2025 - 2026 WINTER / SPRING AND SUMMER COURSES

CONFIRMED! BSS IN TURIN: EXPLORING ANCIENT EGYPT AT TURIN’S MUSEO EGIZIO

Course Director: Dr Luigi Prada (Uppsala University)

This is a special course that will be held in person in Turin, Italy.

Due to its success last year, we are pleased to bring this course to you once again! The Museo Egizio (Egyptian Museum) in Turin, Italy, is one of only two large institutions in the world — alongside those in Cairo — to be exclusively dedicated to the antiquities of ancient Egypt. Founded in 1824, it is also the oldest such institution, and celebrated its 200th anniversary in 2024. Through a combination of lectures and visits to the museum, you will discover the history of the Museo Egizio, admire its masterpieces, and familiarise yourself with the entire collection, as well as with a number of selected artefacts of particular historical significance. Our Course Coordinator, who will accompany the group throughout, is Dr Kathryn Piquette.

Course fee inclusions and exclusions

Price includes:

• 4 lecture sessions led by Dr Luigi Prada as described in the itinerary
  
• All-day museum entry pass for Friday and Saturday, with all guiding in the Museo Egizio (with headsets) led by Dr Prada
  
• Welcome Dinner on Day 2 (alcohol not included)

Note: BSS Director, Dr Kathryn Piquette, will accompany the group throughout as your Course Coordinator and will organise optional evening social gatherings on Days 1 and 3, and an optional group outing on Day 4 (participants are responsible for their own costs).

Price DOES NOT include:

• Cost of travel*
  
• Accommodation (note that rooms are reserved for a limited time at Hotel Victoria & Iside Spa at a reduced cost for BSS*.)
• Any meals other than the Welcome Dinner mentioned in the itinerary
• Travel insurance
• Any other costs for goods or services not indicated as included in the per person course price

* For travel and accommodation recommendations, follow this link:

For any further queries, please contact Dr Kathryn Piquette:

• Email: kathryn@bloomsburysummerschool.co.uk
• Tel: +44 (0) 779 155 8195

HIEROGLYPHS FOR BEGINNERS (online)

Course Directors: Mr Kit Devine (MPhil University of Oxford)

This is a 5-day course to be held online, and will also be available on video recording afterwards..

We are excited to bring back our popular beginners hieroglyphs course this year. Our Course Director has over 10 years' experience of the subject and as a former student of Dr Bill Manley (our previous tutor), Kit will take you through following Bill's teaching method. The course itself is a unique introduction to the world of Egyptian hieroglyphs specially written for BSS and requires no prior experience of the subject. Through a series of presentations and practical sessions, in the classroom and online, you will progress from the basics of Egyptian hieroglyphic writing to learning the language of the ancient Egyptians—and do so from day one by reading ancient monuments available online or on display in world famous museum collections.

This course is specifically intended for complete beginners but may well appeal to anyone wishing to refresh their knowledge of hieroglyphs, too. It has always proved to be an intense and rewarding experience.

READING HIEROGLYPHS: THINKING ABOUT MORTALITY (online)

Course Directors: Mr Kit Devine (MPhil University of Oxford)

This is a 5-day course to be held online, and will also be available on video recording afterwards.

As usual we have planned a new course for those of you who love to experience the culture of pharaonic Egypt up close by reading ancient texts. This time we will be exploring responses to the inevitability of death as expressed in a selection of sources. In particular, we will look at The Dialogue of a Man with his Ba, an extraordinarily dark work of Middle Egyptian literature which takes the form of a dispute between a man and this aspect of his soul, as well as excerpts from harpists’ songs, and spells from the Book of the Dead (the selection can be fine-tuned based on class interest).

Note that this is an advanced reading class for students with good experience of hieroglyphic Middle Egyptian. Normally we expect you to have taken both BSS courses HIEROGLYPHS FOR BEGINNERS (first stage) and HIEROGLYPHS: THE NEXT STEP (second stage) beforehand. As a rule of thumb, before you begin this course you should be comfortable reading all the texts in How to Read Egyptian Hieroglyphs (see Recommended reading). Nevertheless, do not worry about the intensity of this course; throughout the week there will be plenty of time for your own work and for questions and answers with your tutor.