Hedvig Győry: Mélanges offerts a Edith Varga „Le lotus qui sort de terre” (Bulletin du Musée Hongrois des Beaux-Arts Supplément 1. Budapest, 2001)
JOACHIM SLIWA: Egyptian Hall and the Exhibition of Egyptian Art in London, 1821-1822
sation comparable only with the events connected with the discovery of Tutankhamun's tomb in 1922 and with the exhibition of his treasures, wandering around the worlds metropolis in the last years. The reconstructed interiors of the tomb of Seti I revealing the grave chamber with the colonnade and the copies of wall decoration (Book of Amduat) were of the great interest for the visitors (Fig. 3). 21 At the exhibition there was also an alabaster sarcophagus, coming from the tomb of Seti I. It was afterwards bought (1824) by Sir John Soane for his London's museum. 22 Apart from the numerous authentic pieces of Egyptian art and the above mentioned "documentary" interiors of the tomb of Seti I, also models of the Abu Simbel temples and the model of the Pyramids were exhibited. The inauguration of the Belzoni's exhibition came on the turn of April and May of 1821. It was also the society event of the great meaning, that attracted 1900 people. In the atmosphere of great success the exhibition lasted till the end of April 1822, what really contributed to popularise Egyptian art in the wide circles of the educated public; afterwards some of the exhibits were conveyed also to Paris and St. Petersburg. We can also add, that one of the attractions of the London's exhibition was the first use of the electric lighting for such purpose. Belzoni, an expert in conciliating the audience, did not fail to use some other tricks worth of the professional showman: as it was noted down, 28 April 1821 in a day of the exhibition's inauguration, he appeared as a bandaged mummy at the presence of the crowds. 23 Even if the location of the Belzoni's exhibition in a building of such a numerous details equipped with so many "Egyptian" details was an act of the fortune, so in the general opinion such relationship was noticeable as something totally natural. As it appears, professional exhibitions of Egyptian art, which started to shape not many years later took exactly that way. There were tries to create, for the monuments brought from the Nile Valley suitable mood and atmosphere, using Egyptian or egyptianizing architectonic forms and decorating the surfaces of the walls and columns with copies or imitations of 21 Some copies of those tomb paintings made by Belzoni and A. Ricci are preserved in the City Museum and Art Gallery in Bristol. 22 See A New Description of Sir John Soane s Museum, London 1991, pp. 40-43, pis. 11 and 19. Seti's 1 sarcophagus was exhibited a little bit later (on the board of frigate "Diana" il came to London in August 1821 ). 23 A. Siliotti (ed.), Padova e I'Egitto, Padova 1987, p. 74.
