Pharaohs Superstars exhibition questions the notion of celebrity

The first celebrities in the history of mankind, the pharaohs are in the spotlight in an exhibition at the Museum of Civilisations of Europe and the Mediterranean in Marseille, France.

Entitled "Pharaohs Superstars", the presentation covers 5,000 years of history from ancient Egypt to the present day and examines the sources of fame and posterity.

The Pharaohs Superstars exhibition offers a 1,000 m2 tour in three parts: the memory of the pharaohs in the pharaonic civilisation, their representation until the 18th century, often based on Greek and Roman texts or religious texts, and finally the Champollion revolution, which changed our vision of ancient Egypt.

After being delayed due to the covid-19 pandemic, the exhibition will finally open in 2022 for the bicentenary of the discovery of the - and the centenary of the discovery of Tutankhamun's tomb...

Accordingd to  Guillemette Andreu-Lanoë, director of the Louvre's Department of Egyptian Antiquities, "What makes certain pharaohs extremely famous is often archaeology, the archaeological discoveries that lead to the discovery of the tomb, in 1922 for example, of Tutankhamen, in the Valley of the Kings, and the discovery of a funerary treasure with more than several hundreds of gold for example and semi-precious stones. Obviously, this is something astonishing, shocking and which the media immediately made known to the West."

Pharaohs Superstar" is open to the public until 17 October.