First exhibition dedicated to ancient Egyptian art and artifacts in Tampa, with objects from the Royal Ontario Museum, the museum's permanent collection and private holdings.
Mysteries of the Nile: Ancient Egypt is open at the Tampa Museum of Art, and it's a big one for the city: the first exhibition ever presented in Tampa dedicated to the art and artifacts of ancient Egypt. It opened to the public on June 25, 2026, and it's staying put for two full years, through June 25, 2028. If you've been wanting to see Egyptian antiquities without leaving town, you've got plenty of time to fit it in.
There are 117 objects on display, and a good chunk of them come from the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto. Their Egyptian collection makes up more than a third of the show, and this is the first of 11 exhibitions at the museum to feature a loan from them. The rest comes from the museum's own permanent collection and private holdings. The range is wide, too—it stretches from predynastic vessels dating back 7,000 years to a relief fragment of Pharaoh Horemheb, which is the only one of its kind outside Egypt.
Curator Branko van Oppen spent years bringing the exhibition together, and he describes it as a nod to his childhood passion for ancient Egypt. It's also part of the museum's Centennial Campaign, a construction and endowment effort adding more than 51,000 square feet of space along the Tampa Riverwalk. That campaign was anchored by a $28 million lead gift from Dick Corbett, the largest private donation ever made to a public art museum in Florida.
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You'll find the exhibition at the Tampa Museum of Art, 120 W Gasparilla Plaza, Tampa, FL 33602. Admission is $35.
