Exhibition: Elephantine - Island of the Milennia

Elephantine – Island of the Millennia is the first comprehensive exhibition on Elephantine displaying outstanding objects from Berlin’s collection alongside highlights from around the world. The island of Elephantine in the Nile in southern Egypt was a trading and frontier center and home to a uniquely diverse, multilingual, multicultural, and multi-religious population. Only at this unique location can cultural history be relived thanks to written sources spanning a period of 4000 years. The manifold contents of the texts are contextualized by archaeological finds and interpreted by contemporary artists.

What can we learn today from the past of this cosmopolitan island? In dialogue with members of the Arab-German Young Academy of Sciences and Humanities (AGYA) current perspectives have been developed for the exhibition. Elephantine – Island of the Millennia was jointly created with Ägyptisches Museum und Papyrussammlung – Staatliche Museen zu Berlin and the Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities. 

26 April - 27 October 2024
James Simon Gallery, Museumsinsel Berlin, Germany

• Verena Lepper
• Tarek Tawfik

• Ägyptisches Museum und Papyrussammlung – Staatliche Museen zu Berlin
• Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities