Beyond Beauty: Transforming the Body In Ancient Egypt

Beyond Beauty will present the ancient Egyptians at their most varied and spectacular, while also allowing us to glimpse them at their most intimate and human.

This major new exhibition at Two Temple Place will not only explore the day-to-day routines of ancient Egyptians, it will also address the importance of appearance in the afterlife. Alongside extraordinary coffins and funerary head coverings will be their owners’ ancient mirrors, combs and hairpins, bracelets, necklaces, sandals, textiles, cosmetic vessels, scent jars and other ornaments, as well as tablets giving us insights into elite styles of the day – the very model of the fashion and lifestyle magazines we read today.

The exhibition will reunite several artefacts for the first time since their original discovery by archaeologists and explorers, through excavations funded by a Victorian form of crowdfunding. The fascinating stories of how these objects reached their current UK homes will introduce collecting characters from across the country.

Beyond Beauty is expected to attract more than 35,000 visitors from around the globe, bringing these treasures the wide audience they so richly deserve.