Iny’s Tomb, in the Museu Egipci, Barcelona
The museum is exhibiting a burial chamber of more than 4000 years old of one of the key characters during the reign of three different Egyptian Pharaohs
When, in 1991, hotelier and collector Jordi Clos, president of the archaeological foundation that bears his name, acquired a stele from a false door to an Egyptian tomb in an auction in Sotheby’s of London, little could he imagine that he would end up with a full reproduction of a burial temple of 4200 years antiquity in the Museu Egipci, Barcelona.
Iny's Tomb, which opened to the public on July the 10th, is a reproduction of a small burial chamber from the 6th dynasty (2230 B.C.) dedicated to Iny, an explorer who outlived three pharaohs (Pepi I, Merene I and Pepi II) and is the result of more than twenty years efforts. The hieroglyphics and historical research have revealed that Iny, who lived between 2290 and 2235 B.C., was a man who, for many years, was trusted by those in power and was given charge of a number of expeditions to what we now know as the Middle East.
In order to obtain the maximum possible number of pieces from the tomb, Jordi Clos has travelled to many parts of the globe, following a chance recognition of a cartouche with an inscription bearing Iny’s name in an antique dealers in Paris in 1996. Since then, his journey has taken him to New York and Tokyo, where the majority of the pieces of the original monument remain.
The reconstructed tomb is now the most internationally recognised piece in the Museu Egipci, Barcelona, whose director is Maixaixa Taulé. A real treasure for the most important private collection in Europe that is open to the public.