Golenishchev bought items on the “black market”. Therefore they were neither attributed nor dated. Later, scientists determined the age of the monuments and their belonging to a particular tomb based on parallels with other similar artifacts.

In 1909, Golenishchev went bankrupt and was forced to sell his collection. But, despite the favorable offers from different countries, the scientist wanted his collection to remain in Russia, so he sold it to the imperial treasury for a smaller amount. Moreover, the first half of the amount was paid to him immediately, the second was promised to be paid later, but the scientist was never paid, as is usual in Russia.

They decided to send the collection to Moscow because the Hermitage already had a collection of Egyptian art. As a result, the Moscow collection turned out to be even better than the one exhibited in the Hermitage. It is smaller in the number of items, but their quality is much higher. After all, V.S. Golenishchev tried to ensure that every era, every phenomenon in Egyptian culture, were represented by some object. That's why the meeting Egyptian antiquities The Pushkin Museum, although more compact, is better than the Hermitage collection. Currently, this is the best collection of Egyptian art in Russia. And it became the first collection of originals in the museum.

Hall No. 1, where the monuments of Ancient Egypt are now exhibited, was specially rebuilt for the collection of V.S. Golenishchev. His collection ended up in the museum while it was still under construction.

The ceiling is supported by columns in the ancient Egyptian style, imitating bundles of papyrus. The entire architecture of the hall goes back to one of the halls of the ancient Egyptian temple. To imagine the setting of the ancient sanctuary, Roman Ivanovich Klein traveled to Egypt, visited and inspected the temples. In particular, he paid attention to the temple of Amun in Luxor and was primarily guided by it. The windows were curtained because the hall of the Egyptian temple did not allow for natural light. At the top, on the ceiling, there is a repeatedly repeated image of a bird with outstretched wings, this is the image of the sky goddess Nut.


The ceiling is also painted to resemble a starry sky.

One of the halls of the Egyptian temple actually reproduced nature on the banks of the Nile, mountains of royal papyrus.
I.V. Tsvetaev specifically asked R.I. Klein to make the hall in this style so that the visitor would not just look at individual objects, but also be imbued with the atmosphere of Ancient Egypt. In addition, the museum was initially planned as an educational museum and its goal was to give students an idea not only of painting, sculpture and small plastic arts, but also of architecture.

About the collection. The re-exposition in the hall took place several years ago, in 2012. Some monuments ended up in the collections, while others, on the contrary, were put on display. Currently, approximately a third of the available collection is represented, that is most of Egyptian antiquities are in storage.

MONUMENTS
Sarcophagus and mummy of Khor-Kha. It is curious that this mummy cannot be photographed in any way; X-rays are never obtained. The mummy “does not want” to reveal its secrets. This is the mummy of the priest Khor-Kha, he died in the 2nd millennium BC.

The mummy is in a horizontal display case to the right of the entrance to the hall

How did the Egyptians embalm a mummy? There are many recipes and they all essentially boil down to the same technology: an incision was made in the side of a dead body. This was done by a specially trained person, who was called a “paraschist” (ripper). The body of a deceased person was considered sacred and therefore, the paraschist, on the one hand, was hired by the relatives of the deceased and paid him money for making an incision on the side. On the other hand, as soon as the paraschist made an incision, he ran away as fast as he could. The people who had hired him were now running after him and throwing stones at him for committing such a sacrilege.

Then, through the incision, the insides were taken out, washed, and placed in special vessels filled with embalming substances. Such vessels are in the museum’s collection; they are located in a vertical display case behind the mummy of Khor-Kha, in the corner, almost opposite the entrance to the hall).


All cavities in the body were also filled with embalming substances. The body was placed in “natron” - a kind of soda. Natron pulled out all the moisture from the body and the process of mummification began. The body was dried up, so it could no longer decay. He was wrapped in linen bandages and placed in a sarcophagus.

The sarcophagus of the priest of Hor-Ha is not the best or most beautiful in the collection. The best is the sarcophagus of Mahu.

Sarcophagus of Mahu.

It follows the shape of the mummy, with the tomb tapering towards the feet. A mask was always placed on the sarcophagus, which was supposed to indicate the face of the deceased. It is to designate, not to depict. Because regardless of who was buried - an old man, a girl, a woman, a young or old person - the mask was always the same. The face of the mask was painted with wide open eyes, emphasized with black or dark blue paint.

The Egyptians believed that when the soul reunited with the body, it should enter the sarcophagus through the eyes. For this purpose, the body was preserved and mummified.

