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Like ‘Back to the Future’: Penn Museum floats its ancient sphinx to a new home
WHYY (Philadelphia)

Like ‘Back to the Future’: Penn Museum floats its ancient sphinx to a new home

Jennifer Wegner and Julian Siggers of the Penn Museum commented on the sphinx’s relocation. “You’ll have one of the most significant archaeological objects in America greeting you as you come in the doors of the new Penn Museum,” said Siggers.

The Sachs Program announces 2019 grants, marks one-year anniversary
Common Press screening bags

Common Press screens bags at the 2019 Sachs Grant Awards event on May 2. (Photo: Dominic Mercier)

The Sachs Program announces 2019 grants, marks one-year anniversary

A year and 23 grant projects later, The Sachs Program for Arts Innovation is phasing into round two of its annual grant awards throughout eight categories that support the teaching, making, and presenting art.
Five events to watch for in May
Tapestry held by two people blows in the air “Airplay,” part of the Philadelphia Children's Festival. (Photo courtesy: Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts)

Five events to watch for in May

Happening around campus this May: the second-annual Sachs Grant Awards, the Philadelphia Children’s Festival, and the screening of a 1930s Hollywood B-movie.
Night at the (Penn) Museum
Kids with statue and flashlights

The flashlight expedition included a trip through the Egypt gallery, with artifacts like this statue of Ramses II. 

Night at the (Penn) Museum

What it’s like to sleep over with mummies and more than 10,000 years’ worth of artifacts.

Gwyneth K. Shaw

Unearthing a botanical legacy, one seed at a time
seeds found at bartrams garden

Unearthing a botanical legacy, one seed at a time

Painstaking work by Penn Museum archaeobotanist Chantel White and students has verified what the Bartrams sold and exported to Europe in the 1800s, and shed light on the family’s daily dietary habits.

Michele W. Berger

A tour of the ancient world—in Mandarin
Susan Radov leads a tour of the China Gallery with sculptures in the background Susan Radov, an undergraduate cultural anthropology student, leads a tour of the China Gallery at Penn Museum.

A tour of the ancient world—in Mandarin

The Penn Museum offers tours of its exhibits in Mandarin, increasing cross-cultural access to its invaluable assemblage of objects on display, the only known museum in Philadelphia with regularly scheduled tours in the language.
Egypt on display
a 4,000-year-old model of a rowing boat featuring 16 figures

A new Penn Museum exhibition showcases 200 artifacts from its vast Egyptian collection, as well as their conservation, including a 4,000-year-old model of a rowing boat featuring 16 figures.  

Egypt on display

Penn Museum opens a new Ancient Egypt exhibition to display artifacts and their conservation during its Building Transformation project.
Penn Museum preserves a little bit of Egypt for display during renovation
WHYY (Philadelphia)

Penn Museum preserves a little bit of Egypt for display during renovation

The Penn Museum’s Jennifer Wegner and Julian Siggers spoke about the new, temporary exhibit, “Ancient Egypt: From Discovery to Display.” The display, designed to resemble an archeological lab, “was an opportunity for us to bring the public to see how a gallery unfolds,” said Siggers.

Marking the winter solstice, from Neolithic times to today
A prehistoric city with homes, earthen mounds, and pathways

Archaeological evidence for solstice celebrations abounds in the ancient North American city of Cahokia, located in what is now Illinois. (Illustration: Steven Patricia/Art Institute of Chicago)

Marking the winter solstice, from Neolithic times to today

For millennia, people have marked the winter solstice with rituals and celebrations—and they continue to do so today. Penn Museum anthropologists Lucy Fowler Williams and Megan Kassabaum discuss both ancient and contemporary customs associated with attending to the shortest day of the year.

Katherine Unger Baillie