I was going to start this review with a qualifier such as “perhaps,” but I’ll just posit it definitively: No ancient land lends itself to an immersive exhibition quite like Egypt. The larger-than-life deities, the artwork, the pageantry, the superhuman accomplishments, the rivers of gold and the river Nile—no place compares to its enduring spectacle.
I’ve been to Egypt, having written about my adventures in Boca magazine, but second to seeing its ancient structures in the flesh, the new immersive exhibition “Egyptian Pharaohs: From Cheops to Ramses II” is as wondrous an introduction to its mysteries and majesty as I can imagine. Currently making its United States debut at South Florida PBS Studios in Boynton Beach, the exhibition utilizes AI and three-dimensional reconstructions to offer a visually overwhelming—in a good way—and information-packed primer on the land, its leaders and the belief structures undergirding it.
The exhibition begins modestly. Upon scanning your ticket, ushers direct you into the first of two rooms, where a digital map of old, middle and new Egypt, and a timeline of highlights from each, sprawls across the walls, bisected by a serpentine Nile river. The show begins with the sight and sound of crackling torches illuminating temple art and sarcophagi, and leading into two videos, one offering a Cliff’s Notes-style roundup of Egyptian history, the next focusing on current efforts by scientists to uncover underwater ruins reportedly memorializing Cleopatra.
It’s all interesting, but these videos are also available online. It’s not until the crash course ends and you’re ushered into the second of the two exhibit rooms that the immersive experience takes over. An AI-generated Hatshepsut introduces us to the journey ahead, and then it’s off to the races, as a sandstorm of strong winds and billowing smoke in all directions gives way to the emergence of the sun god Ra from the primordial ocean, appearing as an enormous burning sphere towering above our heads.
From there, your attention faces a perpetual battle between reading the informative wall text and simply focusing on the spectacular visuals playing out on four walls and the floor around you. Focus areas include the snake Apophis, Ra’s greatest enemy, coiling around boats carrying early Egyptians across the Nile; the development of agriculture emerging from the river’s floods; and the building of the pyramids, stone by stone, portrayed with a sense of ecstasy and exaltation.
Each new block slams onto the last with a percussive thunderclap, just one element of the dynamic musical score that shepherds us along the odyssey. The soundtrack functions as an orchestral composition with various movements tailored to the visuals, from lush strings punctuated by birdsong to operatic arias to uplifting, gently psychedelic indie rock, and often featuring soaring catharses reminiscent of Hans Zimmer or Vangelis film scores. Spiritual chants and bells accompany point-of-view shots that welcome us into ancient temples. It’s powerful stuff, and the acoustics in the room amplify every dramatic note.
And so the story goes, through the discovery and distribution of gold throughout the kingdoms, to temple scenes restored to their original glorious color, to a peek inside King Tut’s tomb, with its myriad gleaming treasures, culminating in a cosmic voyage into the afterlife.
“Egyptian Pharaohs: From Cheops to Ramses II” is more than an immersive Egyptian travelogue, though it hits all the major tourist destinations, including Abu Simbel, the Great Sphinx and Valley of the Kings. It’s foremost a work of extraordinary digital art, vibrating with equal parts reverence and intensity, that borders on the hallucinogenic. It is rarely less than breathtaking, and will appeal to all ages. And it is, needless to say, cheaper than a ticket to Cairo.
Tickets run $35-$49 at South Florida PBS, 3401 S. Congress Ave., Boynton Beach. Call 561/274-8309 or visit southfloridapbs.com/pharaohs.
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