CONTACT DETAILS
We will be happy to provide any further information about Bloomsbury Summer
School you may need. Enquiries should be addressed to:
The Director
Bloomsbury Summer School
Department of History, University College London
Gower Street
London WC1E 6BTTel: 020 7679 3622
WEB LINKS
THE PETRIE MUSEUM OF EGYPTIAN ARCHAELOGY
UCL’s Petrie Museum, which always contributes importantly to the BSS programme,houses over 80,000 objects from the Nile Valley. Most of these were excavated by William Matthew Flinders Petrie, the ‘father of Egyptian archaeology’, during the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. Petrie became the first Edwards
Professor of Egyptology at UCL in 1893 and the college subsequently acquired his collection which, with that of Amelia Edwards, formed the basis of the museum as it is known today.
The collection can claim a number of ‘firsts’, among them the first known monumental sculpture, the first calendar and the oldest gynaecological papyrus. It can also claim the largest collection of Middle Kingdom papyri, the largest collection of weights and the largest collection of Roman mummy portraits outside Egypt. It is uniquely important because much of it comes from documented excavations, providing an unparalleled insight into the way people lived and died in the Nile Valley. This ensures that the Petrie Museum remains a valuable resource for today’s scholars, students and public.
The Petrie Museum was the first museum in the world to make its entire catalogue available for study via its online database*, which it now offers with two other websites* designed for students and researchers. Its commitment to openness and accessibility was publicly recognised by the highly prestigious Museums and Heritage Award for Excellence, which the museum won in 2005.
Together with the Friends organisation* the museum is working with UCL to secure funding to build a new museum in a landmark building on Gordon Street. Recruits to the Friends and to fundraising activities for the new museum are always warmly welcomed.
* Links to the four websites relevant to the Petrie Museum collections and Friends are provided below:
UNIVERSITY COLLEGE LONDON (UCL)
SUSSEX EGYPTOLOGY SOCIETY
BOB PARTRIDGE (Editor, Ancient Egypt magazine)
Photographs featured on the cover of this year's programme are from Bob Partridge's picture library:
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