2004–2024: The first 20 years
The Swiss Coffin Project (SCP) was set up in 2004 by the Egyptologists Alexandra Küffer and Renate Siegmann as an independent scientific research project for the documentation, study and publication of ancient Egyptian burial equipment in Swiss museums. Directed by Alexandra Küffer since 2021, the SCP is privately funded and affiliated to the Kulturama – Museum des Menschen (Kulturama – Museum of Human Evolution) in Zurich.
In 2007, the volume "Unter dem Schutz der Himmelsgöttin" ("Under the Protection of the Sky Goddess") presented a selection of coffins and mummy masks from 16 museums. In the following years, numerous articles on the SCP's ongoing research were published in scientific journals. Other museums joined in, and in 2012 the website www.e-coffins.ch was created to present newly studied objects. There are now 30 museums involved in the project and an expanded and updated edition of the above-mentioned publication is planned.
Publication concept
As more museums participate in the SCP, the number of objects studied exceeds the scope of a single publication. A new concept has therefore been developed, focusing on how to make the pieces accessible in a comprehensive, useful and simple way, and thus make them available to anyone who is interested:
The burial equipment in Swiss museums will be published in several volumes between 2025 and 2028 in a new series called "SCP Publications". The main language is English; abstracts of all chapters are also provided in Arabic, German, French and Italian.
The volumes will be released as digital publications on the SCP website, available for free download as pdf documents. It will also be possible to purchase each volume in print.
To kick off this new project phase, the website www.swiss-coffin-project.ch and a new project logo were created, inspired by motifs on coffins from the 21st dynasty in Swiss collections.
Featured objects
While the book "Unter dem Schutz der Himmelsgöttin" focused mainly on intact coffins and mummy masks, the new publication series will also feature mummy coverings (i.e. mummy boards, bead nets, cartonnages, shrouds), mummy portraits and coffin fragments. Papyri, linen bandages and amulets are only included if they belong to one of the coffins presented.
Mummified persons and human remains are not part of the SCP.
Contents of the volumes
The aim of the SCP is to reconstruct the entire biography of an object as comprehensively as possible. This includes its manufacture, use and significance in antiquity, its discovery and find context in modern times, its journey to Switzerland and acquisition history, as well as its relevance as a "museum piece" today.
Each volume will contain the following:
- Detailed descriptions of the objects and their cultural-historical background
- Translations of the inscriptions with copies of the hieroglyphs and transliterations
- Detailed photographic documentation
- Drawings of the images and inscriptions
- Documentation on the provenance of the objects
- Outline of the collection history of the respective museums and reflections on the relevance of the objects as "museum pieces"
- Contributions on specific object-related issues
People and collaborations
The scientific study of the objects is carried out by Egyptologists with broad expertise in the fields of funerary culture, coffin studies and provenance research.
The SCP collaborates with specialist colleagues from museums and universities in Switzerland and abroad. It is involved as a partner in a number of different interdisciplinary projects.
The SCP works with experts in photography, layout design and digital publishing to present its research on Egyptian coffins in Swiss museums in an appealing and accessible way.