Overview
- The show opens Nov. 19 in Paris with nine restored or cleaned mummies from Egypt, the Andes, the Canary Islands, and France presented as individuals.
- Curators Pascal Sellier and Éloïse Quétel seek to move beyond the Egypt-only cliché by presenting mummification as worldwide and millennia-old, with earliest traces among the Chinchorros around 9,000 years ago.
- Notable conservation work includes the Egyptian mummy Myrithis, whose original hairstyle was identified and whose textiles were repositioned more naturally.
- The scenography avoids sensational effects through uniform lighting, a veil that lets visitors choose not to look, and a recommended minimum age of 8.
- Interpretive materials explain what preserved tissues reveal about diet, disease, and appearance, and recall the historical use of mummy powder in art, agriculture, and fuel into the 19th century.