VISITORS to the Watt Institution can now unlock the secrets of Ancient Egypt and discover the hidden treasures among the museum's invaluable collection.
Curator Chris Wilson and his team have recently transformed an old storage room into an Egyptian gallery with the some of the artefacts from the 300 items the museum owns.
Once inside it brings the story of the 'Land of the Pharoahs' back to life with wooden coffins, temple fragragments, jewellery and amulets all on public display.
It is part of a whole new atmospheric experience which includes a short film about the history of bringing the artefacts and their links with the 19th century novelist, travel writer and Egyptology expert Amelia B. Edwards.
Curator Chris, who joined the Watt Institution four years ago, said: "We are very excited about this new venture. The Watt Insitution has a significant collection of Egyptian artefacts and we wanted to find a way to display them.
"But not only that, we want to tell the story behind the excavations and how the artefacts came to be in Inverclyde.
"The Watt Institution is a museum with very important collections and we want to find ways of displaying more of it for the public."
The museum has made a short film and is using story boards to take visitors on a journey through time to discover how the artefacts were excavated and then made their way to Greenock.
At the centre of this is the influential figure at the time Amelia B. Edwards who set up the Egypt Exploration Fund and even visited the town.
The last legacy of is a fantastic Egyptology collection that is now on display in the gallery which has low level lighting, to not only create mystery but also to preserve the precious artefacts.
The new gallery is part of a wider project to rework the museum so that more space can bef found for the collections that remain hidden from public view.
The new Egypt Gallery is part of the National Lottery Heritage Fund Watt Voices Project.
Education and communities convenor Councillor Jim Clocherty said: “The team here at the Watt Institution have done a fantastic job in bringing the popular Egypt collection to life for younger generations in Inverclyde and also for their parents who remember visiting the museum themselves and seeing the many fascinating artefacts when they were growing up.
“There’s an added benefit of giving a beautiful, old committee room a new purpose and freeing up space in the main museum area to showcase more of the incredible and vast archives for the people of Inverclyde and beyond to enjoy.”
The Egypt collection was donated to the museum in the late 19th and early 20th century, a time of great public fascination with the ‘Land of the Pharaohs’.
The museum was one of many organisations and individuals who helped fund archaeological digs through the Egypt Exploration Fund, now known as the Egypt Exploration Society.
The Egypt Gallery is an old committee room, off of the Watt Hall, which has been used for storage for the last 30 years.
Visitors can see the gallery for themselves when the Watt Institution is open Wednesdays to Saturdays from 10am until 4pm.
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel