VICTORIA, B.C. — The Royal British Columbia Museum is preparing to unveil its latest major historical installation, Ancient Egypt: Obsessed with Life, which will run from June 5, 2026, to January 3, 2027.

The comprehensive 9,000-square-foot exhibition offers an extensive look into the death rituals, complex worldview, and daily lives of ancient Egyptians. The display focuses heavily on the classical pharaonic period spanning from 2000 B.C. to 600 B.C., covering the Old to New Kingdoms alongside selected artifacts from the Late and Greco-Roman eras.

Produced by MuseumsPartner and originating from Denmark’s Moesgaard Museum, the exhibition pulls artifacts from multiple European institutions. The space is structured around four distinct themes: mummification, the underworld, the grave, and the afterlife.

Rather than relying purely on static displays, the installation incorporates atmospheric environments, digital technology, and localized soundscapes. Specialized scent-diffusion stations will allow visitors to smell the specific types of embalming oils utilized by priests during the mummification of Egyptian nobility around 1450 B.C.

Among the prominent architectural features is a full-scale replica of the burial chamber belonging to Sennedjem, an artisan who lived and worked during the reigns of Seti I and Ramses II.

The galleries will feature a wide array of original artifacts designed to accompany the deceased into eternity. These include vibrantly painted coffins, funerary masks, grave goods, jewelry, and everyday grooming items like combs and makeup pots. While mummified pets are included in the collection, the exhibition contains no human remains.

Following a policy change instituted after the museum's 2004 Eternal Egypt show, the Royal BC Museum no longer displays human remains in travelling exhibitions. Instead, the mummification process is demonstrated using replica mummies, which illustrate how bodies were wrapped in linens and adorned with specific amulets to protect surgical incisions and guide the dead through the underworld.

This marks the third major Egyptian-focused exhibition to arrive at the Inner Harbour museum in the past two decades, following highly attended events in 2004 and 2018. The installation is included with standard museum admission.