The Egyptian Collection of the former National Museum and today's Archaeological Museum in Zagreb was formed from different sources during a century and a half of its existence. The so-called Zagreb mummy and its wrappings (inv. nums. 664 and 665) constitute the beginning of the Egyptian Collection. They were brought in the building of the National Museum in 1862 where they were received by the then curator of the Archaeological Department Mijat Sabljar (Dubica, 1790 - Zagreb, 1865) who entered the record in the inventory book.

Thanks to the bishop Josip Juraj Strossmayer and the president of the Jugoslav Academy of Science and Art Franjo Rački, the collection was augmented in 1868 when a large collection of the Egyptian antiquities was purchased from the heirs of the baron Franz Koller. Up to the present, it is a backbone of the Egyptian Collection of the Archaological Museum in Zagreb which might be the envy of many cities in Europe and around the world.

The collection contains approximately 2300 artifacts of which the majority is small plastic art (scarabs, amulets, shabtis, the statuettes of gods), but there are also valuable examples of stelae, the book of dead, mummies, and sarcophagi (inv. nums. 1-96, 98-159, 161-167, 172-191, 193-224, 226-271, 273-332, 334-365, 367-382, 383-385, 387-431, 433-441, 443-447, 449-452, 454-463, 465-472, 474-490, 492-494, 496-510, 512-560, 566-597, 599-656, 658-663, 667-674, 688-710, 713-756, 762-765). The collections comprisese mostly of the artifacts from the Middle Kingdom, the New Kingdom, and the Late Period.

The Franz Koller collection was organized firstly by the famous German Egyptologist Heinrich Brugsch (1827-1894) in 1869. Brugsch inspected and systematized the collection at the request of the then museum curator Don Šime Ljubić (Stari Grad, 1822 - Stari Grad, 1896) during his stay in Zagreb. Goind through the material, Brugsch detected for the first time the text on the wrappings of the Barić's mummy in an unknown language. He drew the letters from the original and established that it was a letter with alphabetic features. In 1877, Ljubić was offered to purchase a new large Egyptian collection which, unfortunately, he declined with an explanation that the Museum is already in possession of a substantial Egyptian collection and there is no need for another one. It is unknown what collection was it.

During the 140 years of the collection's existence, its holdings were increased many times through the donations from the citizens and the Egyptian government, or by purchase. So the collection was enlarged thanks to the donations of Mijat Sabljara (in about 1865 - inv. num. 448), Franjo Jordan from Cairo (in 1866 - inv. nums. 386, 453, 495 and 511), the widow Vilelmina Spierer (in 1868 - the donation of two Egyptian idols unrecorded in the inventory of the Egyptian Collection), the priest Luka Ilić from Zagreb (in 1869 - the donation of a bronze Egyptian idol unrecorded in the inventory of the Egyptian Collection), the Egyptologist Heinrich Brugsch (in 1871 - the donation of six Egyptian antiquities and a piece of the Ptolemaic money; the year unknown - inv. nums. 168-171), the parish priest Ferdo (Ferdinand) Pleše from Fužane (in 1871 - the donation of an Egyptian idol unearthed in Suez, inv. num. 333), Aleksandar Pevalek from Koprivnica (in 1872 - the donation of a large Ptolemaic silver coin), Dr. Gržetić from Senj (in 1872 - the donation of twenty copper and one silver coins from the Ptolemaic and Roman period of the Alexandrian mint), Antun Gašparac from Delnice (in 1872 - the donation of six Greco-Alexandrian Roman coins unearthed at a small church near Delnice), the sea captain Josip Forz Kožalić from Rijeka (in 1872 - the donation of a lamp and a small vessel unearthed in the Ramte field near Alexandria in Egypt, the artifacts are unrecorded in the inventory of the Egyptian Collection; in 1873 - the donation of a Roman tomb candle unearthed in the Ramte field near Alexandria in Egypt, the artifact is unrecorded in the inventory of the Egyptian Collection), Ante Čorić from Vrcar in Bosnia (in 1873 - the donation of an Egyptian copper coin), Ljudevit Svarz from Zagreb (in 1874 - the donation of an Egyptian copper coin), the purchase of the Lanza collection in Split (in 1874 - inv. nums. 442, 561-565), the British Orientalist, travel writer and diplomat (the then British vice-consul in Trieste) Sir Richar Burton (in about 1882 - inv. num. 192, two artifact), Milan Tompa (in 1886 - inv. num. 366), Dr. Fran Gundrum-Oriovčanin from Križevci (in 1898 - inv. num. 491), the archaeologist Josip Brunšmid (in 1899 - inv. num. 97), M. Valjato from Kraljevica (in 1900 - inv. num. 473), the government secretary Gustav Koritić (in 1905 - inv. nums. 225 and 328), Mrs. Dall'Asta from Rijeka (the year unknown - inv. num. 160), the pharmacist Finkh from Zagreb (the year unknown - inv. num. 272), Dr. Ivan Bojničić (the year unknown - inv. num. 432), The Senj High School (the year unknown - inv. num. 464), Dr. Stjepan Bojničić (the year unknown - inv. nums. 598 ans 599), Prof. Spiridion Brusina (the year unknown - inv. num. 657), the archbishop cardinal Juraj Haulika from Zagreb (the year unknown - inv. num. 666), Dr. Petar Karlić from Zadar (in 1912 - inv. nums. 675 and 676), Ana Slavić in Cairo (in 1941; inv. nums. 711 and 712), Vesna Magdić from Zagreb (in 1954 - the AMZ main inventory: inv. num. 348), Kamila Radovan from Zagreb (in 1957 - the AMZ main inventory: inv. num. 358, two artifacts), Dragica and Dr. Ivan Havliček from Novi Vinodolski (in 1971 - inv. nums. 757-761, six artifacts), the Egyptian government (in 1974 - inv. num. 687, four artifacts), S. Gaćeša (purchased from in 1988 - inv. num. 767), D. Ivković (purchased from in 1989 - inv. num. 766), G. Polić (purchased from in 1997 - inv. nums. 768-770, eighteen artifacts; the AMZ main inventory: inv. num. 440), Pavletić (purchased from in 2000, eleven artifacts).

The precise finding sites of the artifacts are mostly unknown. Thanks to the donations and minor purchases, the Egyptian Collection of the Archaeological Museum in Zagreb is today in possession of the artifacts of inestimable cultural value. From 1996 when the Egyptologist Igor Uranić was employed by the Museum, he is in charge of the collection as a curator.

The collection was partially or completely published by Ivan Bojničić (1882), Don Šime Ljubić (1871, 1889), A. Wiedemann (1891), Josip Brunšmid (1904, 1905, 1907, 1914), Janine Monnet Saleh (1970), Marcel Gorenc (1952, 1971, 1974, 1975, 1979, 1981), Duje Rendić-Miočević (1974), Ivan Mirnik (1975, 1981, 1986, 1987), Husein Kadić (1981), Petar Selem (1989), Ante Rendić-Miočević (1982, 1986, 1987, 1993), Igor Uranić (1990, 1992, 1994, 1996, 1999), and Mladen Tomorad (2000, 2003). It is necessary to mention a variety of shorter exhibition catalogs and guides through the Archaeological Museum in Zagreb, and the catalogs published for the visiting exibitions (Pula in 1981 and 1986, Torino in 1993).

The following exibitions dedicated to the Egyptian antiquities were organized by the Museum in the 20th century: Wrappings of the Zagreb Mummy (Nov. - Dec. 1936), Old Egyptian Archaeological Monuments and Documentation for Protection of the Monuments from Egypt and Nubia, Sculptural Wooden Sarcophagus from Old Egypt (21nd Dynasty) (Jan. - Apr. 1975), Egyptian Bronze Plastic Art (Dec. 1978 - Feb. 1979), Egyptian Scarabaei (Mar. - Jul. 1981), Gods, Ghosts, and Demond of the Old Egypt (Oct. 1999 - May 2000).

