This volume accompanies an exhibition of the same name, which includes artefacts from nearly 2000 years before the Christian era. The exhibition opens at the National Gallery of Washington, DC, USA in 2002 and travels throughout the USA over a five-year period before an extended tour in Europe. Objects such as coffins, tombs, masks, jewellery, papyri, sarcophagi and monumental and small-scale sculpture reveal the reverence and awe with which the Egyptians considered the mystery of death.The essays in this book explore Egyptian art history, customs and worship, with specific focus on the Amduat, a book devoted to the pharaoh´s 12-hour journey to the afterlife. Additional writings detail the background of the collection and focus upon the role of art in ancient Egypt.