Time running out to see artefacts before centre's facelift

THE public has one month left to view thousands of rare artefacts from Egypt for free in Wales before the venue housing the collection undergoes a five-month facelift.

- ABBIE WIGHTWICK Education editor [e-mail]

Thousands of priceless items from ancient Egypt and before are on view to the public at Swansea's museum of Egyptian antiquities based at Swansea University’s Singleton campus.

The Egypt Centre, is a hidden mine of objects telling the tales of life and death in the time of the pharaohs and before.

A flint tool, thought to be up to one million years old, is the oldest item in the collection, which also includes brightly decorated coffins, masks and mummies from pyramids at Luxor, and Islamic art from the early 20th century.

Among treasures also on display is a beautifully painted 3,000-year-old coffin of a priestess, masks covered in gold leaf, and a mummified cat, crocodile and snake.

There is also gold and bronze jewellery and a rare collar, which some Egyptologists think was found on the bodies of Tutankhamun’s sisters.

The collection in the university's Taliesin building had been on display since 1998, but many people are not aware it is open to the public and that admission is free.