The collection of the Archaeological Museum within the Museum of Dubrovnik came to be thanks to the donations of now mostly unknown persons over a long period of time. The artifacts of the Egyptological collection arrived in Dubrovnik probably in the 19th century. The only known donators of the collections are Tonko Kuraica, Ivo Nordeli, and the brothers Frane (Dubrovnik, 1821 - ?) and Nikola (Dubrovnik, 1823 - Vienna, 1892) Amerling who donated probably the majority of artifacts.

Frane Amerling lived in Cairo in the second half of the 19th century. He donated a large collection of archaological artifacts gathered over a long period of time for his Cairo collection to the Home Museum of Dubrovnik in 1872. Together with his brothers, he was involved in the founding of the Museum to which the Amerling family donated many other artifacts gathered from around the world. Nikola (Niko) Amerling lived in Alexandria from 1842 onwards, and he left Egypt after the British occupation in 1882. In 1872, he donated a collection of old Egyptian and Oriental artifacts to the Home Museum of Dubrovnik.

According to the records in the inventory book, all the artifacts originate from Egypt, and the only recorded year of the donation is 1872. Unfortunately, the precise data are not preserved so the genesis of the collection remains unknown.

The Egyptian collection contains today 196 smaller artifacts and a mummy whose authenticity and age are not determined. According to the recent studies of Igor Uranić (2001), the collection consists of sixteen scarabs (inv. nums. 446, 513, 514, 515, 516, 517, 518, 519, 520, 522, 598, 599, 613, 614, 615, 616), a bust of a divinity (inv. num. 447), three fragments of a cluster-shaped jewelry (inv. nums. 448, 449, 452), a fist-shaped amulet (inv. num. 450), two grains (inv. num. 451, 609), a stone hatchet (inv. num. 453), a stone artifact of an uknown purpose (inv. num. 454), a round black colored part of a necklace (inv. num. 455), four amulets of the goddess Toeris (inv. nums. 456, 531, 640, 3801), an amulet of the goddess Sekhmet (inv. num. 457), two figurines of a lion in laying position (inv. nums. 458, 534), a cylinder-shaped part of a necklace (inv. num. 459), a sphinx (inv. num. 461), a cone-shaped seal (inv. num. 462), a cylinder-shaped seal (inv. num. 463), twenty-five shabtis (inv. nums. 473, 504, 506, 507, 508, 550, 552, 553, 554, 555, 556, 557, 558, 559, 560, 561, 562, 563, 564, 566, 567, 595, 3805, 3806, 3807), fourteen Osiris statuettes (inv. nums. 475, 477, 478, 479, 482, 488, 489, 490, 491, 498, 501, 503, 549, 594), five statuettes of Isis-Hathor with Harpocrates (inv. nums. 476, 483, 485, 492, 499), a bronze pendant in form of the god Ptah (inv. num. 480), six Harpocrates statuettes (inv. nums. 481, 486, 487, 494, 547, 596), a statuettes of a cat in sitting position (inv. num. 484), an Anubis statuette (inv. num. 493), three Apis statuettes (inv. nums. 495, 496, 545), a Neit statuette (inv. br. 497), three Amon statuettes (inv. nums. 500, 502, 548), a statuette of a woman (inv. num. 505), a Sekhmet statuette (inv. num. 509), a statuette of a bird (inv. num. 510), two scarab-amulets (inv. nums. 511, 512), an egg-shaped pendant (inv. num. 521), a vessel (inv. num. 523), three shell-shaped lamps (inv. nums. 524, 525, 526), an Anubis or Upuaut amulet (inv. num. 527), an amulet of Isis-Hathor with Harpocrates (inv. num. 528), a spinx-amulet (inv. br. 529), three amulets of the pateke dwarf (inv. nums. 530, 532, 628), a Toth amulet (inv. nums. 533), a fake beard (inv. num. 535), a cone (inv. num. 536), a head and a neck of a ibis bird (inv. num. 537), five Anubis amulets (inv. nums. 538, 540, 543, 641, 565), three Bes amulets (inv. nums. 541, 544, 3802), a Horus amulet (inv. num. 542), a Bastet statuette (inv. num. 546), an unidentified statuette (inv. num. 551), twenty-one amulets in form of a square tablet (inv. nums. 568, 570, 571, 572, 573, 574, 575, 576, 577, 578, 579, 580, 581, 582, 583, 584, 585, 586, 587, 588, 590), a Horus statuette (inv. num. 569), two scaraboids (inv. nums. 589, 632), five eye udjat-shaped amulets (inv. nums. 592, 626, 630, 634, 3804), a necklace made of wooden grains (inv. num. 593), a necklace made of seventy graines (inv. num. 597), a two- feather amulet (inv. num. 600), pair of compasses (inv. num. 601), protractor (inv. num. 602), two heart amulets (inv. nums. 603, 604), a bird figurine (inv. num. 605), two stone of an unknown purpose (inv. br. 606, 610), a perl (inv. num. 607), a rock for a ring (inv. num. 608), a lid for a small vessel (inv. num. 611), a tablet with faces (inv. num. 612), a necklace with sixteen scarabs and a female image (inv. num. 617), a fragment of a statuette with a sun disk (inv. num. 618), a fragment of an unknown artifact (inv. num. 619), two Roman imperial coins (inv. nums. 620, 621), a frog amulet (inv. num. 622), a male head-shaped amulet (inv. num. 623), a lion amulet (inv. num. 624), a statuette of an anthropozoomorphic gnostic divinity (inv. num. 625), an amulet with a bird's head (inv. num. 627), a flower (inv. num. 629), a column amulet (inv. num. 631), an amulet of an unidentified divinity (inv. num. 633), five fragments of a vessel (inv. num. 635), an amulet with a peacock (inv. num. 636), an amulet with an image (inv. num. 637), a stylus with a fan-shaped extension (inv. num. 638; donation of the Amerling family), stylus with a pointy ending (inv. num. 639; donation of the Amerling family), a Toth statuette (inv. num. 642), a figure with a Pharaonic crown (inv. num. 643), an amulet of the Isis-Horus-Nephthys trinity (inv. num. 3800), a male statuette from the post-Amarna period (inv. num. 3803), a Pharaoh (inv. br. 3808; donation of Tonko Kuraica), a male statuette (inv. num. 3810), and a statuette of a divinity (inv. num. 3811).

The majority of artifacts originate from the Ptolemaic and Roman periods. It is impossible to determine which sites the artifacts came from. Igor Uranić identified 164 genuine and 31 fake artifacts in his research. It was established that one artifact originates from Etruria (inv. num. 3809). The time of arrival and the donators can be determined for only three artifacts. It can be concluded from the archive records that the Amerling family donated a large collection in 1872, and as the Amerling brothers were frequently in Egypt, it can be assumed that they are probable donators of the majority of artifacts. The archive records show also that one large collection was donated by Ivo Nordeli who is not mentioned as a direct donator in the collection's inventory.

The first information on the collections I got from the Museum's curator Ljiljana Kovačić, Prof., in 1998 and 1999. The senior curator and the head of the Archaeological Department Romana Menalo, Prof., is currently in carge of the collection.

So far the collection was written about by Igor Uranić (2001), Romana Menalo (2003), and Mladen Tomorad (2003).

M.T.