Families offered opportunity to see Egyptian mummies in Atlanta

Posted on Wednesday 20 July 2011 in Packages, United States of America

By Rory MacTavish

The Emory Conference Center Hotel in Atlanta, Georgia, is currently offering visitors the chance to see one of the largest collections of Egyptian artifacts and mummies in this area of the United States. The Wrap Up Your Summer Package may be perfect for families that are looking for fun, short breaks before the fall.

The package provides guests with rooms for only $119 a night, and as many as two children under 18 years old can stay for free. Other benefits include free parking at the hotel, and use of the Emory Blomeyer Fitness Center.

Families taking advantage of this travel package will be given up to four tickets to Atalanta's Michael C. Carlos Museum, which houses artifacts from many ancient cultures such as Greece, Rome and India, according to Emory University's official website. Items tour-takers can see include a rare portrait of Roman emperor Tiberius, and a headless statue of the goddess Venus. The museum is situated on the Emory University campus, and its most popular draw is the ancient Egyptian collection that is now the resting place of many mummies.
Some of the mummies on display were acquired by the museum in 1920 when William Shelton, a professor at the university, visited Egypt and came back with a number of antiquities, including the oldest mummy in America, according to the museum's website.

The museum's Egypt collection became more expansive in 1999, when it purchased funerary artifacts and mummies from the Niagara Falls Museum. The antiquities in this purchase had been brought over from Egypt in the 1860s. The collection now holds items from many points in the country's history, dating back as far as prehistoric civilizations that flourished in the Nile Valley. An early item on display is a silver and gold amulet of the god Amun that was made between 600 and 250 B.C.

Not far from the Emory Conference Center Hotel is the Georgia Aquarium, where kids can see exciting sea creatures including dolphins, hammerhead sharks and manta rays. The aquarium is the only one in the Western world to house whale sharks. Since there are many other museums in Atlanta such as the Fernbank Museum of Natural History, travelers making the journey to Atlanta are likely to find countless ways to enjoy themselves during their stay.

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