Who are the Friends of the Petrie Museum?

About Us

The vision of the Friends of the Petrie Museum is to create a welcoming learning community, supporting the Petrie Museum in partnership with its staff, management and researchers to enhance the physical, social and intellectual space of this world-class collection.

The Friends of the Petrie Museum (PMF) was formed on 1st June 1988 under the Chairmanship of George Hart, Staff Lecturer at the British Museum, and the Presidency of Harry Smith, Emeritus Professor of Egyptology at University College London, and holder of the Edwards Chair in Egyptology for many years. The driving force behind the formation of the Friends was Barbara Adams, Curator of the Petrie Museum at that time, who recognised the need to channel the goodwill and interest of so many visitors and donors to the Petrie Museum. The Friends of the Petrie Museum became a UK Registered charity, number 1192201, on the 6th of November 2020.

The Friends now number over 700 members, mostly resident in the UK, although our Friends overseas are also active on behalf of the Museum. The high number of Friends for such a small museum as the Petrie reflects the outstanding nature of the collection. Its status as one of the world’s finest teaching collections has been recognised in its designation by government as a collection of national importance.

Lectures and Special Events

Events

All lectures take place in Lecture Theatre G6, UCL Institute of Archaeology, 31 – 34 Gordon Square, London WC1H 0PY, and will also be streamed on Zoom for those unable to attend in-person. Occasionally, and where noted, the event is Zoom only (in which case they will only be accessible over Zoom). Links will be sent out around a day in advance.

If you are a member and do not currently receive the emails containing the links, please contact pmf@friendsofpetrie.org.uk

The 2023-24 Lecture Series for Term 1 (October – December 2023) is now available . To see the upcoming lectures please click here!

Projecting Egypt on Stage and Screen: 10th November 2023 at 6pm

Projecting Egypt on Stage and Screen: 10th November 2023 at 6pm

Join us for a very special lecture on Friday 10th November at 6pm in Lecture Theatre G6, UCL’s Institute of Archaeology, 31 – 34 Gordon Square, London WC1H 0PY.

Fatima Rushdi and Aziz Eid: Projecting Egypt on Stage and Screen

In the late 1920s and early 1930s, Fatima Rushdi (1909-1996) and Aziz Eid (1881-1942) were Egyptian theatre’s power couple. Their working relationship, culminating in their founding of the Fatima Rushdi Troupe, transcended their brief marriage and resulted in an enduring artistic legacy which has influenced theatrical and cinematic practices to this day. Eid is credited with refining what had been locally a rather haphazard practice of directing into a specialised craft. He furthermore introduced Egyptian vernacular into the mainstream theatre, thereby opening up what had been an elite art to the masses. Although Eid also acted, often starring opposite Rushdi, his lasting contributions were very much behind-the-scenes. Rushdi, on the other hand, dubbed the ‘Sarah Bernhardt of the East’, was the face and voice of their phenomenon, and her star-like qualities would transfer easily to the cinema. Praised for her finesse, her subtlety and her versatility, Rushdi played a multitude of characters from Hamlet to Cleopatra. Through their bespoke productions and Arabised adaptations of European scenarios, Eid and Rushdi dramatised the human condition with a distinctively Egyptian gloss, interrogating various layers of identity through to the Pharaonic past.

Our speaker Dr Marlé Hammond is Senior Lecturer in Arabic Popular Literature and Culture at the School of Oriental and African Studies, where she teaches modules on Arabic literature and Middle Eastern Cinema. Her research interests comprise Arabic women’s writing, medieval and modern, and early twentieth-century Egyptian melodrama. Her publications on film include a study on the role of the kiss in Egyptian film language of the 1940s and the monograph Arab World Cinemas: A Reader and Guide (forthcoming from Edinburgh University Press).

This lecture is free to all and will also be screened live on Zoom. If you don’t currently receive the Zoom links for our lectures, please request a link for this lecture: pmf@friendsofpetrie.org.uk

Please note the earlier start time than usual for this lecture, and please do feel free to bring guests along to this event.

