New Egyptian Hall

Appropriately enough, in the 19th Century, the “old” Egyptian Hall was used to display genuine Egyptian antiquities, among other curiosities. Pioneering Italian explorer Giovanni Belzoni mounted a very impressive exhibition following his discovery of the plundered, but still very spectacular and artifact-laden tomb of pharaoh Seti I, the king played by Sir Cedric Hardwicke in DeMille’s 1956 “The Ten Commandments”.