Dr. Ilona Regulski

And all of that comes out of this understanding of what the ancient Egyptian civilization really means to us.

Absolutely.

And especially Karnak Temple is one of those temples that was founded at a certain point and then added on to by kings successively through Egyptian history.

And it has this very layered history of ancient Egypt in one place, if you want.

It's a huge place because of this long history.

So I think, yeah, what is perhaps most impressive about it is that it covers such a long breadth of time.

So we start in 3,250 BC when the Egyptian writing system emerges, or at least we have the first evidence for, until present day.

So we're looking at 5,000 years of ancient Egyptian history, but also of history of Egyptology and scholarly work that is being done on the ancient Egyptian culture and trying to still, till this day, try to

understand it and refine our understanding of ancient Egypt.

The exhibition tells the story of decipherment, the engagement with hieroglyphs from the 5th, 6th century onwards until the discovery of the Rosetta Stone in 1799.

And then really goes into depth into the story of decipherment itself, the race of decipherment, which is presented as a race between Champollion and Thomas Young, with also contributions of these other scholars.

It shows the objects that were used, some of the objects that were used in addition to the Rosetta Stone.

And then there is a large last part that talks about the legacy and the impact of decipherment.

So what do we know now about Egypt that we wouldn't know if we didn't have, if we couldn't read hieroglyphs?

You're welcome.

It was a pleasure.

Thank you.