The Archaeological Museum in Zagreb stores also a variety of artifacts connected with the worship of the Egyptian cults in the territory of Roman Illyricum. These are mostly the figurines of gods (Izis, Serapis, Hermes-Thot, Isis-Fortuna, Harpocrates) and many epigraphic monuments associated with the worship of the Egyptian deities: a tabula ansata with an inscription dedicated to Isis Augusta from Sisak (inv. num. 531), a head of an Isis priestess from Sisak (inv. num. 36), a sphinx-shaped statue from Dalj (inv. num. 181), a cornice of a sepulchral stela with a lion pair from Petrovci (inv. num. 161), a cornice of a stela with a lion pair from Petrovci (inv. num. 162), two fragments of a sepulchral stela with a lion pair from Srijemska Mitrovica (inv. nums. 164 a, 164 b and 165), a Harpocrates statue from Novi Banovci (inv. num. 74), a Harpocrates statue from Slavonski Brod (inv. num. 72), a base of a Serapis statue (it used to be in the Archaeological Museum in Zagreb, but now is lost), a white marble Isis statue from Nin (inv. num. 34), and an Isis-Fortuna statuette from Dalmatia (inv. num. 48). The majority of this artifacts was acquired in the course of several archaeological excavations in 19th and 20th centuries. The bronze Hermes-Thot, Isis-Fortuna, and Harpocrates statuettes, sphinx, and other smaller artifacts originating from Egypt of the Graeco-Roman era came into possession of the Museum through purchase of the Koller collection.

In the course of the 19th and 20th centuries, the material collections were published by Š. Ljubić (1887), J. Brunšmid (1904, 1905, 1907, 1914), V. Hoffiler and B. Saria (1938), M. Gorenc (1952, 1971), P. Selem (1971, 1972, 1980, 1997), N. Cambi (1971, 2002), V. Dautova-Ruševljan (1983), and Mladen Tomorad (2003). The collection's curator is Ante Rendić-Miočević, Prof.

The Numismatic Collection of the Archaeological Museum in Zagreb comprises of approximately 260 000 pieces of money. Zdenka Dukat, Prof., and Ivan Mirnik, Ph.D., are in charge of the collection.

