Preparing a Palace: Installing Monumental Egyptian Architecture at the Penn Museum

Abstract

The Penn Museum is currently undergoing a major building transformation project, which includes the reinstallation of its Ancient Egypt and Nubia galleries. Components of massive structures, like the Palace of 19th Dynasty Pharoah Merenptah, are being stabilized and treated as part of this ongoing effort. Beginning in 2019, a team of Penn Museum conservators established an off-site lab where treatment and reconstruction for many of these large elements could be addressed for the first time in over a hundred years. Collaboration with engineers, mount makers, and riggers has helped the team establish non-invasive and reversible strategies for the reassembly of monumental structures. This talk will take a look at the new methods and materials that have been developed for this unique project and reflect on lessons learned throughout the process.

About the Speaker

Julia Commander (she/her) is the Alice and Herbert Sachs Conservator of Egyptian Collections at the Penn Museum, currently focusing on treatment and reinstallation of monumental stone architecture. Julia earned her MS from the Winterthur/University of Delaware Program in Art Conservation in 2017, specializing in objects conservation and preventive collections care. Experience at the American Museum of Natural History and the Gordion Excavations in Turkey supported a specific interest in archaeological materials, which was further developed through post-graduate training at the J. Paul Getty Museum Antiquities Department and a research fellowship at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.