Getty's Egyptian Book of the Dead Lives Again

Getty announces the return of “The Egyptian Book of the Dead” an exhibition that showcases the J. Paul Getty Museum’s collection of ancient Egyptian manuscripts inscribed with spells and illustrated scenes from the Book of the Dead, which were intended to guide souls through the afterlife.

The exhibition, previously on view in 2023, will open on March 4 and continue through Nov. 30, 2026, at the Getty Villa Museum. The objects displayed, which originally belonged to the burials of eight individuals, are drawn from the Getty Museum’s antiquities collection.

“The manuscripts on display are extremely rare and fragile and can only be shown under controlled lighting and environmental conditions,” said Timothy Potts, Maria Hummer-Tuttle and Robert Tuttle Director of the J. Paul Getty Museum. “For this reason, this redisplay of one of our most popular exhibitions is not to be missed.”

As part of their preparations for the afterlife, ancient Egyptians created an intricate set of religious writings and related illustrations that they recorded on papyrus scrolls, linen mummy wrappings and other funerary objects. Known today collectively as the Book of the Dead, these texts were meant to assist the soul’s transition to a blessed eternal life beyond death.

Produced from about 1550 BCE to 50 BCE, the Book of the Dead was not a single, stable composition but an evolving collection of ritual “spells”—recitations and instructions—that were variously selected and combined into individual manuscripts. The nearly 200 surviving spells each address a different concern or anticipated experience. Forming one of history’s most substantial bodies of religious literature, they illuminate how ancient Egyptians understood the cosmos, the world of the gods, and the nature of existence.

“The Book of the Dead remains relevant in that it addresses many of the same basic existential questions that all cultures throughout history have faced and that we today can identify with,” said Sara E. Cole, associate curator of antiquities at the Getty Villa Museum. “The texts show us how the Egyptians were trying to understand what makes a meaningful existence in a confusing and challenging world, how they believed the universe is structured, and what our relationship to a higher power or powers is. Ultimately, the texts foreground a very common human anxiety: what happens when we die?”

Around 1550 BCE, wealthy patrons began commissioning Book of the Dead papyrus scrolls from scribal workshops throughout Egypt. Although deposited in tombs and intimately associated with the deceased, these manuscripts reflected the beliefs and cares of the living and were embedded in active religious practice. This exhibition will highlight four papyri, belonging to women named Webennesre, Ankhesenaset and Aset, and a man named Pasherashakhet. The papyri span a period from about 1450 BCE to about 100 BCE.

In later phases of the Book of the Dead (about 400–100 BCE), scribes wrote spells on thin linen strips that were then wrapped around mummified bodies as part of the ritual embalming process. Serving as an alternative or a complement to papyrus scrolls, this practice brought the sacred texts in direct contact with the deceased, enveloping and protecting them. Three linen strips showcased in this exhibition were once part of longer textiles that were applied to the bodies of two men, both named Petosiris.

In addition, a ushabti (funerary figurine) belonging to an official named Neferibresaneith and a fragment of a coffin lid will be on display, illustrating how the ancient Egyptians envisioned the afterlife and the tools they employed in achieving a blessed existence beyond death.

To complement the exhibition, Getty will host several talks, including “Everyday Magic: The Spellbinding Life of the Book of the Dead” on March 29.

“The Egyptian Book of the Dead” is curated by Sara E. Cole, associate curator of antiquities at the Getty Villa Museum and incoming Bernard and Lisa Selz Director of Exhibitions and Gallery Curator at the Institute for the Study of the Ancient World at New York University.

The exhibition is generously supported by City National Bank.