The collection of the Ptolemaic money is associated with Egipat. The artifacts originate from field excavations in Croatia or purchase from third persons (approximately 150 pieces of Ptolemaic money from the Archaeological Museum in Zagreb collection and 24 pieces from the Benko Horvat collection - purchased in 1926). The collection of Ptolemaic money consists of the coins minted by the kings Ptolemy I (the images of Hercules - inv. num. 6692, Alexander the Great with Amon's horns - inv. num. 3819, Zeus - inv. num. 3821, and of Ptolemy I - inv. nums. 3818, 8367-8372, 10358), Ptolemy II (the images of Zeus - inv. nums. 3824, 3826, 3827, 3833-3835, 3845, 6644, Ptolemey II - inv. nums. 3822, 3823, 3825, 8373-8375, and Alexander the Great with Amon's horns - inv. num. 3844), Ptolemy III (the images of Zeus - inv. nums. 3828-3832, 3836-3841, 3850-3855, 3859, 3860, Alexander the Great with Amon's horns - inv. num. 3846, Berenice II and Ptolemy III - inv. num. 3847), Ptolemy IV (the images of Zeus - inv. nums. 3842, 3856, 3858, 3861, 3862, 6695, 6696, the Queen Arsinoe - inv. num. 5404), Ptolemy V (the images of Cleopatra as Isis - inv. nums. 3864, 3871-3873, Ptolemy I - inv. nums. 3863, 6697, 8540), Ptolemy VI (the images of Zeus - inv. nums. 3874-3884, 3886-3888, 3891-3914, 6699-6703, Cleopatra as Isis - inv. nums. 3866-3870, Heracles - inv. nums. 3849), Ptolemy VIII (the images of Heracles - inv. num. 3857, Cleopatra II or III - inv. nums. 3889, 3890, Ptolemy I - inv. num. 3865, Zeus - inv. nums. 3874-3888, 5681, 6704), Ptolemy X (the image of Zeus - inv. nums. 3915, 3916, 5682, 8610), Ptolemy XIII (an image of Zeus - inv. num. 3917 and Ptolemy I - inv. nums. 3922-3924, 8378), Cleopatra VII and Ptolemies XIV-XVI (the images of Ptolemy I - inv. nums. 3918-3921, 3925, Zeus - inv. num. 3926 and Cleopatra VII - inv. nums. 3848, 3927, 6705, 6706.). From the Benko Horvat collection, there are four pieces with an image of Ptolemy I, a coin with an image of Alexander the Great from the time of Ptolemy II, two pieces with images of Berenice and Ptolemy III from the time of Ptolemy III, a piece with an image of the Ptolemy I's head from the time of Ptolemy V, six pieces with an image of Cleopatra II or III, and two pieces with an image of Zeus from the time of Ptolemy VIII, two pieces with an image of Ptolemy I from the time of Ptolemy XI, two pieces with an image of Ptolemy I from the time of Ptolemy XIII, a piece with an image of Cleopatra VII from the same period. The collection contains also the pieces of money with a Zeus head from the time of Ptolemies which are not firmly dated. The numismatic collection of the Alexandrian mint from the Roman imperial time (emperors from Augustus to Constantine I) is very large. This collection contains the images of the following Roman emperors and their co-rulers: Augustus (inv. nums. 3928, 3929, 5703, 5683), Tiberius (inv. num. 3930 and a piece from the Benko Horvat collection), Claudius and Messalina (inv. nums. 3931-3936, 5684, 5685, 7312), Agrippina the Younger (inv. num. 5405), Nero (inv. nums. 3937-3951, 6707. 8379, 8380 and two pieces from the Benko Horvat collection), Galba (inv. nums. 3952-3955), Otho (inv. num. 3956, and a piece with no inventory number and a piece from the Benko Horvat collection), Vespasian (inv. nums. 3957, 3959-3962), Vespasian with Titus (inv. num. 3958 and three pieces from the Benko Horvat collection), Domitian (inv. nums. 3963-3969), Trajan (inv. nums. 3970-3978, 5406, 5407, 6341, 7926, 7927, 8381 and a piece from the Benko Horvat collection), Hadrian (inv. nums. 3979-3995, 4211, 4212, 4217, 5408, 5686, 5727, 7313, 7928-7931, 8382-8391, 8611 and three pieces from the Benko Horvat collection) and Hadrian with Trajan (inv. num. 3996), Aelius (inv. num. 3997), Antoninus Pius (inv. nums. 3998-4006, 6853, 7314, 7932-7941, 8392-8394 and two pieces from the Benko Horvat collection) and Antoninus Pius with Marcus Aurelius (inv. num. 4007), Marcus Aurelius (inv. nums. 4008, 4213, 6342, 7315, 7943 and a piece from the Benko Horvat collection), Commodus (inv. nums. 4009-4013, 6742, 7945-7953 and three pieces from the Benko Horvat collection), Caracalla (inv. num. 4014), Elagabalus (inv. num. 4015 and a pieces from the Benko Horvat collection), Faustin the Younger (inv. nums. 7942, 7944), Julia Paula (inv. num. 7954), Lucius Verus (inv. num. 8612 and a piece from the Benko Horvat collection), Julia Mammea (inv. nums. 7968-7979), Severus Alexander (inv. nums. 4016-4025, 7955-7965, 7967, 8144 and four pieces from the Benko Horvat collection), Otacilia (inv. num. 6010), Maximinus Thrax (inv. nums. 4026-4029), Gordian III (inv. nums. 4030-4032, 7980.), Tranquilina (inv. num. 7981), Philippus I Arabs (inv. nums. 4033-4035 (6008), 6002-6007, 6009), Philippus II (inv. nums. 4036, 6011, 6012 and a piece from the Benko Horvat collection), Decius (inv. nums. 4037, 6013, 6014), Gallus (inv. nums. 4038, 4039, 6016, 6017), Volusianus (inv. nums. 6018, 6708), Valerian (inv. nums. 4040-4043, 4873, 6019-6025 and a piece from the Benko Horvat collection), Gallienus (inv. nums. 4046, 4052, 5687, 6026, 6028-6048 and three pieces from the Benko Horvat collection), Salonina (inv. nums. 4054-4064 and a piece from the Benko Horvat collection ), Saloninus (inv. nums. 4065, 6049), Claudius II (inv. nums. 4066-4081, 7316, 9246-48, 9253, 9254, 9277 and three pieces from the Benko Horvat collection), Quintillus (inv. num. 4082), Aurelian (inv. nums. 4083, 4085-4099, 5688-5691, 6050, 7317, 7318 and a piece from the Benko Horvat collection), Severina (inv. nums. 4100-4104 and a piece from the Benko Horvat collection), Aurelian and Vaballathus (inv. nums. 4105-4110 and ten pieces from the Benko Horvat collection), Zenobia (inv. num. 4111), Tacitus (inv. nums. 4112-4118), Probus (inv. nums. 4119-4143, 6343, 6344, 7319, 8395, 8396 and eight pieces from the Benko Horvat collection), Carus (inv. nums. 4144, 4145), Carinus (inv. nums. 4146-4152 and a piece from the Benko Horvat collection), Numerianus (inv. nums. 4153-4156, 8397, 8398), Diocletian (inv. nums. 5157-4193, 7320), Maximian (inv. nums. 4084, 4194-4209, 7321-7325, 7982, 8874 and five pieces from the Benko Horvat collection), Constantius I (inv. num. 4210) and Galerius Valerius Maximinus (two pieces from the Benko Horvat collection). The following pieces ought be included in the collection: an image of Apis with a disk on the head (inv. nums. 4214, 4215), an image of a palm branch (inv. num. 4216) and nine coins of the unindentified emperors from the Benko Horvat collection.

