(13 January 2016) Brussels kicks off 2016 with a touch of art: January 23-31, Europe’s capital will host the 61st edition of the Brafa Art Fair, an event organized by the Foire des Antiquaires de Belgique that brings together every year market professionals. Italy will also take part in the event with a meeting dedicated to the Egyptian Museum in Turin, when Alessia Fassone will present the activities of the Foundation and recently renovated tour of the museum. All this during a conference scheduled for January 30 at 4pm, entitled “The Egyptian Museum from 1824 to 2015: from collections to connections”. Among the issues that will be addressed, there is the long history of the museum, which largely coincides with that of Egyptology, a discipline born in Europe with the Napoleon’s campaign in Egypt (1798). One of the many scholars who traveled to the Nile Valley to hunt for treasures was Consul Bernardino Drovetti, who brought to Turin a large part of the existing collections. The collection was so rich that it impressed Jean-François Champollion – the Egyptologist who in the first half of the 19th century deciphered hieroglyphic writing – and said: “The road to Memphis and Thebes goes through Turin.” (PO / Red)
