Saint Louis Art Museum to install colossal 17-foot Egyptian statues

The massive works of art are part of the museum's upcoming exhibit "Sunken Cities," which opens March 25.

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A few friendly giants have made their way to the Saint Louis Art Museum.

As part of the upcoming exhibit, "Sunken Cities: Egypt’s Lost Worlds," opening March 25, the museum will install three 16- to 17-foot statues—which were carefully excavated from the bottom of the sea over a number of years—inside its sculpture hall. The first one, installed today, is "Colossus of Ptolemaic King." He's 16.4 feet tall and weighs the heaviest of the three at 12,125 pounds.

Take a peek below at his installation process.

The exhibit will focus on discoveries made by Franck Goddio, president of the European Institute for Underwater Archaeology, during the last seven years of underwater excavation.

These massive statues once stood in front of the temple of Thonis-Heracleion, a nearly forgotten ancient city that Goddio rediscovered in 2000 during explorations on the Mediterranean seabed. 

"Every curator wants to put together a blockbuster show, but no curator wants to put together a blockbuster show that has no heart or message or concept,” Lisa Çakmak, the museum's assistant curator of ancient art, told SLM for our March 2018 issue. “What I like about this show is, the story it’s telling is based on archaeological excavation, scholarship, and research. It’s a real study. But it’s also just really cool."

The remaining two statues, which the museum plans to install by Friday, are "Colossus of Ptolemaic Queen," coming in at 16.1 feet and 8,818 pounds, and "Colossus of God Hapy," which is 17.7 feet tall and weighs 9,700 pounds.

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