According to one the Missions of the Institution, the Project related to the Didactic Collection is designed to make an useful and original collection of reproductions, renderings, iconography panels and other items, both in natural size as miniatures, which can be used in the exhibitions, when opportune. The programme of construction of models and miniatures is normally studied and established in advance, nevertheless, as each exhibition has a specific theme, sometimes, one or more pieces can be made exclusively for a special exhibition.

In order to exemplify what the INE already produced and shown, we can list the following categories of items. However, as our aim is not to write a catalogue of pieces, we will mention only the categories of objects. In order to illustrate our text, we are including some scattered pictures. They are divided in different categories, as models, miniatures, paintings, objects and furniture and scenographic settings for exhibitions.


1) Models:

The Models constitute a precise and didactic way of showing details of architectural structures that not always are clear in the monuments today. Some monuments were completely destroyed as consequence of time, natural agents and sometimes, human vandalism. Our collection comprises some interesting pieces of medium size, as temples and tombs ranging from the Pre-Dynastic Period to the Later Dynasties. Thus, there is an emphasis in monuments from the New Kingdom. The size of the pieces vary considerably, due to the great variety of monuments, in size and our capacity of storing such pieces. The general idea is to give a view of the monument at the time it was built. Thus, in some cases, we opt to show the piece in a view near of that at the time of discovery.
Here, we can specify the following pieces: 1) Model of a Pre-Dynastic house like a hut; 2) Model of a Pre-Dynastic house typical of gerzean period; 3) Model of a Pre-Dynastic grave; 4) Model of a Pre-Dynastic boat, made of papyrus fibres; 5) Model of a Early-Dynastic tomb like a royal mastaba from Abydos; 6) Model of a New Kingdom country house; 7) Model of a New Kingdom urban house, typical from Thebes during the XVIII Dynasty; 8) Model of a New Kingdom mortuary temple, Amenhotep son of Hapu; 9) Model of a New Kingdom mortuary temple as seen in Deir el-Medinah comprising two kinds of chapels; 10) Model of a New Kingdom Mortuary temple as seen in Deir el-Medinah comprising one chapel like a pyramid. Also, we are producing some detailed models as : 11) Alexandrine tomb; 12) Saite chapel as seen in Deir el-Bahari; 13) The Pre-Dynastic temple of Neith, in Sais; 14) Model of the Bubasteion facade as seen from south, showing the entrance of the tombs.


2) Collection of miniatures

The purpose of this specific collection is to have a practical and easily transportable assemblage of didactic objects. Due to the trouble of storage, some objects need to be made in a reduced scale. In this case, the adopted scale is 1/5 of the original size, for its convenience. This size reduces a piece like a human anthropoid coffin of nearly 2,00 m length to something near of 0,40 m.

The option of making miniatures was initiated in 1981, when we need to show an entire collection of objects, including not only three rectangular coffins, but tens of pottery jars. So, at that time the only way of making it, was in the form of miniatures. This is the case of the so called The Tomb of Architect Uadjmes and his family, a fictitious Scribe and Architect of XVIII Dynasty. It includes nearly 200 pieces in the same scale of 1/5 of the original size. The mummies of the architect, as well as of his wife and young sister are displayed with furniture, stone and pottery vases, amulets, food and all the other items that usually are found in the tombs of that period. This collection was based in that one, of Kha, found by Ernesto Schiparelli in 1906, at Deir el-Medinah and now in the Museo Egizio di Torino, Italy.

This kind of work is a clever and practical option, since we can reproduce in a minor scale all kinds of objects like anthropoid and rectangular coffins, sets of canopic jars and chests, ceremonial wigs, shabtis and their chests, alabaster jars, pottery jars, stone jars, faience Jars, different amulets and pieces of jewellery, furniture, human and animal mummies covered with textiles, skeletons, work tools, costumes or any other piece, when opportune or necessary.


3) Objects in Natural Size

These Collection vary considerably in number and size according to our convenience and capacity of storage. It consist of royal and private statues and statuettes of many periods, busts, block statues, rectangular coffins, liturgical objects, Graeco-Roman Period mummy masks, Ancient Kingdom vases and jars, a great collection of Pre-Dynastic items, painted shrines, chests typical of a XVIII Theban palace and a varied collection of furniture, most of XVIII Dynasty.


4) Iconographic Panels and Stelai

These category of object is wide and consist of many different panels. First, we have a collection of nearly 70 panels (of same size - 50X60 cm), used to show pictures, drawings and technical plans of different monuments. These documents can be shown on black wooden chassis protected by glass.
Also, we maintain a collection reproducing reliefs made on thin slabs of plaster e/or resin, generally made in natural size and a collection reproducing paintings made on thin slabs of plaster e/or plastered wood, generally made in natural size. They are divided in two categories: big panels and paintings of medium size. As they are numerous, we will mention some of the most important: a big panel showing the famous scene of the Window of Appearances (as seen in a tomb of Tell el-Amarna); a big panel showing a typical Theban ritual banquet of XVIII Dynasty; part of the mural decoration of the so called Green Room at North Palace of Amarna; a mural painting showing a false door with offering scene and boys, a big panel showing king Akhenaten and his family consecrating offerings in front of the temple pylons; a panel showing scene of harvesting, another showing agricultural scene, a big panel showing a funerary procession and many others paintings of a minor size.

Also we produced a collection reproducing stele made of plaster e/or plastered wood. These stele are mainly from the Old Kingdom, XII Dynasty and XVIII Dynasty, including a False-Door, typical of V Dynasty, in natural size.


5) Scenographic Pieces and Settings

Nowadays, a simple exhibition of archaeological artefacts (rare or exotic) can become a success in terms of media - or not. According to the latest tendencies, followed by Museum designers around the world, scenographic settings are not only welcomed but, sometimes, practically indispensable. So, passages, rooms, stairways, porticoes and other elements are built in other to recreate an specific and/or exotic atmosphere for a determined exhibition.

In case of this Collection we built some architectural elements as obelisks, porticoes, colonnades, facades of tombs, funerary chamber decorated with paintings, a corridor or other architectural element to compose a monumental and exotic view to the exhibition. In the latest exhibitions, we also included pieces of Egyptian-Arabic taste, as doors, porticoes and many other pieces. These elements were generaly built in plywood and for this reason are easily transportable and more or less easy to keep in a deposit. The architectural elements are: 1) a pair of obelisks with 6,60 m height, plus square base; 2) one obelisk with 2,50 m height, plus square base; 3) a pair of pillars, with 3,00 m height, without base; 4) four Hathoric pillars in red quartzite with 2,20 m height, plus the base; 5) a tomb entrance, with 2,50 m height, plus facade of variable width; 6) tomb corridor, with c. 4,00 m length and 2,00 m width and 2,2m height; 7) a typical XII Dynasty funerary chamber, of variable measure, but usually of 3,00 x 4,00 m; 8) an Arabian Portico, measuring 3,50 X 2,50 1,00 (thickness); 9) an Arabian Portico, measuring 3,50 (w), 2,50 (h), 1,00 (t); 10) two magnificent roofs in Arabian style, painted and gold plated; 11) two small chapels, of XII Dynasty typical design; 12) a funerary chapel typical of Deir-el-Medinah, with 7,00 m height; 13) a portico with Columns and a big painting showing an Arabian landscape; 14) a Mucharabieh in natural size; 15) Others