Museum Pointe a Calliere and the Queens of ancient Egypt

The Ruler of the Old Kingdom of Egypt

The last piece of history presented by Montreal. This time, it is about one of the most ancient empire in history, the empire of Egypt. The Museum of Pointe-a-Caillere offers a temporary exhibition on the queens of this ancient kingdom.

First floor

On the first floor, there is a timeline of ancient Egypt, with its various queens and pharaohs. After this, the next room is a reconstruction of a temple dedicated to Skemet, the Goddess of the sun and the most venerated deities of Egypt. This Goddess was extremely important to the Royal family, she was also considered to be the Daughter of Ra.

Pharaons and Queens

After this, there is a corridor with many posters explaining the role of the pharaoh, the ruler of Ancient Egypt, and their queens. The queens of Egypt were as important as the pharaohs. This is due to the fact that they could access to the throne if there was no pharaoh.The room that follows is filled with many artifacts representing various Rulers of Ancient Egypt. Those include many head representations of Queens like Tiyi (she will return later on). In addition to this, there is also a statue of Tuthmosis the first. Furthermore, there is a mini of the famous temple of Abou-Simbel, and even the remaining nose of a statue (yes I know, not the most fascinating detail).

Assassination

After is something rather exciting. It is about a very long papyrus, but it's meaning is quite important. This papyrus contains all the name of the people that took part in a conspiracy that targeted to kill the pharaoh. This conspiracy was lead by the Queen Tiyi as she wanted to get rid of her husband. This would have allowed her to put her son, who was not from the pharaoh, on the throne. The conspiracy failed and all of its members were arrested and executed. Only the fate of Tiyi remain unknown (I doubt she had a nice death...).

Harem

Next comes the harem; the place where all the ladies of the court lived. One such place has been reconstructed in the museum, even with a panel to imitate the outside. In this room, there are many potteries and jewelry used by the occupants of the area.

Second Floor

The rest of the exhibition is located on the second floor, it is focused on the burial of the rulers of Ancient Egypt. It starts with a bit of an introduction on the tomb-craft men and what they were making. Going from the tools used to build the tomb to all of the decorations inside like potteries tablets.A section of the floor is also dedicated to the Queen Valey, the resting place of many of the Queen of Ancient Egypt. In this section, there are various potteries containing the different body parts of the deceased, statues representing the various queens of Egypt as well as papyrus.

Burial and Sarcophagus

Next, comes what is easily the most recognizable aspect of the time of the pharaoh, the legendary sarcophagus. Many sarcophagi are exposed, with the different layers that compose them because yes, it is not just one box but more like 5 or 6. With it is also the tools to prepare a mummy because yes there is a bit of preparation behind those. Many organs like the liver and the brain are removed before the body is put in a bath of salt, then only after all of that the mummification began. One of the sarcophagus exposed belongs to Ramses's son (sorry the name wasn't specified and he had a LOT of sons). Another one belongs to a pharaoh named Asetemhat and the last one belong to Neskhonsouennekhy (I have no idea how it is pronounced either). The exhibition finishes with a collection of ceremonial statues and jewels, as well as sarcophagi that belonged to Nefertari.