Penn Museum in University City has earmarked its ancient Egypt and Nubia galleries for the next step of its years-long massive building transformation project, writes John McDevitt for KYW Newsradio.

Dr. Christopher Woods, the Williams Director at the Penn Museum, said that the renovated galleries will feature “monumental architecture” that visitors would not “be able to see anywhere outside of Egypt.”

“We just completed the Eastern Mediterranean gallery last fall, and now the absolute cherry on the cake will be our ancient Egypt and Nubia galleries,” he said.

The Egypt Gallery opened in 1926. It will be closed to the public on November 6 so that construction can commence. The renovated galleries will cover two floors and span around 15,000 square feet.

“The lower gallery, which will be devoted to funerary practices and the afterlife in ancient Egypt, will include a tomb chapel from the Old Kingdom, so it’s about from about 2400 BCE,” said Woods. “The upper gallery will have architectural elements of a New Kingdom palace.”

As part of renovations, the building will be retrofitted to support the weight of the massive 30-foot pillars of the 3,000-year-old palace.

Read more about the Penn Museum at KYW Newsradio.