Ancient Nubia: Excavating Treasures of the Nile from the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

Overview

Ancient Nubia has a long and glorious past, but it is frequently eclipsed in the public imagination by its northern neighbor, Egypt. The exhibition brings into the limelight the Kingdom of Kush, an important civilization in the Middle Nile valley. It introduces visitors to its powerful kings and royal women and the materials excavated from their tombs and pyramids by the MFA Boston more than 100 years ago, when very little was known about ancient Nubia.

Visitors can learn about this other powerful kingdom on the Nile from an archaeological perspective with hands-on and digital interactives. A special display highlights a connection to the NCMA’s very own Nubiologist and features recently donated Egyptian objects as comparatives to the Nubian ones in the exhibition.

Details

Nubian artist, Sudan, Winged Isis pectoral, 538–519 BCE, gold, H. 2 11/16 × W. 6 11/16 in., Harvard University—Boston Museum of Fine Arts Expedition, 20.276; Photo: © Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

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Exhibition Sponsors

Ancient Nubia: Excavating Treasures of the Nile is organized by the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, curated by Denise Doxey (Norma Jean Calderwood Curator of Ancient Egyptian, Nubian, and Near Eastern Art). In Raleigh additional support is made possible, in part, by the North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources; the North Carolina Museum of Art Foundation, Inc.; and the William R. Kenan Jr. Endowment for Educational Exhibitions. Research for this exhibition was made possible by Ann and Jim Goodnight/The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Fund for Curatorial and Conservation Research and Travel.