This Monday the Manchester AE Society welcomes Michelle Keeley-Adamson!     

Valley of the Victorians: Egyptian-inspired Graves in the English Victorian Necropolis

“As we enter the massive portals and hear the echo of our footsteps intruding on the awful silence of this cold, stony death-palace, we might almost fancy ourselves treading through the mysterious corridors of an Egyptian temple.” William Justyne’s 1865 Guide to Highgate Cemetery offers us a glimpse into the imposing Egyptian Avenue of Highgate Cemetery, London. However, Highgate is not the only London Cemetery to borrow inspiration from Ancient Egyptian monuments, tombs and temples. If you take a walk around the cemeteries of England, it’s not unlikely that you would stumble upon an ancient Egyptian-style grave. Whilst moss-covered obelisks and pyramids might seem a curious sight in English burial-grounds, it is reflective of a society that was influenced by ancient Egypt in everything from fashion, literature, architecture and mortuary structures.

This lecture will explore how English Victorian cemeteries went from places of a “foul smelling, slimy mass of putrefaction” to delightful garden cemeteries where the wealthy dead could safely house their corpse, and the reasons why the Victorians chose for their mortal remains to be entombed in Egyptian-style graves.

Michelle Keeley-Adamson received an MA in Egyptology from the University of Liverpool in 2019. Her research focuses on the Victorian reception of ancient Egypt, cemetery architecture and the life of Architect and Egyptologist Joseph Bonomi Jr. She is the Co-Chair for the International Society for the Study of Egyptomania.

Doors open 7:30pm (GMT+1). Free to MAES members (via email link) and visitors welcome – tickets £5 via Eventbrite here:

See you on Monday!