This survey of the Numismatic Collection should include also a large number of coins with the images of various Egyptian Hellenistic deities (such as Apis, Isis, Osiris, Harpocrates) originating from the other African, and Eastern provinces of the Roman Empire.

The Archaeological Museum in Zagreb is a rarely found institution in Croatia which collects systematically the Egyptian antiquities. By systematic presentation through a permanent exhibition and the theme exhibitions, this institution contributes greatly to the possibility for general public to learn constantly about the culture and history of the ancient Egypt.

M.T. 

The new permanent exhibition of the Egyptian collection was opened in the Archaeological Museum in Zagreb, Croatia, on March 21st. The collection is represented with 600 selected items from different periods of the Egyptian civilization from Middle Kingdom to the first centuries AD. The exhibition is divided according to several topics: bronze statues, sculpture, papyruses, stelae, coffins, tomb accessories, jewelry and amulets, cosmetics and vessels, shabtis. A separate room is dedicated to the Zagreb mummy and the famous Zagreb Linen Book - the longest known Etruscan text in the world. Each of these topics is covered with texts and pictorials. Two guides to the exhibition are published in Croatian and English. The layout of the Egyptian exhibition is designed by Mario Beusan, an architect, while the author of the conception is Igor Uranić, an Egyptologist and the curator of the Egyptian collection.

The Collection of ancient Egyptian artifacts in Croatia began as a part of the project to establish the National Museum at the time of the Illyrian Movement during the nineteenth century. With its first purchase, this newly-established institution secured approximately two thirds of the total inventory of its current Collection, which has approximately 2,200 individual items. This was a purchase of the majority of the Egyptian collection belonging to Franz Koller, a field marshal of Czech descent in the Austrian army. His collection was housed in Prague in the mid-nineteenth century. The purchase was made in 1868, and Bishop Josip Juraj Strossmayer deserves the most credit for this.

