Casting the Egyptian Dream Stela: A Live Demonstration of Cast Production

Special event

The Harvard Semitic Museum is holding a special pop-in casting workshop on October 24, from 2:00 pm - 4:00 pm.  

Come watch Harvard Semitic Museum curators and Harvard students use special techniques to fabricate a full-size facsimile of the famous “Dream Stela” of King Thutmose IV, that stands today between the front legs of the Sphinx at Giza. The 8-foot-high cast will be exhibited this spring at the Harvard Semitic Museum as the featured object of an augmented reality experience.

More information about The “Dream Stela” of King Thutmose IV

In between the front legs of the Great Sphinx at Giza stands a tall stela, a round-topped slab of granite, carved in hieroglyphs. The Sphinx itself dates to King Khafre (also known as Chephren) of the Old Kingdom, or Pyramid Age (Dynasty 4, about 2576–2551 BCE), while the stela was added more than 1,100 years later by Thutmose IV, who lived during the New Kingdom’s Dynasty 18.