Museum of Idaho welcomes Mummies of the World
Courtesy of World Heritage Exhibitions
The following is a news release from the Museum of Idaho.
IDAHO FALLS — The Museum of Idaho is thrilled to announce its next world-class traveling exhibition, Mummies of the World: The Exhibition, opening on May 31.
Featuring one of the largest collections of real mummies and related artifacts ever assembled, Mummies of the World presents a one-of-a-kind display of naturally and intentionally preserved human and animal mummies. Presented with reverence and dignity, the exhibition includes ancient mummies from South America, Europe, Egypt, and the US —some dating back thousands of years, and others surprisingly recent.
Visitors will journey into the extraordinary world of mummies and mummification. Mummies of the World tells these stories through state-of-the-art multimedia, hands-on interactive stations, and cutting-edge 3-D animation, taking guests on a 4,500-year journey to explore the history and origins of these mummies, as well as the natural and intentional processes that created them. CT scans reveal evidence of various ailments and illnesses present before death—some of them familial or endemic.
Through modern science, the exhibition demonstrates how mummification occurs both naturally and intentionally. Highlights include:
- The Vac Mummies, a mummified family from Hungary, believed to have died from tuberculosis
- Baron Von Holz, a German nobleman found in a 16th-century crypt, still wearing his leather boots
- Egyptian animal mummies, including a falcon, fish, dog, and baby crocodile, many preserved to accompany royals into the afterlife
- MUMAB, the first ancient Egyptian-style mummification performed on a modern body in 2,800 years
“Every exhibit we bring in, we bring in because we think it will be interesting and important to the East Idaho community. But this one is truly a big deal – frankly, the biggest we’ve had in more than a decade,” remarked Jeff Carr, the Museum of Idaho’s Executive Director.
Mummies of the World is one of the most successful traveling exhibitions today, having visited more than two dozen cities since its 2010 debut in Los Angeles. It has drawn more than 2.3 million visitors across the U.S. and Europe and has been called a “must see” by Fox TV, “absolutely extraordinary” by PBS, and “magical and mythical” by The New York Times.
The exhibition will be hosted in the museum’s traveling exhibit hall, including the Petty Gallery. The museum’s flagship Idaho exhibit, Way Out West, and the limited-time local exhibit Signs of the Times will remain open throughout the exhibition’s run.
For more information, visit museumofidaho.org/mummies.