After nine years of closure, the Gallery dedicated to ancient Egypt reopens at the Sforzesco Castle. The renewed layout, designed by architect Markus Scherer, is inspired by the hypostyle hall of Egyptian temples, with space for monumental windows, which recall the columns, accompanied by lighting calibrated by the Ferrara Palladino Lightscape studio, with Brera stone and extra-clear glass, all designed in detail to evoke the solemn penumbra of the original sanctuaries.
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The new itinerary presents around 330 finds – compared to 250 in the previous exhibition – divided into six thematic sections, in which daily life, the relationship with the gods, funerary beliefs, the Milanese excavations in the Fayum, the Greco-Roman period and the Coptic age will be described.
Eighty pieces will be exhibited to the public for the first time, including the Busca Papyrus – almost seven meters long, brought to Italy in 1826 and recently restored – which will be displayed in a display case with timed lighting, which turns off in the absence of visitors
The project required an investment of over 1.3 million euros and was also made possible with the support of the Cariplo Foundation. Among the new features is the PERVIVAL application, developed by the Department of Mechanics of the Polytechnic of Milan, which guides visitors in exploring the funerary ritual through digital content and multimedia reconstructions.
“We are giving back to the city a completely new Gallery”, declared the Councilor for Culture Tommaso Sacchi, recalling that the Egyptian section had one hundred thousand visitors a year before the closure and that the civic museums recorded a 35% growth in the public in the five-year period 2019-2024. Access to the Gallery is included in the entrance ticket to the Sforzesco Castle museums.
Useful information
When: from 5 March 2026
Where: Ancient Egypt Gallery, at the Sforzesco Castle in Milan
Opening hours: Tuesday-Sunday 10am-5.30pm (last entry 5pm)
Tickets: for purchases and reservations milanocastello.it
