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A Day at the Museum
Museum of Fine Arts Our adventure at the Museum of Fine Arts in St. Petersburg began with a warm greeting from David, our guide. We started our journey into the past with the Ancient Egypt exhibit, a temporary traveling exhibit at the museum from December 17, 2011 – April 29, 2012. A wonderful interactive room has been set up in conjunction with the exhibit. Children can dress up like a Pharaoh, dig for buried treasure, write their name in hieroglyphics, and even smell the fragrance of different spices from the region. A large map of Egypt and its surrounding areas is painted on the wall so they can get the perspective of where all the items originated. The Egyptian exhibit was the first place we stopped on our tour so our children could get the wiggles out before we went to see other rare artifacts. Our plan worked like a charm!
After we left the Egyptian exhibit in the newest wing, we still had the rest of the museum to explore. So off we went. We found numerous rooms, each containing paintings, photos, sculptures, furniture, and etchings from a wide range of time periods. One of our favorites was Monet’s impressionistic paintings. Our son, in a recent art class, painted his own version of Monet’s Bridge over a Pond of Water Lilies, so he was quite taken with the work and thrilled to see Monet’s art up close. In the same room, we saw paintings by Morisot, Cezanne, Gauguin, Renoir, and Rodin. It was almost like taking a trip to France!
As we continued on, we entered a charming room with a beautiful fireplace, a painting nestled in the trim above it, and several pieces of antique furniture. We were surprised to find out that the fireplace had been saved from a home in New York – where it was going to be thrown away! One man’s trash truly is another man’s treasure! The next room we went to turned out to be one of our favorite finds of the day: the etched glass room. The lights in that room are low so that the cases and the glass contained inside them are well illuminated. There we saw a Tiffany lamp and a rendition of Excalibur – a glass sword in a glass stone.
Monday – Saturday 10 AM – 5 PM Adults: $17 Magic of Ancient Egypt Transforms the Museum of Fine Arts
A limestone sphinx is similarly impressive. The sphinx, with the head of a pharaoh and the body of a lion, points to the profound interrelationship of humans and nature in ancient Egypt. The natural world was not something apart for the Egyptians, and neither were the deities, who could take the form of animals and natural forces such as the sun.
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Besides the educational, interactive activities, we saw amazing artifacts. There were mummy cases, papyrus fragments, tomb and temple reliefs, and several rare objects adorned with precious stone. The more than 100 preserved artifacts make this display one of the “most dramatic shows ever presented at the MFA,” according to the museum’s website (
Internationally respected Egyptologist Dr. Robert Steven Bianchi is the guest curator. The museum has done an excellent job of laying out this exhibit by arranging artifacts in a way that is easy to follow. The children were able to gather around the pieces and really get a good look at them. We were all giggling over the bronze and wooden goose that was mistaken for a duck. Ah, so goes the learning process.
The museum houses works by many famous American artists as well, such as Inness, Hassam, Bellows, and a personal favorite, O’Keeffe. Her bright red poppy just jumps out and says “Come look at me!”
What a wonderful day – with so much to do and see! As we neared the end of our visit, we realized we wanted to come again so we can explore all that the Museum of Fine Arts has to offer. There are even more exhibits for children. The museum also offers fun activities, including Super Special Saturdays (third Saturday of each month). Super Special Saturdays are designed for family time and include a Discovery Hour with a scavenger hunt (for a particular item in the museum), Encore (a 30-minute drama), and Hands-On (a “make and take” creative activity). Regular admission is required, but there is no extra cost for Super Special Saturday. Registration is not required.
The Museum is located in beautiful downtown St. Petersburg, overlooking the bay. It is readily accessible via I-275, at the Pier exit. It is open every day except Thanksgiving and Christmas. Guided tours are offered each day.
This landmark exhibition brings to life one of the greatest civilizations in the history of the world. Ancient Egypt—Art and Magic: Treasures from the Fondation Gandur pour l’Art/Geneva, on view from December 17, 2011-April 29, 2012, spotlights astonishing objects of every kind. Swiss art collector, philanthropist, and entrepreneur Jean Claude Gandur has developed one of the world’s most important private collections of Egyptian antiquities.
Mummy cases and sacred works in diverse media, tomb and temple reliefs, a vignette of the weighing of the heart from the Book of the Dead, alabaster vessels, and rare objects comprised of precious stones make this one of the most dramatic shows ever presented at the MFA. The 101 works demonstrate the genius of ancient craftsmen, and the magical or spiritual qualities of the objects are revealed at every turn.
A magnificent red granite torso of Rameses the Great honors one of the most celebrated pharaohs in history. A large stele or stone marker commemorates a cult statue of Rameses III, one of his successors, and its endowment. Other key works include a tomb relief of the nobleman Nefer-Hotep, a relief from the Amarna Period from a temple erected during the reign of the Pharaoh Akhenaten and his wife Nefertiti, and a fragment from a temple relief paying tribute to Alexander the Great.
Ancient Egyptian art centers on transformation, renewal, and eternal life. These objects were invested with visual and symbolic power. Hieroglyphics, the ancient Egyptian written language, were, by themselves, a high form of artistic expression.
The mummy cases or sarcophagi are the largest works in the exhibition. One is covered in colorful images—like a brilliant painting—and was designed to honor the status of an unidentified court official and to assure his eternal life. Another, more than six-and-a-half-feet tall, includes inlays of alabaster, as well as hieroglyphics, and has a monumental presence asserting the authority of a certain Hor-Em-Akhet. This impressive object was in the collection of French fashion designer Yves Saint Laurent at the time of his death.
“The Museum of Fine Arts, St. Petersburg is proud to bring these distinguished works of art to America,” said MFA Director Kent Lydecker. “The quality of the objects will be a revelation to scholars and the public. We are indebted to the Fondation Gandur pour l’Art, to Dr. Bianchi, and to our exhibition sponsors for making this extraordinary project possible.”
