The culture of ancient Egypt, more than any other early civilisation, for many people, is symbolized by mysterious tombs, bizarre mummies and valuable objects. In the early days of Egyptian Archaeology, tombs were opened for the sole purpose of acquiring exotic and expensive objects, which were sold and dispersed among collectors without any kind of record. It was the golden days of adventures and robbers and all the biggest European Collections were assembled at that time. Also, almost all Egyptian Collections now in Brazil, were bought at that time! After establishing the principles of scientific Archaeology the things changed considerably. Nowadays, more than the economic value of a specific antiquity, we need to consider what it represented for its owner at that time it was handed, as a living document and a parcel of an specific life and of a Society, as part of Human History.

This reflection conduct us to think as the “things change” with time and leads to another deeper and more important one: the so actual and questionable role (or Identity) of the Museum in the III Millennium, explaining that the Museum, as most of them are today organised, belong to a XIX Century mentality, completely affined to that period, exactly as the “Cabinets de Curiosités” were the ancestors of the Museum and were typical of the XVIII Century. As a consequence, this incisive reflection tends to see the Museum as a house (or deposit) for exotic or valuable objects and collections. With this conception in mind, the part played for the entertainment and parallel activities are taking a more and more important role (even becoming a concept) and many museums have run to have modernised and dynamic exhibitions (with models, dioramas and scenographic elements), when not with interactive activities. The Internet, for its turn, has done its own revolution in the concept of information and new concepts are arising in the last days. So, now, it is possible to conclude that, more than an important or odd piece, what is more important is the information that it can contain and reveal as a testimony of a human experience and if its display is clear, objective, attractive and didactic there is a great chance of being successful .

The original idea of organising the Didactic Collection of Egyptology started in 1980, when a young student of 16 years old mounted a first exhibition in a High School of Rio de Janeiro. Considering the general interest of people and the early stage of development of Egyptology in Brazil, the INE was founded in 1990 and since then it has promoted many cultural and scientific events related to Egyptology. Thus, due to the lack of an impressive and comprehensible Collection of Antiquities, the INE, as an institution, developed the original idea of making its own collection of ”ancient” Egyptian objects. Nowadays, this Didactic Collection comprises nearly 700 items, including models of temples, tombs, houses of different periods, scenographic pieces (architectural structures) in natural size (used for settings), miniatures of coffins, vases, funerary masks and etc. Besides the models and miniatures, we have a special collection of objects in natural size, including rectangular coffins, metal vases, mummy masks, human mummies, paintings and reliefs of many periods, objects related to daily life, funerary and liturgical items, furniture of many periods and many other item. This Collection, is normally used for different exhibitions and already was shown in more than 21 different places not only in Rio the Janeiro, but also in many Museums and Cultural Centres in Brazil.