By Kevin Lee Associate Editor

By Kevin Lee

Arts editor

Mobile’s Exploreum is prepared to build on the success of last year’s Dead Sea Scrolls exhibit with another historic journey through the ancient world.

“Mummy: The Inside Story,” a look at Egypt’s famous cadavers and embalming techniques, will make a stop at the downtown museum from March 9 until July 31 of this year as Mobile will be the exclusive southeastern venue for the exhibit on loan from The British Museum in London.

Preparations are already underway in the building at the foot of Government Street. Work crews are everywhere in the lower level of the west wing, bare drywall and the sound of drills herald the impending show. In addition to the permanent three-dimensional theater on the second floor, another 100-seat version is being constructed below to accommodate the revelatory look beneath the mummy’s wrappings. The same type operation was built for last year’s Dead Sea Scrolls exhibit.

The mummy of focus is that of a priest, Nesperennub, and as such, isn’t attended by some of the objects the layman might assume.

“Well, we won’t see the elaborate gold and stuff like you would with a king’s tomb,” said Exploreum marketing director Shannon Lipscomb. “This isn’t the Tut exhibit.”

Although what lies in store for this display is equally compelling, if not as garish. Over 90 artifacts are contained in the show and information certainly has a more scientific tack, including medical imaging and computer modeling. The mummy was explored via modern, non-intrusive techniques and reconstruction of his life and appearance made more complete thanks to contemporary technology.

Science also takes a front seat in other ways.

“We’re setting up something involving forensics in the CIBA Lab upstairs,”Lipscomb said. “We’re taking a kind of ‘CSI: Luxor’ approach to things, hitting that angle since it’s so popular right now.”

Lipscomb said the exhibit is currently enjoying a successful run in Houston.

The Exploreum is also tailoring other aspects of the institution to fit the theme, bringing in Egyptian oriented merchandise for the gift shop and an IMAX film focusing on a trip along the course of the Nile River.

It’s the first in what appears to be a weighty series of exhibits for Mobile.

“We’re trying to bring in world-class exhibits,” Lipscomb said. “You know, when we had the Dead Sea Scrolls coming to town, my biggest challenge was convincing people that they were actually coming here.”

If they have the impact that the Scrolls exhibit had, this could become a welcome pattern for Mobile. The Dead Sea Scrolls brought in over 140,000 visitors to the Azalea City who generated almost $1 million dollars in tax revenues by their expenditures. Economics guru Dr. Semoon Chang from the University of South Alabama estimated that the show had a $13 million dollar impact on the local economy.

Can the following shows duplicate it? It will be hard for sure. The Dead Sea Scrolls exhibit was able to capitalize on the region’s widespread religious fervor and that might be difficult to match as it’s doubtful busloads of Karnak worshippers will be trundling in from around the Deep South.

However, the sheer historical gravity of the shows should provide ample pull, especially if the show being sought for 2007 materializes in the next few weeks. Lipscomb was reluctant to speak too firmly about it. “We’re still in negotiations, so I don’t want to jinx things by jumping the gun,” said Lipscomb.

However, a glance at the bottom of museum brochures spills the beans. Exploreum officials are presently negotiating to bring an exhibit on Pompeii to Mobile from the shores of Italy. The Roman town of Pompeii was buried beneath an eruption from Mount Vesuvius in 79 A.D. and still remains one of the most important and revelatory archaeological finds concerning Roman culture. A most intriguing component of the exhibit would be the now-famous casts, made during excavation, of the catastrophe’s victims, people and animals frozen in their last moments of desperation.

Another natural disaster might be responsible for boosting attendance as well. “Since Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans is kind of out-of-the-mix,” said Lipscomb. “There’s a lot of group travel needs that have to be met somewhere.”

Kevin Lee is Lagniappe associate editor. Contact him at klee@lagniappemobile.com.

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