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"Ramses and the gold of the pharaohs": "This exhibition is amazing"

View of the sarcophagus of Ramses, exceptional loan for the exhibition "Ramses and the gold of the pharaohs" at the Grande Halle de La Villette in Paris. © Siegfried Forster / RFI

Text by: Siegfried Forster Follow

8 min

The largest exhibition ever organized on the greatest of the pharaohs takes place until September 6, 2023 at the Grande Halle de La Villette in Paris. "Ramses and the gold of the pharaohs" aims to attract more than a million visitors and become the exhibition of the twenty-first century. In an immersive scenography, the public can admire 180 treasures of inestimable value, some of which come out of Egypt for the first time, such as the sarcophagus of the greatest of all the pharaohs, Ramses II, exclusively exhibited in France.

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Ramses and the Gold of the Pharaohs, an extraordinary exhibition, will tour around the world and is part of a real cultural offensive of Egypt on several fronts. The Arab country has announced its candidacy for the post of Secretary General of UNESCO in 2025, aggressively demanding the return of the Zodiac of Dendera to the Louvre, the bust of Neferteti to the Neues Museum in Berlin and the Rosetta Stone to the British Museum in London. And then there is the highly anticipated opening at the end of 2023 of the Grand Egyptian Museum at the foot of the pyramids of Giza. Interview with Egyptologist Bénédicte Lhoyer, scientific advisor of the exhibition "Ramses and the gold of the pharaohs".

RFI: Ancient Egypt was convinced that gold provides magical powers. Ramses and the gold of the pharaohs, with its statues, sarcophagi, animal mummies, jewelry, is it a magical exhibition?

Bénédicte Lhoyer: For the Egyptian, pronouncing the name makes you live! And when you have an absolutely incredible treasure with you, you can go through eternity. This exhibition is incredible, because we managed to bring together objects that, sometimes, had never left Egypt. Objects that tell Ramses II, but also tell his legend. And how Ramses managed to cross the millennia to us never being forgotten. He is one of the only mortals, one of the only kings on this planet, to have achieved this incredible thing.

Among the hundreds of thousands of visitors expected, there will certainly be people for whom this exhibition will be a real revelation. What Egyptian work moved you so much that triggered your desire to become an Egyptologist?

In fact, initially, I started mostly with the ancient Greeks, when I was very little, I was between 6 and 8 years old. Then, the Greeks kept talking about the Egyptians... I realized that there was something older than the Greeks. One of the first objects I could see was through the books I had at the time, it was one of the walls of one of Nefertari's tombs. To see this beautiful young woman, with her long black hair, with this almost transparent dress, being driven by animal-headed deities... I remember this kind of shock saying to myself: it's very weird, and yet, I understand, it's beautiful, it tells things. That's what made me switch to the side of the Egyptians. And I never came out of it...

View of the exhibition "Ramses and the gold of the pharaohs" at the Grande Halle de La Villette in Paris. © Siegfried Forster / RFI

Ramses is the mythical figure of ancient Egypt, famous for his reign of exceptional longevity, 66 years, his ten wives and a hundred children, and the construction of hundreds of palaces and buildings. Does the iconic statue of young Ramses embody the beginning of this incredible pharaonic adventure that the journey invites us to live?

Here you have a fragment of a statue that represents Ramses II. It is an idealized image of the young pharaoh. He looks a bit like his father. But, it is the face of Ramses, a young face, very rounded, eyes that go up slightly on the temples. This nose, it is the most sensitive part of the statues, is unfortunately a little broken, but it was well busqué. It's a very strong nose. And you have this little mouth, with those plump lips smiling at you very lightly. He wears a large wide necklace, the royal diadem adorned with a uraeus, representing the protective goddess Wadjet. This very pleated garment in all directions is also a sign that we find at the time of Ramses II. They like things well pleated and very rich. And he holds a scepter, heqa, in his hand, with the hieroglyph to rule, the symbol of his royal power. And he has a very beautiful cuff bracelet with this eye that, generally, people know very well: the jade eye that means "new", "intact", "integral".

During the exhibition, archaeological excavations and research on the time of the pharaohs continue. What has changed in recent years the most in relation to the perception of Ramses?

Ramses is one of the most complicated reigns, because we are always trying to find new things. It is one of the reigns we know best. We have a lot of monuments and a lot of texts. But the search continues. We are still desperately looking for other members of his family. Much work is being done on one of his sons, the fourth son, Prince Khaemouaset, who has been very active on Sakkarah's side. (...) But all the work still needs to be done. Egyptology is 200 years old, that is to say that we are still "pioneers", there is still phenomenal work.

View of the exhibition "Ramses and the gold of the pharaohs" at the Grande Halle de La Villette in Paris. © Siegfried Forster / RFI

This exhibition on Ramses and the gold of the pharaohs tours around the world. How did you design the course to be understood everywhere and by everyone in the same way?

The main thing would be to say: come and discover the legend. Come and discover how Ramses entered eternity. Look at everything he has produced. Look at what others have produced to try to pay tribute to Ramses, to try to surpass him. Of course, they did not really manage to surpass it, but they produced absolutely extraordinary treasures that are still present and that are there today in front of us. Treasures that are 4,000 years old, which is absolutely incredible.

The flagship piece is the famous sarcophagus of the pharaoh. An exceptional loan to thank the France for the restoration of the mummy undertaken in 1976. How did you feel when you saw this sarcophagus for the first time?

That's wonderful. This coffin is absolutely magnificently beautiful. It's made of cedar from Lebanon, you have all these grooves of the wood that have been left and worked to really get the face out. It is an extremely moving object, because you are with the chest that protected Ramses for 2,800 years. It's very intimate as such. And then, you have a coffin that is even older than Ramses, that protected Ramses, that comes to us and to see him here, to suddenly see the face of the king reappear, it's a bit as if Ramses was with us, here. In any case, for Egyptians, it is completely that: the image arouses presence. We have the coffin, so Her Majesty is with us.

View of the exhibition "Ramses and the gold of the pharaohs" at the Grande Halle de La Villette in Paris. © Siegfried Forster / RFI

How do you explain that Ramses and ancient Egypt continue to fascinate people?

Egypt has always been a landmark, because it is a civilization that speaks to us. And we have an absolutely incredible legacy, whether in the philosophy, the images, the symbols that have come down to us. And it is true, Egypt, with its eternity, with its 4,000 years of history, remains something both completely immutable, and at the same time something that has moved a lot. For this, it is a civilization that has this strong impact on each of us.

► Ramses and the gold of the pharaohs, until September 6 at the Grande Halle de La Villette. In addition, the exhibition also offers an immersive virtual reality experience of two temples of Ramses II.

View of the room offering an immersive virtual reality experience of two temples of Ramses II. © Siegfried Forster / RFI

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