All that glitters sometimes can be gold, and a new exhibition about the Egyptian Pharaoh, Ramses the Great, is full of glittering gold things to see. If you can afford the ticket price.
From the moment you step inside, the tone is clear: this is not an academic museum exhibition, but more of a bling-filled showroom of goodies to gawp at. If you went to the Tutankhamun exhibition in 2019, then you’ll know what to expect, as the Ramses exhibition has been organised by the same people.
Low lighting gives the artefacts an almost theatrical presence. Colossal statues brood in the gloom while gold glints from display cases. It’s not unlike a monarch – all illusion and show.
Ramesses II, better known as Ramses the Great, ruled more than 3,200 years ago and is widely hailed as the mightiest pharaoh of Egypt’s most powerful era, the New Kingdom. His 66-year reign – the longest of any pharaoh – cemented his reputation as a supreme builder, warrior, statesman and, with around 90–100 children, a man who took legacy-building sometimes too literally.
The exhibition space is spacious, fortunately, to allow lots of people to wander around the glass cases containing the jewels, and dotted around are numerous carved stone heads, coffins and mummified cats.
However, the core of the exhibition is the original wooden coffin that once held Ramses himself – a plain wooden affair, shorn of the layers of gold casing that once surrounded it, but still decorated and impressive — far more than I had expected in fact.
It finishes with the Ramses II that many more people would have seen – a huge stone torso.
As an exhibition, it’s not one to come to to learn more about the pharaoh, as the signage is minimal. Also, be aware that many of the objects on display are related to the era the man lived in, but not to the man himself. However, its theatrical layout will appeal to a lot of people who are sometimes put off by dry museum displays, and yes, it’s a fulfilling experience to see these objects in the flesh without the need to travel to Egypt.
The legend of Ramses inspired Shelley’s poem on ambition and empire, Ozymandias. Now you be able to look upon his works for yourself – without the despair that Shelly wrote about.
However, what may cause howls of despair is how pricey it is to see the pharaoh.
General admission prices for Ramses and the Pharaohs’ Gold start at £27.50 for adults, with discounted tickets available for children and seniors. It’s even more expensive at £32 for adults at weekends.
On top of that, given how much people are paying for tickets, charging extra for the audio guide and even more to queue-jump with your already timed-entry ticket feels… money-grubbing.
A family of four wanting the full package with all the add-ons isn’t going to get much change out of £150.
Tickets are available from here.
The show is being hosted at NEON, a temporary venue next to the Battersea Power Station.