The Sarcophagus of Mahu is a brilliant example of ancient Egyptian art. It is made of wood, this material was very highly valued in Ancient Egypt; there was little wood. The black color of the sarcophagus emphasizes the shine of the gilding. The gilding and fine detailing indicate that this is the sarcophagus of a very rich man, made by the best craftsmen.

Undoubtedly, the best Egyptian craftsmen also made wooden statues of Amenhotep and his wife Rannai. These figures, on the one hand, connect the traditions of Egyptian art.

Amenhotep and his wife, the “singer of Amon,” Rannai are priests of the temple of the Sun god.

The Egyptians always depicted people in a frozen pose with wide strides and straight legs. It's not exactly life-like because the knees bend when you walk. Here the legs are straight, the arms are extended along the body and pressed to it. Left hand Rannai is bent at the elbow and also pressed to the body. The rule here is combined with very subtle psychologism. The man's figure is tall and broad-shouldered. He strides confidently, his head held high and open. He is a priest, so he does not wear a wig and his hair does not darken his face, it is brightly lit. He turns his head slightly to the left. He seems to be resisting the rule that the person depicted had to look straight ahead. The figure of his wife is thin, fragile, she minces her feet in her narrow dress, in contrast to the wide step of her husband. Her face is slightly lowered, the shadow of her hair falls on her face. The hair on the right side was not preserved, but it was there too. A dreamy, mysterious expression appears on the woman’s face. This is exactly how the Egyptians imagined it ideal man And the ideal woman. The man is strong and decisive, the woman is fragile, delicate, mysterious. And this is the beauty of Egyptian art. On the one hand, it has strict rules, on the other hand, within these rules there can be a very subtle and sophisticated psychological characteristic.

In addition to wood, the Egyptians were very fond of ivory, and even more - stone.
Cosmetic spoon. The masterpiece of the museum is a small bone spoon, it is known throughout the world. This is the finest work of ivory. The spoon is intended for cosmetics.

It is a box for storing cosmetics, it can be opened. The box is made in the form of a floating girl with a lotus flower in her hands. In addition to painted and unpainted ivory, beech wood is used here; the girl’s wig is made from this material. Such a thin, elegant thing may have been used in the everyday life of rich people, and perhaps it was ritual. It comes, of course, from the tomb.

A feature of ancient Egyptian culture in the form in which it has come down to us is that objects come not from houses or palaces, but from tombs. This is the best thing that the Egyptians wanted to take with them to the afterlife.

The Middle Kingdom era is also represented here. Egyptian art. The name suggests that this is the middle of the existence of the ancient Egyptian kingdom - the 2nd millennium BC. At this time, special attention in Egyptian art was paid to portrait images.

The sculptures of Amenemhat III are interesting because quite a lot of them have survived.

The pharaoh ruled long enough that he founded the Fayum oasis in Egypt. He was depicted several times, in at different ages, his image can be found in different museums - in Berlin, in the Hermitage. From his portraits one can observe how the pharaoh's appearance changed with age. In the Pushkin Museum, Amenemhet III is presented not as an old man, but also not as a young man. If you look closely, you can see bags under the eyes, heavy, drooping eyelids, wrinkled lips, that is, the pharaoh is far from young. But his head is attached to the body of a young and strong youth, since the pharaoh in Ancient Egypt was considered a god and the personification of Egypt and should always be depicted as strong and young. Therefore, here, on the one hand, there is portrait image, and on the other, the deification of the pharaoh, represented in the body of a young and strong youth, who is no different from the gods.

This is where we can end the conversation about Egyptian art; we saw the masterpieces of the hall. If you have time, you can show relief of the chief of the treasury Isi. ( Relief. Limestone. Mid-3rd millennium BC e.)

There are several relief images of Pharaoh Isi's treasurer. It should be emphasized that when depicting a person, the Egyptians used strict rules. The person’s shoulders are turned to the front, the head has a complex turn. In reality, it is completely impossible to roll the eye the way it is depicted. The person is looking directly at us, that is, the eye is depicted from the front, while the head is turned in profile. Such an image showed that the person depicted was alive, that he was capable of movement.

When the Egyptians depicted a mummy, not a living body, then in compositions dedicated to burial, the mummy was depicted either strictly from the front or strictly in profile. The complex image of Treasurer Ishi emphasized that the person was alive, which is why different points of view were collected. What is considered unrealistic for us, from their point of view was perfect realism, an indication that this is a living person.