(by Claudia Tomatis) (ANSAmed) - TRENTO - A world preview of two collections that have never been seen before is being inaugurated in Trento. The exhibition entitled 'Egitto mai visto' (Unseen Egypt) will be open to the public from saturday May 30 until November 8 at the Buonconsiglio Castle in Trento. The collections include mummies of a man, a woman, a gat, two fish and a small crocodile. The bulk of the collection comes from items kept in storage at the Egyptian Museum in Turin, the most important such museum outside Cairo. The two human mummies from the First Intermediate Period (2100-1900 BC) in fact come from Turin. They were discovered at the beginning of the twentieth century during excavations by the archaeologist Ernesto Schiaparelli in Assiut and Gebelein. Both mummies are in a good condition and underwent analyses and cleaning for the exhibition. The male mummy is enclosed in a tree trunk with a staff, a symbol of prestige, in the sarcophagus. The female mummy is that of Neb-em-Khis, the wife of one of the heads of the province. The latter were important military figures when central Pharaonic power was struck by crisis. A mirror, a headrest and a small box of make-up, which were found in the sarcophagus, will also be exhibited. Excavation diaries, letters and photographic documentation by Schiaparelli, who was famous for finding the tomb of Kha, Pharaoh Amenophis III's royal architect, will enable visitors to relive the emotions of his research carried out between 1908 and 1920. For the first time ever, the public will be able to view about 40 walls of sarcophagi, with carved and painted hieroglyphics, and ten recently restored steles which will reveal the secrets of this writing and will also allow religious creeds and divinities to be recognised. From a scientific point of view, the exhibition is significant because it deals, for the first time, with the complete study of material found by the Italian archaeological mission, allowing a philological reconstruction of funerary aspects which were unknown to people outside the field until now. The curious Egyptian collection of the Buonconsiglio Castle is the other previously unseen collection which is on display. It is made up of objects purchased in the first half of the 19th century by Taddeo Tonelli of Trento, an official of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, which have been kept in storage by the museum until now. It is a clear example of the 'Egyptmania' which pushed members of the aristocracy, fascinated by Egyptian civilisation, to recruit scientists, explorers and adventurers to enrich their private museums. Thus there are many extravagant items such as hundreds of talismans including heart-shaped scarabs, the symbol of eternal life, and coloured glass pendants. The curators of the exhibition are Egyptologists Elvira D'Amicone and Giovanna Gotti from the Turin Egyptian Museum and Sabina Malgora from the Buonconsiglio Castle. The mounting is by architect Michelangelo Lupo and the setting is by Gigi Giovanazzi.(ANSAmed).