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Vol. LXIII, No. 1
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Wednesday, January 7, 2009
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Vol. LXIII, No. 1
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Wednesday, January 7, 2009
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The sedate look of the new exhibit, “Egypt Unveiled: The Mission of Napoleon’s Savants,” in Firestone Library’s main gallery belies the treasures to be found there. At first glance the exhibition appears simply to consist of image after black and white image, mounted on red, and uniformly framed. Consider, however, that those images portray artifacts like a papyrus manuscript discovered in a Theban tomb and the Rosetta Stone, along with Egyptian arts, animals, plants, minerals, clothing, weapons, musical instruments, and more.
The pictures are from Description de l’Égypte, a remarkable 23-volume publication that documented the work of the “savants” who accompanied Napoleon Bonaparte on his 1798 military campaign in Egypt. While Napoleon’s military effort was a failure, the work of these artists, inventors, chemists, mathematicians, writers, and engineers proved to be an incredible success. For over 20 years, they explored, described, and documented every aspect of the country. Their systematic, meticulous examination of ancient sites, the exhibit notes, is now credited with marking the beginning of the science of archeology.
Published between 1809 and 1822, Description de l’Égypte includes 837 engraved plates; the enormity of the savants’ accomplishment can only be touched on in the Firestone exhibit, which runs through May 10. Hours for the exhibition are 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday; 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Wednesday, and noon to 5 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday. Guided tours by the exhibit curators will be offered on January 18, March 1, and April 26 at 3 p.m. An online version of the Description, prepared by The International School of Information Science (ISIS) can be seen at http://descegy.bibalex.org/index1.html.