The Bellagio Gallery of Fine Art is much more than a tourist attraction. Originally the home of Steve Wynn’s private art collection, the space has become an enduring advocate for history and culture in the heart of the Las Vegas Strip.
The latest example, Soulful Creatures: Animal Mummies in Ancient Egypt, is now welcoming visitors through September 13. The exhibit showcases nearly a hundred ancient Egyptian artifacts, including more than 30 mummified animals unearthed from cemeteries in the 19th and 20th centuries.
Some are wrapped without fanfare in minimalist clay pottery. Others are preserved inside elaborate coffins that resemble the contents within, from cats and crocodiles to a majestic ibis, whose beak is nearly as long as the slender legs that fold underneath the bird’s body. Graphics underneath information panels correspond to X-rays and CT scans, which offer a peek inside the mummified remains.
On loan from the Brooklyn Museum, where many of the pieces were discovered in storage, the collection marks a fascinating intersection between history and mythology. Compared to other civilizations, Ancient Egypt had a stronger degree of reverence for animals, although you can see the evolution documented throughout the exhibit.
An imposing bull’s head, crafted of wood, glass, and ivory, represents how the animal was worshipped as a god in early Egyptian culture. A frieze (or horizontal carving, possibly from above a doorway) is from a later era when Christianity was dominant and animals were viewed as subservient to humans. The oldest piece, a lion’s head carved from pegmatite, dates back five thousand years — give or take.
Tickets begin at $29, but it’s worth spending a little extra for guided docent tours, which take place daily at 11 a.m.
