On a day off from my internship at the British Museum during September 2011 I took a trip to the Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology on a cold and wet Saturday afternoon. Although I've visited this museum quite a few times before, I was pleasantly surprised to find that some of the collection has been redisplayed and that new and innovative methods of conveying information about the collection had been implemented.
The Museum holds over 80,000 objects, only a fraction of which are currently on display, so it was great to see that supplementary information about a selection of the objects was being offered, making those objects more accessible to both visiting members of the public and academics.
To begin with, a screen has been installed which, when wearing the 3D glasses provided, allows the viewer to browse a selection of objects from the Petrie collection in 3D, meaning that those objects are automatically more accessible and perhaps also more interesting to the general public as they are able to control the angle of the object and thus their experience of that object.
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| A QR code for the painted stela of Neskhons (UC 14226) |
Some of the objects have also been given QR codes, meaning that visitors with smartphones are able to scan a code to give them more information about that object on their phones via www.talesofthings.com. This is both a great way of utilising new technology and providing more information on an object when physical museum space is at a premium.
The glazed inlays and pendants etc. from Amarna have (on the whole) been arranged according to form and colour, meaning that the case is particularly eye-catching. However it was the addition of plans of Amarna buildings in the case which I was particularly interested to see. Where the context of a fragment is known, an arrow connects that particular object to its findspot on the plans. This is extremely useful as it is both aesthetically pleasing and a visual device to emphasise the context of the objects to the viewer, which they may not have previously been aware of.
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| The glazed objects from Amarna |
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| Plan of part of Amarna with arrows showing the context of the Petrie Museum fragments |
My favourite of all the updates to the Museum are the quotes which have been added to the walls of the stairwell when entering/leaving the building of Flinders Petrie and Amelia Edwards, which add to the atmosphere of the visit as a personal touch. 
Overall I think these additions to the displays only serve to emphasise the importance of the collection and how object information can be projected in an accessible, and dare I say fun, way, which can only improve the overall visitor experience. I do hope that more of the Petrie displays will be added to and updated in such ways in the future.
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