Natural History Museum Unwraps Animal Mummies Exhibition

Living Magazines Animal Mummies Exhibition at Tring Natural History Museum
  • Gaze at a sealed 2,400-year-old wooden cat coffin
  • Discover why an unwrapped mummified crocodile with stones in its abdomen is so unusual
  • Discover a handprint on a terracotta jar that contained a mummified bird of prey

This spring visitors to The Natural History Museum at Tring will be able to visit a new free temporary exhibition and discover what lies inside animal mummies from ancient Egypt.

We are all familiar with the human mummies that have skulked around in film and TV for decades but the ancient Egyptians also preserved a wide variety of animals in the same way. From cats to crocodiles these animals were preserved and given as gifts to the gods.

Within the new exhibition you will be able to examine animal mummies and see how modern technology allows Museum scientists to study them. Through scans and X-rays watch as untold stories of these revered creatures are revealed and even try out an interactive scanning machine for yourself.

The exhibition includes specimens from the Tring’s own collection as well as some items on loan from Manchester Museum. Among the gems of the collection are a terracotta jar that was used to preserve a bird of prey which displays the handprint of the preserver and an unwrapped mummified crocodile!

Animal Mummies: What’s Inside is a free exhibition open at The Natural history Museum at Tring from 14 March – 18 October.