May-August 2023

El Museo de los Soldaditos de Plomo de Valencia opens an inclusive exhibition on the pharaoh Hatshepsut.

L’Iber, Museo de los soldaditos de plomo de València, joins the world of inclusive art with an exhibition set in ancient Egypt. It is a showcase that reveals the figure of one of the most important women in the history of ancient Egypt: the pharaoh Hatshepsut.

The pieces on display are the work of MAATK, a company dedicated to creating reproductions of artworks adapted for all audiences.

The exhibition, titled “Hatshepsut, 2,000 Years Erased from History,” opens on Thursday, May 18, at 7:30 p.m., coinciding with International Museum Day, at Calle Caballeros 22 in Valencia.

Hatshepsut is usually remembered as one of the few women who attained the rank of pharaoh.

She did so against all the laws and customs of the Egyptian state, taking advantage of a series of dynastic circumstances that allowed her to channel her ambition for power.

The daughter of Thutmose I and Queen Ahmose-Nefertari, her marriage to her half-brother Thutmose II made her queen consort and, after being widowed, she assumed the regency until her stepson, Thutmose III, came of age.

After seven years, she began to present herself as the sole ruler of Egypt, adopting the attributes of a pharaoh and the masculine royal epithets of King of Upper and Lower Egypt and Lord of the Two Lands.

Not even when Thutmose III came of age did she give up power. Thus, for almost two decades Egypt had two pharaohs — the mother and the stepson — who reigned jointly without apparent conflict, although it was the queen who truly held the reins of the country.