Fr. Šime Ljubić was the first curator involved in the registration and expert evaluation of these Egyptian antiquities in Zagreb. He did considerable work in classifying and taking inventory of the artifacts, and an important contribution to this work was made by respected German Egyptologist Henrich Brugsh, who visited Zagreb in 1869 and became familiar with the Collection.

After the first major acquisition, the Collection was supplemented by other purchases and donations. Among the most important was the donation of a sarcophagus and the mummy of Kaipamaw from the Government of the Arab Republic of Egypt in 1970. This was actually an expression of gratitude for the participation of several enterprises from Croatia and other republics of the former Yugoslavia in the major UNESCO campaign to save monuments in Nubia that were threatened by the commencement of operation of the Aswan High Dam. This is a well-preserved anthropomorphic sarcophagus of Amun's priestess, which is now part of the Collection's permanent exhibition. Additionally, purchases of several smaller private collections were transacted over the past decade.

In contrast to the most renowned international collections, such as those in London, Cairo and Paris, the Zagreb Collection does not cover all periods of Pharaonic and prehistoric Egypt, rather it generally emphasizes the later periods. Most of the artifacts are from the Third Intermediate period (1069-747 BC), the Late Dynastic period (747-332 BC) and the Ptolemaic period (332-30 BC). There are a smaller number of artifacts from the New Kingdom (1552-1069 BC) and the Middle Kingdom (2055-1650 BC).

Like most Egyptian collections, this one also largely presents tomb accessories and votive gifts. Their level of preservation and number dominate simply because these are items that were concealed in tombs over the course of many centuries of devastation of the remainder of Egyptian civilization. These include coffins, tomb stelae, canopic jars, tomb papyri, etc. Articles that can be associated with everyday life in Egypt, such as sandals, jewelry, pottery, writing utensils, bronze statuettes of deities from household altars or wooden cosmetic palettes and toys, can only be found in the Collection as secondary exhibits.

Among the most attractive exhibits in the Egyptian Collection are certainly the three anthropomorphic coffins - the already mentioned Kaipamaw sarcophagus from the Late Dynastic period, and two from the Ptolemaic period. The Collection also features a number of burial and votive stelae, approximately twenty, which are of great importance to understanding Egyptian burial customs. The Archeological Museum also holds about a dozen papyri, which contain all three Egyptian scripts: hieroglyphic, hieratic, and demotic. Besides the Books of the Dead, which are quite frequent in museums, the Zagreb Collection also has a shorter medical papyrus written in hieratic, which contains recipes for certain pain medications.

The bronze sculptures feature about twenty Egyptian deities in their authentic Egyptian and Hellenistic interpretation. There is also a rich assortment of canopic jars (named after a tributary of the Nile) which served to hold the organs removed from mummies. The lids to these canopic jars are rendered very imaginatively and they depict the heads of patron spirits known as the "four sons of Horus" who stand vigil over these remains of the body. The number of canopic jars is considerably larger than those on display, because only a small number of the jars could be definitively connected with the appropriate lid with any degree of certainty.

Among the most numerous items in the Collection are shabtis. Theses are figurines made of ceramic, faience, wood or stone associated with beliefs in the afterlife. They were placed in tombs so that the spirit of those in them could invoke their help in any work required in the afterlife. As interpreted in the religion of the ancient Egyptians, the afterlife was like life on Earth, and they assumed that in the world of the afterlife jobs like digging canals for irrigation also had to be done. The ancient Egyptians thus gave shabtis to their deceased as gifts to do this work in their place. This is why the shabtis hold agricultural implements in their hands, and have baskets to carry sand on their backs. Almost all types of figurines can be seen in the Archeological Museum in Zagreb.

I.U.