Egyptian Mummies - Legend Of Immortality At National Museum Of History To 28 Sept
The Egyptian Mummies: Legend of Immortality exhibition runs at the National Museum of History in Taipei to 28 September 2026, an eight-year-wait return for genuine mummy exhibits in Taiwan. The show brings over 100 ancient Egyptian artefacts from Florence's National Archaeological Museum, including four mummies and a full set of funerary objects, presented across the museum's first and second floors. Hours are 10:00 to 18:00 daily, with last entry at 17:30. Full-price tickets are NT$500, with discounts for students, seniors and disabled visitors at NT$450, a youth ticket at NT$100 for 13 to 22 year olds via the Culture Coin system, and free entry for children under six.
Four Mummies, One Of Them A Child, One A Fake
The four mummies are the core of the show and the reason this is the most significant Egyptian exhibition to reach Taiwan in recent years. The set comprises a female mummy, a child mummy named Kallisto, a dog mummy, and a so-called "pseudo-mummy" that X-ray imaging later revealed to be a falcon. The four travelled from Florence to Taipei by air, the first time these specimens have flown, a serious conservation undertaking given the fragility of organic material in mummified remains. The Florence museum, founded in the 18th century, is Italy's oldest archaeological museum, and the mummies and the bulk of the funerary objects on show were collected during the 1828 Franco-Tuscan expedition to the Nile led by Champollion and Rosellini.
Canopic Jars, Heart Scarabs, And The Book Of The Dead
The funerary objects surrounding the mummies are what make this an artefact-led exhibition rather than a mummy spectacle. Painted coffin wood, canopic jars with the four sons of Horus (human-headed Imsety for the liver, baboon-headed Hapy for the lungs, jackal-headed Duamutef for the stomach, falcon-headed Qebehsenuef for the intestines), shabti figurines, heart scarabs, and a Book of the Dead papyrus are all on display, with multimedia and image-text guides that walk the visitor through how ancient Egyptians built a post-death order through belief and ritual. The show's framing is explicit: death was not an end but a transition, and the preservation of the body was the technical precondition for the soul's return.
The Companion Show: "The Final Chapter Is Not Yet Written"
On the fifth floor, the museum has mounted a companion self-curated exhibition, "The Final Chapter Is Not Yet Written: A Cultural Reflection Across Life And Death", which puts Chinese and Taiwanese religious death traditions in dialogue with the Egyptian show. Buddhist reincarnation, Taoist ten courts of the underworld, Confucian ancestral veneration, and Taiwanese indigenous ancestral-spirit beliefs are presented alongside the Egyptian content, with the museum lending significant objects including the Amitayus Buddha painting and, for the first time, the City God deity from Taipei's Xia Hai City God Temple on loan for the temple's 170th anniversary. The pairing is unusual and is the reason this is a two-show visit rather than one.
How To Visit, And What Else To Do In The Neighbourhood
The National Museum of History is at 49 Nanhai Road, Zhongzheng District, right beside the Taipei Botanical Garden, which is free and stroller-friendly with lotus in bloom through the summer. The nearest MRT is Xiaonanmen Station on the green line, about 6 minutes on foot, or Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall on the red and green lines, about 10 minutes. KKday online ticketing with a QR code is the recommended way to skip the on-site queue; CTBC cardholders get a 10 percent discount but only at the on-site counter, which means a queue. Allow 90 minutes for the Egyptian show and another 45 for the fifth-floor companion. The full Michelin-starred restaurant list for 2026 will be announced on 21 July, so plan a museum-plus-dining day in Zhongzheng later in the month.
Practical Details
- Dates: 18 June to 28 September 2026
- Time: Daily 10:00 to 18:00, last entry 17:30
- Venue: National Museum of History, 1F and 2F galleries, 49 Nanhai Road, Zhongzheng District, Taipei City
- Nearest MRT: Xiaonanmen Station (green line), about 6 minutes on foot
- Price: Full NT$500, concession NT$450, youth 13-22 NT$100 via Culture Coin, under 6 free
- Website: National Museum of History - Egyptian Mummies exhibition
