It took until the middle of May 2022 for Hull’s museum Hands on History to reopen after closing in 2020, offering a vast collection of artefacts spanning local history and those from the ancient world well beyond the British coastline. The free-entry venue has continued to fascinate visitors in the years since, helped by its robust schedule of events.
Whether it’s immersing you in the streets of Victorian England or taking you back millennia, the Hull museum has been keen to showcase and offer in-depth tours of its collections. Most recently, they announced the Egyptomania tour, which sold out well ahead of time to once again prove our nation’s unrelenting intrigue in Ancient Egypt.
An Incredible Collection of Artefacts and Replicas
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British archaeologists played a big part in the excavation of the many of the most famous sites in Egypt, particularly in one of the most famous discoveries of the early 20th Century. Led by Howard Carter of Kensington, the team discovered the mostly intact tomb of Tutankhamun that was hidden by debris in the Valley of the Kings.
The fragile condition of many of the 5,000-odd artefacts found within were, special measures had to be taken to recover the findings, which included the boy pharaoh’s mummy within a particularly opulent coffin. On top of this, the patron of the dig, the 5th Earl of Carnarvon, died during the excavation, creating rumours of a curse unleashed.
Central to the Egypt collection at the Hull museum is another important part of this discovery. It’s home to a grand array of Tutankhamun replicas that were created for the 1924 British Empire Exhibition. They’re both very accurate replicas of the fragile findings, and also a grand showcase of the national intrigue that lives strong to this day.
The total tour of the Egypt collection will explore everything the museum has to offer, including intriguing novelties like the Beni Hasan Boat from 1990 BC. While any visitors to the museum can explore these pieces, the chance to go on the Egyptomania tour has proved an extra draw.
The limited tour posted two opportunities to get a much more in-depth look at the Ancient Egypt collection. Both took place on 12 September, a Saturday, and quickly found themselves fully booked. Given its popularity, there’s a fair chance that, down the line, the Museum will put on another immersive tour of the collection.
Feeding the Intrigue in Ancient Egypt
Source: Pexels
While many ancient civilisations and their mythologies are enoying a moment of interest in pop culture right now, in the UK, few have held such long-standing intrigue as Ancient Egypt. It’s why British museums are filled with Ancient Egypt exhibitions and hit entertainment products regularly sport an Ancient Egyptian leaning.
You only have to look as far as the Eye of Horus slot to see this in action. A relatively old game in the rapidly-developing world of online slots, Eye of Horus remains a favourite for its straightforward feature and, of course, the Egyptian myths theme.
Films like The Mummy, Raiders of the Lost Ark, and Agora have all boasted enduring popularity in the UK as well, and that’s because of the ties to this setting. Of course, it’s not just the UK that’s fascinated with the age, which is why Egypt spent two years and $1 billion to open its new museum in Cairo to feed this global intrigue.
Hull’s museum offers a unique collection of artefacts and replicas from Ancient Egypt, and if the rate at which the dedicated tour sold out is anything to go by, we’re just as fascinated with the age now as we’ve ever been.
