Welcome to this audio described tour of selected pieces from the exhibition Ramses & The Gold of the Pharaohs at the Australian Museum in Sydney. This exhibition presents 3000 year old objects and stories of Ramses, an Egyptian pharaoh also known as Ramses the Great and, in Greek, Ozymandias.
Ramses was born about 1304BCE and died in 1213BCE at the age of 90 or 91. He reigned for nearly 67 years from 1279BCE to 1213BCE, and was famous as a military leader who expanded the Egyptian Empire and secured its borders against attack, as well as a great builder of temples, cities and monuments.
Upon entry to the exhibition, you'll find yourself in a short dark corridor. At the end are two gold hieroglyphs on the wall which are Ramses birth and throne names. Turning left you will enter an open space showcasing a 15 metre wide curved screen to your right which reads, Ramses and the Gold of the Pharaohs. This screen plays a 4 minute introductory film about the life of Ramses. Once the film is finished, doors open on the opposite side of the space for you to pass thru and turn right into a narrow corridor.
At the end of the corridor is an imposing red granite Head of Ramses, his eyes in line with yours, his cone-shaped headwear tapering upward 2.5 metres. The first gallery of this exhibition then opens to your immediate right and contains 6 cabinets housing pieces revealing stories of the life of Ramses the Great, the builder and the warrior. Once you have turned right past the Head or Ramses, you will pass a 2.5 metre high, gold tipped obelisk on the way to the next stop: a Bow and Quiver on display in a tall cabinet.