NEW ORLEANS (WGNO) —Recently, the New Orleans Museum of Art opened a new traveling exhibition that centers around the life of women in ancient Egypt.
Lisa Rotonda McCord is the Deputy Director for Curatorial Affairs and says that during 13th Century BC, Egypt was in the period of the New Kingdom. The New Kingdom was when Egypt was at the peak of it’s power. “Ramses the Great” was the Pharaoh.
While Egypt, over it’s years has had its share of powerful men, the women of Egypt were also very powerful.
“Nefertari, who’s name means beloved, was Ramses the second’s favorite spouse. The Pharaoh was considered to be a God and the Queen was considered to be a Goddess,” says McCord.
The exhibition is a great outing for those interested in rekindling a love affair with ancient civilization and art. The exhibition is also a way to acknowledge the similarities between Egypt and New Orleans. Egypt like New Orleans is a civilization built around a great river. Egypt, New Orleans, also believed that death was only the beginning and put great effort in funeral ceremony.
When someone passed on in ancient Egypt, like Queen Nefertari, it was the beginning of a journey to the afterlife. The entire exhibition at NOMA is designed as the tomb of Queen Nefertari and outside of the exhibition, there is a 3D model of Queen Nefertari’s tomb.
McCord explains the way ancient Egyptians believed the soul would connect with the afterlife says, “when Queen Nefertari passed on, as a sign of his regard and devotion to her, Ramesses II had a large tomb of six thousand square feet created in the valley of the Queens. It is beautifully decorated and it’s one of the most beautifully decorated tombs in ancient Egypt. It is often regarded as the Sistine Chapel of Egyptian tombs. Ancient Egyptians believed that the soul had to reunite with the body through a perilous journey outlined in books of the dead. There were many steps the soul needed to undertake, to live forever. The Ushabtis figurines in our exhibition were assigned a specific task. Queen Nefertari being a Queen, was not going to do manual labor and so when the spell was initiated, the Ushabti would act on her behalf.”
Along with the discovered materials from Queen Nefertari’s tomb, there are artifacts from other Egyptian women. Makeup containers, jars and statues are part of the experience.
One of the artifacts is a papyrus scroll that tells the story of an assassination attempt: “One of the lesser wives of Rameses the third, Queen Tyie, wanted her son to ascend the throne. Her son wasn’t next in line to be Pharaoh. She conspired with the administrators of the harem, other women and men in the court, to assonate Rameses the third. The Pharoah dies a week later from a wound to the neck. The Queen and co-conspirators were either executed or allowed to kill themselves,” explains McCord.
Queen Nefertari’s Egypt will be at NOMA until July 17th.