Cleopatra's Taking In Milwaukee!

Queen Cleo is coming to town big time, starting on October 14th, at the Milwaukee Public Museum.  Yes, folks, the people who saved our beloved institution from the brink of bankruptcy (there were even secret talks at one point about selling some of the collections to get money to keep going for a few more weeks!  SACRILEGE!)  and have turned it around big time, are bringing the citizens of Milwaukee and environs another block-buster special exhibition!

Cleopatra: The Search for the Last Queen of Egypt

Black granite Ptolemaic sculpture
of a queen.  Could this be Cleopatra VII?

The world of Cleopatra VII, lost to the sea and sand for nearly 2,000 years, will surface in Milwaukee on October 14, 2011 when Cleopatra: The Search for the Last Queen of Egypt opens its doors. The Milwaukee Public Museum will be the third stop on the exhibition’s world tour.

Cleopatra: The Search for the Last Queen of Egypt features nearly 150 artifacts from Cleopatra’s time and helps visitors experience the present-day search for the elusive queen, which extends from the sands of Egypt to the depths of the Bay of Aboukir near Alexandria.

The exhibition is organized by National Geographic and Arts and Exhibitions International, with cooperation from the Egyptian Ministry of State for Antiquities and the European Institute for Underwater Archaeology (IEASM).

Check out this photo slideshow from Pulitzer Prize winning Milwaukee Journal/Sentinel online. 

Cleopatra Exhibit Statue Uncased At Milwaukee Public Museum

Exhibit Opens Oct. 14

POSTED: 3:04 pm CDT September 21, 2011
UPDATED: 5:12 pm CDT September 21, 2011

MILWAUKEE -- A large piece in the Milwaukee Public Museum's upcoming exhibit was uncased Wednesday. [photo]  Check out the slideshow from WISN Television, Milwaukee. 

The museum is getting ready for an exhibit called "Cleopatra: The Search for the Last Queen of Egypt."

WISN 12 News cameras were there Wednesday as a 5-ton statue of a king from Cleopatra's era was uncrated.

The enormous weight was a big issue when the museum was planning the show.

"First, we had to have structural engineers come in and tell us whether we could actually put the weight onto the exhibit floor," said Ellen Censky of the Milwaukee Public Museum.

The exhibit will have 150 artifacts in all.

The Cleopatra exhibit opens at the Milwaukee Public Museum on Oct. 14 and runs through April.

For more information about the exhibit or to order tickets, go to www.mpm.edu/cleopatra.

When you're Queen of Egypt, the world is not enough...