Museums: India
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Egyptian mummies
Kolkata
Prithvijit Mitra, 4,000-yr-old Kol mummy to get new lease of life , Dec 25 2016 : The Times of India
One of the most enduring attractions of the historic Indian Museum -the 4000-year-old Egyptian mummy that had been shipped to Kolkata in 1882 -is set to be restored in Mumbai.
Displayed at the museum's Egyptian gallery , the mummy is placed inside an insulated cabinet, which, the museum authorities claim, has prevented its degeneration. But the gallery needs immediate renovation and the mummy could be preserved better with inputs from experts, they admitted.
“It rests inside an insulated cabinet which has a micro-climate of its own. The mummy is in no way exposed to the atmosphere, so it has not been affected. But the gallery needs to be repaired now as it had been left out of the bicentenary renovation work two years ago,“ said Jayanta Sengupta, director.
Wrapped in cloth with arms tied down to the sides, the mummy looks fragile.The flesh of the face and the head has crumbled away , leaving the bones exposed. The mask has been taken off and laid on the chest.
The mummy was a gift to the Asiatic Society of Bengal, which founded the museum, from a British officer, Lieutenant EC Archbold of the Bengal Light Calvary , in 1834, according to the Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal.
“The mummy was obtained with some difficulty from the tombs of the kings at Gourvah,“ the society reported in its minutes. “The native crew on board the ship ... having objected to receive the mummy in his baggage, he had been under the necessity of requesting one of the officers of the Sloop of War Coote to bring it onward to Bombay , whence it will be forwarded to Calcutta by the earliest opportunity .“
Incidentally , India is one of the few countries that houses Egyptian mummies in six different museums. Very few museums outside Europe and America possess mummies from Egypt.
The museum was the only one in India to have held an exhibition of mummies a few years ago. “They had organised it jointly with the British Museum, which is an authority on mummies and their conservation. Even though we believe that the Kolkata mummy is fine, they might be able to spot flaws in conservation and recommend measures to make it last longer,“ said Sengupta.
The Indian Museum director added that the mummy is bound to have suffered degeneration in the early years when preservation methods were non-existent. “It is bound to have undergone some wear and tear then. But ever since it was placed inside the protected cabinet, it has been wellpreserved. Or else, it would have disintegrated,“ he claimed.
