Egyptian Revival in the Victorian Era

While its popularity had ebbed and flowed for decades, Egyptian Revival architecture and style was most popular from 1880 to 1930 and then continued to heavily influence the Art Deco period. Egypt was foreign, exotic, and sexy - arguably everything Victorian England was not - and as travel became more accessible and the field of Egyptology grew, the culture and history had a growing and eager audience. Along with a new style of decorative arts, Victorians also enjoyed a new form of entertainment: the (mummy) unwrapping party.

Wealthy Victorians, under the guise of education, threw lavish parties with trafficked Egyptian mummies that were the guest of honor. Then, Egyptologists, anthropologists, or really any person that had the means to go to Egypt and bring a mummy home, had the honor of doing the unwrapping. Popularized by Thomas Pettigrew, a distinguished doctor and scientist of the era, mummy unwrappings would range from scientific discussion of age, social status or historical importance, to more pedestrian observations, conjectures and just plain shock value. Granted, even the more academic discussions were heavily tinged with colonial prejudice and inaccuracy.  

Within this setting, Victorians decorated their homes with obelisks, carved pharaoh figurines, and, if possible, ancient Egyptian relics pilfered from tombs. In addition to decorative arts, Egyptian motifs were commonly seen in architecture and jewelry. It was also common for funerary items to be taken from the body of an unwrapped mummy and repurposed for Victorian use.  

Perhaps it was the legend of the mummy's curse, or just the realization that mummies are both human remains and a finite resource, but eventually (and thankfully) the popularity of mummy unwrapping parties declined. During the Victorian Era, mummies were at the disposal of the wealthy and well-connected. Today, we understand the value of preserving ancient artifacts for everyone to enjoy and learn from for generations. Mummies today are x-rayed for information and unwrapping is considered obsolete.

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