This lecture will be followed by a reception in the Petrie Museum, 7.15 – 8.45 pm, with readings from the reminiscences of Rushdi and Eid’s daughter, the artist Aziza Janssens, and an opportunity to view projections of, and purchase, her Ancient Egypt inspired paintings. These are being sold by Aziza Janssens’s children Monica and Sami Janssens who will be attending the event and are kindly donating a share of the proceeds to the Petrie Museum. 

Ticket price for reception (lecture is free): £8.50.

To book a ticket for this reception, contact us at 020 7679 2369 or pmf@friendsofpetrie.org.uk

You are welcome to pay on the door but please do let us know you are coming.

Download a catalogue of Aziza Janssens’s Egypt-inspired artworks here. 

To purchase any of these wonderful paintings, please contact pmf@friendsofpetrie.org.uk

8th December 2023 – Summer Austin – Tut on Tour: 30-years of demand creation through exhibition

This lecture introduces Tut on Tour – a multidisciplinary investigation into influences that create, enhance and normalise demand for acquiring antiquities. Using the ‘original blockbuster’ — Tutankhamun — as the case study, this research investigates the antiquity markets’ reaction to blockbuster museum exhibitions by gathering and quantifying 30-years of exhibition history and antiquities market data. The objective of this study is to introduce reliable data to the crucial debate concerning the relationship between museum exhibitions, end-market demand and the antiquities market.

Our speaker Summer Austin is a post graduate teaching assistant in UCL’s Institute of Archaeology. She is an archaeologist focusing on cultural heritage crimes, the (il)licit antiquities trade, transnational crime and the art and antiquities market. Her current research investigates the role of museums blockbuster exhibitions in the creation, enhancement, and normalisation of demand for antiquities and what the consequences are for such demand.

News, Articles, and Reports

News

Lectures

2023-24 Lecture Series

All lectures take place in Lecture Theatre G6, UCL Institute of Archaeology, 31 – 34 Gordon Square, London WC1H 0PY, and will also be streamed on Zoom for those unable …

Book Sales

Nubian Memoirs by Harry Smith

The construction of the High Dam at Aswan in Upper Egypt triggered a UNESCO campaign to record and rescue the sites and monuments of Nubia. Harry Smith, President of the …

Projects

Previous Projects

Since its inception the Friends have supported many projects within the Museum which have been of benefit not just to the collection itself but to its value as a study …

News

Updated Logo

When the Friends of the Petrie Museum (PMF) was first established Barbara Adams, the curator of the Petrie Museum at that time, hand-drew a logo for exclusive use by the …

Become a Friend

You can join the Friends by contacting the Secretary using the contact form or the contact links below.

Your support, in the form of a commitment to the Friends of the Petrie Museum, will enable our conservation projects to go ahead, helping to preserve a priceless collection for the future enjoyment of all, and ensuring its use as an unrivalled teaching medium.

Not only will you have the satisfaction of supporting such a worthwhile effort but as a Friend of the Petrie Museum you will also gain the following benefits:

• An invitation to apply for places on seminar sessions with leading Egyptologists in the Museum
• An opportunity to attend lectures, special events and social occasions organised throughout the year
• An opportunity to join PMF tours to places of Egyptological interest. For example, in recent years members have visited Egyptian sites of particular relevance to the work of Flinders Petrie and museums in Paris, Berlin, Leiden, Stockholm, Brussels and Turin as well as a number of collections in Britain and the USA
• A regular Friends Magazine with feature articles and news about the Museum, recent events, and lectures
• A 10% discount on books and other items sold in the Petrie Museum

Individual Membership Family Membership
(up to 2 adults and 2 children under 16yrs at the same address)		 UCL Student Membership
(mailings will be sent by UCL internal mail)		 Student Membership at other British educational establishments
(proof of full-time student status required)
£35.00 £50.00 £5.00 £10.00


Membership Secretary, Friends of the Petrie Museum, University College London, Gower Street, London WC1E 6BT
020 7679 2369 (voicemail line - please leave your contact details)
pmf@friendsofpetrie.org.uk