The Saint Louis Art Museum next year will present “Sunken Cities: Egypt’s Lost Worlds,” the exhibition showcasing finds from underwater archaeological expeditions of Franck Goddio and his team off the coast of Egypt in the sunken cities of Thonis-Heracleion and Canopus. The North American premiere of “Sunken Cities” will be the most significant exhibition of ancient Egyptian art undertaken in St. Louis in more than 50 years.
“Sunken Cities” opens March 25 and will be on view for an extended, six-month run. It recently was successfully shown at the Museum Rietberg in Zurich (Osiris - Das versunkene Geheimnis Ägyptens), the British Museum in London and the Institut du Monde Arabe in Paris (Osiris, Mystères engloutis d’Égypte).
“We long have sought an exhibition of ancient Egyptian antiquities that combines both rigorous archaeological research with objects of the highest artistic quality, and ‘Sunken Cities’ was a perfect match for us,” said Brent R. Benjamin, the Barbara B. Taylor Director of the Saint Louis Art Museum. “The museum is pleased to bring this groundbreaking, visually stunning exhibition to St. Louis for its first viewing in America.”
The exhibition is organized by the European Institute for Underwater Archaeology (IEASM), directed by Franck Goddio with the support of the Hilti Foundation and in collaboration with the Ministry of Antiquities of the Arab Republic of Egypt. The presenting sponsor of the exhibition in St. Louis is the William T. Kemper Foundation–Commerce Bank, Trustee with lead corporate support from Edward Jones.
In addition to more than 250 works of art discovered by Goddio’s team, the exhibition also includes complementary masterpieces from museums in Cairo and Alexandria, some of which never have been shown outside of Egypt.
Information and tickets