Tesori d'Arte del Museo Egizio

The book illustrates the exceptional collections in the only museum in the world, apart from the one in Cairo, devoted exclusively to Egyptian art and culture.
The famous phrase "the route to Memphis and Thebes passes by Turin" was written by Champollion when he came to Turin in 1824.
Indeed, the collections in the Museum boast a long and illustrious history. The Mensa Isiaca, a Roman altar table for an Isis temple during the Diaspora, was the first object to reach Turin, in 1630. This masterpiece spurred King Carlo Emanuele III in 1753 to commission the professor of botany, Vitaliano Donati, to acquire objects from Egypt that might explain the significance of the table.
The Museo Egizio was formally instituted in 1824, with the acquisition by King Carlo Felice of a large collection (more than 5,000 objects) belonging to Bernardino Drovetti; of Piedmontese origin, he served under Napoleone Bonaparte, going to Egypt where he became the French consul (formally to the Ottoman Sublime Porte). This guide presents seventy highlights from the collections: a restricted choice that chronologically covers the period fully. Royal and private funerary and votive monuments illustrate evolutions in style, many of the greater gods and have reached the Museum from both excavations and acquisitions. The text also gives information about techniques, commerce and major historical events.