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SALT LAKE CITY — Relics of ancient Egypt are setting up shop in the state's capitol city.
The national blockbuster Mummies of the World exhibition will be opening Saturday, Feb. 16, at The Leonardo. Crews unloaded crates of mummies at the Salt Lake museum on Wednesday.
For the next 10 days, crews will assemble around the clock in preparation for the unique exhibit.
The mummies have been preserved by nature as well as humans. Scientists accompanying the exhibit used non-invasive technology to study them.
"I can tell you a little bit about what they were eating around the time of their death," Heather Gill-Frerking, Ph.D., Director of Science for Mummies of the World.
They are not presented to create a frightening atmosphere for later sleepless nights. These mummies, curators said, look like people who are more like time travelers.
"They are here for eternity," said Marc Corwin, president and CEO of American Exhibitions, Inc. "When you see them and go through this exhibition, that we prepared with great dignity and respect and deference to the cultures from which they come, you will see them as real people, like you and I."
The artifacts have been brought together from private and public collections from throughout the world including South America, Egypt and Europe. Each preserved body tells a fascinating story.
"It brings tools from modern technology and science to bear on ancient people," said Alexandra Hesse, executive director of The Leonardo. "And science and technology is used to unlock the stories that lie behind the people of the past."
