A new display will go on show at Perth Museum and Art Gallery from Friday, 27 November created by children from a local Perth primary school.
Children from Our Lady’s RC Primary School in Perth have been busy over the past several weeks investigating the life of the ancient Egyptians. The pupils enjoyed a virtual tour of Perth Museum and Art Gallery led by the Culture Perth and Kinross Learning and Communities Team. Pupils were able to look at many interesting objects from the collections such as a sphinx, shabti figures and jewellery. They also found out about Perth Museums very own mummy, Ta-Kr-Hb, and the process of mummification.
At the end of the virtual tour, they were challenged to create artwork for the Perth Museum and Art Gallery Community Case and to demonstrate and share their learning.
The new display, Understanding Ancient Egypt, consists of mummy models, sarcophaguses, sketches, how to make a mummy instructions and pyramids. The colourful display will be an inspiration for teachers looking for ideas for any future Egyptian projects or anyone interested in Ancient Egyptian inspired art.
At school, the pupils also researched facts about pioneering Scottish archaeologist Alexander Henry Rhind, using notes they produced to write a biography of his life. They imagined what it would be like to discover a tomb and found out about how pyramids were constructed. The pupils examined ancient Egyptian beliefs and wrote instructions to explain the process of mummification. The pupils learned about sarcophaguses and practised writing their names using hieroglyphics, the ancient Egyptian writing system.
Our Lady’s RC Primary School teacher Martina Wolfe said,
“We had about 70 children taking part in the online Egyptian class, and they thoroughly enjoyed seeing the objects and hear Barbara talk about them. They especially liked the tour around the galleries. This display will give them a chance to come into the gallery with their families, see their work on display and enjoy the other displays at the same time.”
Understanding Ancient Egypt will run from the 27th of November 2020 to the 22nd of February 2021 Perth Museum and Art Gallery.