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 Rosicrucian Egyptian Museum & Planetarium |
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About Us: History of the Rosicrucian Museum
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| [1929] Dr. Lewis and the AMORC Egyptian Expedition on the Giza Plateau. |
In gratitude, the Egypt Explorations Society donated several artifacts from their finds. After the Order's headquarters settled in its present San Jose location, Dr. Lewis conceived of a public collection, "The Rosicrucian Egyptian Oriental Museum" in 1928. He had glass cases for the artifacts built in a lounge area of the second floor of the Administration building.
A grand tour of Egypt followed in 1929, and this enthusiasm generated many more donations of artifacts and funds for the Museum. By 1932 the collection had outgrown its second floor home, and additional construction was added as an annex to the Administration Building.
Although the many artifacts in the collection themselves were actual ancient antiquities, as a teaching institution, educational replicas were also needed. In 1935, the carefully detailed Rock Tomb replica, modeled on several originals in the Beni Hasan desert was unveiled. The second teaching replica was the model of the Djoser Step Pyramid complex, lovingly crafted by the museum staff and volunteers.
The familiar Byzantine design and Moorish arches of the Museum greeted visitors for over thirty years. As the collection grew and deepened, however, it became obvious to Ralph M. Lewis, AMORC's second Imperator, that a fully modern museum facility was needed for the more than 2000 artifacts.
In November 1966 the new museum building opened, the largest display of Egyptian artifacts in the Western U.S., the only such Museum on the planet designed in the Egyptian style, and situated in an Egyptian revival park.
In 1999, the Museum mounted its first traveling exhibition, Women of the Nile, which included a full series of lectures and workshops. The exhibit traveled during 2000 and early 2001 in the U.S. and Canada, and an exhibit catalogue was published to accompany the event.
The most recent years have been a time of important preservation and research at the Museum. From October 2000 through March 2002, the Museum's magnificent statue of Cleopatra VII traveled to Rome, London, and Chicago as part of an exhibit sponsored by the British Museum. During 2001 - 2002, National Geographic's Mummy Road Show studied the Museum's mummies, both human and animal. The results were presented in two segments of their television series.
From 2001 - 2004, the display galleries of the Museum were completely renovated. The exhibits were re-curated to follow cultural attributes, being re-ordered into Afterlife, Daily Life, Kingship and Religion, and Religious Practice. In the process of the redesign, the exhibit cases were sealed and prepared according to modern conservation standards to fulfill the Museum's mission of preservation. This renovation required that more than 3,000 artifacts be moved to new cases.
In 2004 the Museum loaned some of its rare Sumerian tablets to San Francisco State University's Museum for a special exhibit entitled, "Cradle of Civilization" and the Museum's Curator and Egyptologist, Lisa Schwappach, presented the Rosicrucian Egyptian Museum's animal mummy research at the World Mummy Congress in Turin, Italy.
On June 30, 2004, the Rosicrucian Peace Garden in Rosicrucian Park was dedicated by Imperator Christian Bernard, just a few days before the opening of the AMORC World Peace Conference. The garden design was conceived by Grand Master Peter Bindon of Australia. The Rosicrucian Peace Garden, dedicated to the Rosicrucian ideals of peace and tolerance, is based on examples of gardens from the remains of the ancient Egyptian city of Akhetaten, now called Amarna. This educational garden is authentic to the 18th dynasty of ancient Egypt, including its architecture and plants.
In 2005 the Museum celebrated its 75th anniversary with more than 800 guests in attendance and a special proclamation by the Mayor of San Jose. At this same time the Museum collaborated with partners Stanford University Hospital, NASA Biocomputational Lab, SGI (Silicon Graphics, Inc.), and others on the Child Mummy Research Project. More than 60,000 scans were taken of the child mummy, which had been residing at the Museum for more than 70 years. Little was known about this mummy (even her gender) because it had never been unwrapped. The series of scans, which took a full twelve hours to complete, was the highest resolution scanning ever taken of an Egyptian mummy. The results revealed extraordinary details of this young Egyptian child's life, including verifying that she was a young female, approximately 4 1/2 years of age. All without disturbing any of her wrappings.
In 2006 an image of the child mummy won first prize in the prestigious U.S. National Science Foundation visualization contest.
The 21st century looks promising with new exhibits, tours, and workshops, continuing research and scholarship, and a perennial commitment to education and service.
How is the Rosicrucian Order connected with the museum?
