Matteo Lafranconi on Exhibition “Treasures of the Pharaohs” & Much More

The landmark exhibition “Treasures of the Pharaohs” has opened at the Scuderie del Quirinale in Rome, bringing together 130 exceptional artifacts that narrate the story of ancient Egypt, from royal power to the daily lives of ordinary people, in what organizers describe as a project of major cultural, institutional, and diplomatic significance.

In a recent interview, Matteo Lafranconi, art historian, Director of the Scuderie del Quirinale and curator of the show, opened up about the main vision on hosting the exhibition for Scuderie del Quirinale and much more.

What was your main vision when you decided to host the exhibition for the Scuderie del Quirinale?

Ancient Egypt has never been forgotten by all the generations that have grown up in the meantime. Rome is a city with a very strong and profound memory of ancient Egypt, as we all know: the obelisks, the pyramids, and the fundamental historical connections across the ages.

Therefore, it wasn't just any ordinary exhibition of ancient Egypt. Our idea was to create something unforgettable, something exceptionally powerful, and that's why we began negotiations with the Egyptian authorities to represent Egypt with a special tribute, one that was both highly significant and particularly ambitious.

How is the Scuderie del Quirinale different?

It also delves into the great civilizations of the past, with a particular focus on the shared heritage of the cultures that developed around the Mediterranean. Of course, the three great giants that complete the Roman culture, of which we are the protagonists, are Greece on one hand and Egypt on the other. So, the Egyptians were missing from our program on the great civilizations, the historical cradle of civilizations in the Mediterranean. The Nikisita exhibition? We also sought to draw attention to certain special figures: of course, Torlonia, whose sarcophagus we have directly behind me; Queen Ahmose-Nefertari, who has been studied in particular in recent years, even by Italian Egyptologists; and the very important figure of Psusennes.

But it's not just Psusennes, for whom we have many very important artifacts; it also allows us to delve into another area, another era in the history of ancient Egypt—the moment when the capital was moved to Tanis—thus familiarizing the public with this diversity as well.

The exhibition has strived in every way to make the public understand that Egyptian civilization is very much spread across time, that it encompasses significant differences, major transitions, and historical branches, and is not simply a single, monolithic entity where everything is the same.

How do you balance the exceptional objects that tell the story of Egypt?

At Scuderie, we have always placed great importance on the layout project.

In fact, we study the layouts each time with a team of interior architects who have specialized over the years in understanding the needs of displaying the most diverse exhibitions in relation to our spaces, which are, of course, unique in many ways.

Therefore, it is a part of the exhibition that we pay close attention to, and it is always designed specifically within the exhibition project.

In this case, of course, we had large-scale objects with a significant visual impact, which, in addition to the expected large audience, needed to be isolated in space.

Together with the architects, we chose, at least for the large floor of the exhibition, to place all these objects in glass facades and in the center of the rooms, so that the flow of movement revolves entirely around the works, with dedicated lighting.

Meanwhile, on the walls, we sought to provide contextual elements by displaying historical photographs related to the sites associated with the exhibited works from time to time.

Regarding the construction of this exhibition, how did you work with the Egyptian authorities?

Of course, it was based on a direct, institutional basis—namely, the Supreme Council of Antiquities, the highest authority designated for this purpose.

Naturally, it involved understanding which works could be selected in relation to this shared ambition of offering a significant and memorable tribute to Egypt.

From this perspective, I must say that the work was also smooth, because we found a very prepared party, very quick to grasp the importance of the occasion and to seize the opportunity to do their utmost.

We actually built, based on certain technical requirements, the dimensions, and the sufficient quantity of work to fill a large space like the Scuderie.

But we collaborated extensively with Egyptian specialists, technicians, and authorities to create a program that was both cohesive and impressive, fitting these spaces.

What kind of audience do you expect?

An audience for an exhibition dedicated to Egypt is a phenomenon in itself.

Exhibitions about ancient Egypt, all over the world, generate exceptional interest, something we all wish we had for other subjects, but they don't create the same magic in the public.

I think that, especially in Italy, there is this somewhat archaic feeling, this interest in this civilization, which is, in fact, the first civilization everyone encounters when dealing with ancient history. So it represents a kind of symbol of the distant past. It is full of stories, full of characters, full of themes, full of events, and sometimes even myths, but it is also often a historical science that, in its appeal, attracts a much wider audience than is usually found at art exhibitions.

Therefore, for this exhibition, we are hosting a much more diverse audience, more diverse in composition and also in age.

It is truly an exhibition visited by an audience whose younger members include primary schools. Many schools come, all very interested because they are already connecting it to something they have begun to study.

We, the Quirinale schools, always link exhibitions that are often of great importance, exceptional in terms of loans, with an in-depth course, which we, of course, study thematically.

In this case, to ensure a diverse audience, we have sought to offer a variety of content and supplementary materials that can be used by senior specialists, intermediate-level attendees, and those approaching the subject without special preparation.

Therefore, in this respect, there is a series of conferences and meetings for specialists, attended by Egyptologists from the Faculty of Egyptology at Sapienza University of Rome. There is a series of meetings dedicated to topics that deepen understanding of the exhibition's themes.

There are some more popular conferences, but these are, of course, entrusted to leading specialists in the field, to prominent figures in cultural communication, and they relate to the theme of Egyptomania—that ancient feverish interest in Egypt, which is truly one of those topics that brings everyone together.

Then there are, we might say, the VIP conferences. We will be hosting, outside the Scuderie but related to the exhibition, a conference with the catalogue's author, the legendary Egyptologist Zahi Hawass, and we will also be hosting, outside the Scuderie but related to the exhibition, a conference with the director of the Egyptian Museum in Torino, Christian Greco.