Western interest in ancient Egyptian history and culture has led to extensive archaeological expeditions and innumerable collections of these magnificent antiquities in museums worldwide. Far Horizons proudly presents a truly unique 8-day excursion to Boston, New Haven, Brooklyn and New York City with an emphasis on the Egyptian art at each city’s great museums.
Begin in Boston where we walk through the Museum of Fine Arts. At Harvard University, learn about the ground-breaking work being done on the digital Giza Project. We will also view the extraordinary Egyptology assemblages at the newly renovated Yale Peabody Museum and the Brooklyn Museum. Finally, we spend the day examining the bounteous Egyptian collection at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City and nearby Cleopatra’s Needle – an Aswan granite obelisk from Egypt – in Central Park.
Professor Bob Brier and art historian Patricia Remler will teach us about these outstanding Egyptian relics and their migration to their museums in the USA. Overnights will be in 4- and 5-star, centrally located hotels in order to experience all that Boston and New York City have to offer. And on our last evening, we will proceed to the Bronx to the home of our study leaders who will host us for our final Egyptomania dinner party. Won’t you join Far Horizons and only 13 others on this very special and unusual itinerary in quest of exquisite Egyptian art?
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Arrive to Boston and transfer independently to the 4-star Hilton Back Bay hotel, Boston, Massachusetts, our home for the next three nights. (Note: no airport/hotel transfer is included). Meet for cocktails with Bob Brier and Pat Remler before our festive welcome dinner will be in a private room at the hotel, with stunning views of the city. (D)
Begin today at the Museum of Fine Arts (MFA), where the renowned exhibit of Egyptian and Nubian antiquities features an array of 45,000 sculptures, mummies, sarcophagi and jewelry, that covers 7,000 years of Egyptian history.
The notable group of relics was acquired mainly through the Harvard University – Boston Museum of Fine Arts Expeditions undertaken by George Reisner in the early 20th century. Of particular interest is the impressive collection of Nubian art, the largest and most important of its kind outside of Sudan.
If available, we will meet with Senior Curator, Dr. Lawrence Berman, to enter the museum’s storage area and view the vast holdings. Gather for dinner at a neighboring local restaurant. (B/L/D)
This morning we transfer to Cambridge, home to the Harvard Museum of the Ancient Near East (HMANE). Formerly the Harvard Semitic Museum founded in 1889, it was conceived as a teaching tool to study the ancient histories and cultures of people who spoke Semitic languages. Here, our study leaders, Bob Brier and Pat Remler, will take us through the gallery dedicated to Egypt, comprising dazzling sculptures, paintings, and textiles covering four millennia from the Old Kingdom to the advent of Islam.
After lunch at a nearby restaurant, we return to campus for a private meeting with Dr. Peter Der Manuelian, director of both HMANE and The Giza Project at Harvard University. Begun in 2000, The Giza Project’s goal was to digitize the findings and provide access to all archaeological records from George Reisner and the Museum of Fine Arts’ remarkable expedition to Giza. The project has since moved to Harvard and, under Dr. Manuelian’s direction, has started a 3D virtual reconstruction of the Giza Plateau as it may have looked when first built. To date, approximately 20 tombs and monuments have been modeled in detail, with many hundreds more still to be digitized. If available, Dr. Manuelian will meet with our group and explain how The Giza Project provides new ways to sightsee, explore, and absorb the pyramids and their surrounding cemeteries.
Return to the hotel in the late afternoon with dinner on our own. (B/L)
Depart Boston this morning for New Haven, Connecticut. Upon arrival we will visit the Peabody Museum of Natural History at Yale University to view its fascinating Egyptian collection. Newly renovated and reopened, the museum will showcase a diverse array of Egyptain artifacts spanning millennia, including intricately carved statues, hieroglyph-covered artifacts, and mummies that bear witness to the elaborate burial practices of the ancient Egyptians.
One of the notable highlights is the museum’s carefully curated display of mummies and funerary objects, offering insights into the complex rituals associated with death and the afterlife. If available, we will meet with museum curators for a private tour of the remodeled Egyptian galleries.
In the early evening we transfer to the nearby Omni New Haven Hotel at Yale for one night. (B/L/D)
After a leisurely morning, we transfer to Brooklyn, New York. After lunch at a local restaurant, we will explore the Brooklyn Museum, where the exhibit of Egyptian artifacts is one of the finest in the United States. A particularly striking item, the 5,000-year-old ‘Bird Lady’ is among the oldest statuettes found in Egypt, perhaps representing a priestess or a goddess dancing or performing ritualized mourning at a funeral ceremony.
Between 1916 and 1947, the museum acquired the splendid collection from pioneer American Egyptologist Charles Edwin Wilbour who dug in Egypt in the late 19th century, including his professional library. Since 1976, the Museum has also conducted excavations at the Temple Precinct of the goddess Mut at Karnak, and many of its discoveries are shown here as well.
Continue into New York City and the 5-star Carlyle Hotel on the Upper East Side, our home for the next three nights. Since 1930, this luxurious boutique hotel, located only a few blocks from Central Park, has epitomized sophistication and elegance. Dinner will be at an elegant local restaurant. (B/L/D)
Today will be spent at the world-renowned Metropolitan Museum of Art (MET), where imposing Egyptian relics are spread over 39 rooms. The Egyptian display is arranged in chronological order to more easily understand the development of this long-lived civilization. One of the most popular points of interest is the Temple of Dendur, built circa 15 BC by the Roman emperor Augustus. The temple was dedicated to the goddess Isis and to two sons of a local Nubian ruler who had aided the Romans in their wars with the queen of Meroe. Due to its original location in Lower Nubia, about fifty miles south of modern Aswan, the temple was dismantled in the 1960s to save it from the rising waters of Lake Nasser after the construction of the Aswan High Dam. Dinner is on our own. (B/L)
(Note: transportation for the morning and afternoon visits will not be provided. From the hotel, the walk to/from the MET is approximately 10 minutes each direction)
Begin the day with brunch at the Carlyle Restaurant in our hotel. We will then walk the few blocks to Central Park with a stop at Cleopatra’s Needle, a 3,000-year-old Aswan-granite obelisk from Egypt. Originally erected at Heliopolis on the orders of Thutmose III in 1475 BC, it was later transported by the Romans in 12 BC to Alexandria. In 1878, the Khedive gave the monument to the United States. While viewing this superb creation we will learn about the formidable task of moving it to New York City, as well as the history behind its hieroglyphic inscriptions commemorating Ramesses II’s military victories. Lunch is on our own.
In the late afternoon, return to the hotel to rest before our farewell dinner party at the home of our study leaders. After a memorable meal, there will be time for Bob Brier to show us through his extensive library and his personal collection of Egyptomania paraphernalia. (B/ /D)
Independent departures from New York City. (Note: no airport/hotel transfer is included) (B)
