Galleries of Material Culture

The entire collection of the Museo Egizio has more than 36,000 artifacts, but little more than 4,000 antiquities are on display in the main path. Therefore, in order to show part of the treasure of its storages, the Material Culture Galleries were created. 

"Material Culture" refers to all the products of human work, such as urban artifacts, tools of daily life and productive activities that are characteristic of a people, a particular production system or a given era. 

The Material Culture Galleries host cabinets filled with objects, sorted by materials (stone, wood, baked clay, metals), or by type (fictile figurines, offering tables, sculptures, canopic jars) where it is possible to immerse oneself in the material culture of ancient Egypt and get a broader look at the Museum's collections. 

For example, cabinets 17 and 18 display numerous canopic jars which can be distinguished according to different styles and periods; cabinets 19, 20, 21 22 display many small shabtis, or small funerary sculptures that, according to the ancient Egyptians, magically came to life to assist the deceased in the Afterlife. 

A small journey through time useful for understanding the evolution of Egyptian civilization through its material culture.