Ramses II exhibition in Paris draws over 800,000 visitors

CAIRO: Almost 820,000 people visited the traveling “Ramses the Great and the Gold of the Pharaohs” exhibition during its five-month stay in Paris, its organizers said on Tuesday.
The exhibition, hosted by the Grand Hall de la Villette, celebrates the life of King Ramses II of Egypt, the African nation’s most powerful pharaoh. He ruled from 1276-1213 B.C. and played a key role in expanding the kingdom — including asserting control over Nubia where he built the temple of Abu Simbel — and bringing peace and prosperity to its people.
The highlight of the show, which began its road trip in the US city of Houston in November 2021, is Ramses II’s coffin, which takes pride of place alongside an array of 180 ancient artifacts, including solid gold and silver jewelry, statues, amulets, masks and sarcophagi, many of which had never before left Egypt.
The Egyptian government approved the transfer of the coffin to France following a request from the head of the Houston Museum of Natural Sciences, which is organizing the traveling exhibition.
The loan was agreed as a gesture of thanks to the French scientists who helped to preserve Ramses II’s mummy when it was exhibited in Paris in 1976.
The event in Paris had been scheduled to end on Sept. 6, but due to high demand remained open for a further four days. As popular as it was, it did not match the 1.4 million visitors who viewed the Tutankhamun exhibition at the same venue in 2019.
Before arriving in Paris, the exhibition visited San Francisco in August last year and is now set to travel on to Sydney.