A mummy’s coffin can tell a life story
At the Rijksmuseum van Oudheden, mummies, coffins and papyri reveal ideas about death and survival in ancient Egypt. The permanent Egyptian galleries are open on Monday 19 October.
The Egyptian galleries at the Rijksmuseum van Oudheden in Leiden offer more than a collection of mummies. Its permanent exhibition covers the ground floor and includes more than 1,400 objects from Egypt and Nubia. According to the museum’s visitor information, it is open on Monday 19 October from 10 am to 5 pm.
The route begins with life beside the Nile, a river vital to farming and transport. A figure of a woman grinding grain and a wooden model boat evoke ordinary work. Only then does the exhibition turn to ideas of life after death. That sequence places funerary objects in a human setting.
In the gallery on the afterlife, a figure of Osiris leads towards coffins, papyri and mummified bodies. Egyptians sought to preserve the body and help the deceased find a way through the next world. The large coffin of Peftjauneith bears carefully worked hieroglyphs: according to the museum, words and images offered both physical and magical protection.
A coffin can also preserve a name. The museum holds the mummy, coffin and papyrus of Sensaos, who died aged sixteen in AD 109. Her name and age appear in Greek letters on the coffin. The find came from a Roman-period family tomb whose contents were later dispersed among European museums. This is a collection story; it does not establish the current display location of every object.
Diptah’s mummy likewise points to a person behind the object. Research identifies her as a woman who probably lived to between 52 and 70, around 300–250 BC. Linen wrappings and painted cartonnage show the care given to the transition into the afterlife. The museum relates her gilded mask to the hope of becoming a divine being.
The Egyptian exhibition connects life beside the Nile with ideas about the afterlife. The Rijksmuseum van Oudheden is open on Monday 19 October from 10 am to 5 pm. Its address is Rapenburg 28 in Leiden.