The Directors Vision

Ian Dougan: Director.

I still remember the first time I saw the mummy, Takabuti.
As a small child, my parents took me on a rare day out to what I thought was just the most amazing fairground. This, in fact, turned out to be ‘Ulster ‘71’, a celebration of the last reopening of The Ulster Museum.
While the bumper cars and rides that day are a vague memory, one thing that I will never forget was that first glimpse of the mummy!
Almost hidden away, in very low lighting, I stood – at Takabuti’s level – just staring in delight, (and a touch of horror), at this fantastic sight. The curled hair and fingernails, her strange stuffed eye sockets and her one protruding foot. I remember these clearly. But most striking of all were her perfect teeth.
I remember staring and staring at the wizened face of Takabuti, wondering what she would have looked like in life...
‘Princess’ Takabuti, as I liked to call her, would continue to fascinate me from that day forward. Little did I know that, in years to come, I would walk in her footsteps in Egypt and be able to see the true face of this long-dead woman.
From time to time, I would find myself in The Ulster Museum, (either on school trips or ‘Unofficial’ days off with my friends), and I would always make a bee-line for Takabuti. I even found what I thought was her very own mummified cat and I just loved the idea that she had a pet in the afterlife...
As an adult, about five years ago, I took a friends’ son to the Ulster Museum to see if the mummy could spark any imagination into his nine year old Video Game / X Box mind.
I couldn’t believe the impact that Takabuti had on this child. He was just as fascinated as I had once been and spent his pocket money on all things Egyptian at the museums’ shop on his way home.
I realised then that Takabuti would always make an impression on almost every child that saw her.
When I heard that the Ulster Museum was closing for major refurbishment work, I knew that this was the perfect opportunity to see if it was even plausible for me to have access to the mummy. I wanted to discover if it was possible that the true face of Takabuti could be recreated in time for the Ulster Museum re-opening, two years later.

There is, of course, a saying, ‘If you don’t ask, you don’t get’, so I took this as my plan of action. It was simple, but would prove effective.
I sent off a letter and fairly soon I met for coffee, with Dr Jim McGreevy, the Director of Collections and Interpretation at the museum.
How do you go about approaching a museum and asking, in so many words, ‘Excuse me. Can I have your mummy, please?’. But that – very basically – is how it went.
I think that Dr McGreevy, an incredibly affable an approachable man – could see that what I lacked in a definite plan, I made up for in excitement and drive.
It was agreed that he would help me in my request and, unbelievably, I left that coffee shop one step closer to making a childhood impossibility becoming a reality. I was buzzing!
My first port of call was to contact Queens University’s Geography department, where I met John Meneely, their 3D scanning technician. I turned up to have a chat with John and, before I knew it, in his tiny cluttered office, he was scanning a human skull.
Right before my eyes, I could see him make the skull move 360 degrees, allowing me to see inside the cavity. While this was everyday work to John, to me this was just mind-blowing!
It was at this moment I knew, that with the right group of experts behind me, anything was possible.
And so, I began to research into the ‘Who’s who’ of experts from all across the United Kingdom and, in September 2007, a small group met at Belfast Castle to discuss the possibility of revealing the face of Takabuti and unravelling the mysteries that still surrounded the mummy.
It was a rather motley crew, I have to say! Here I was, surrounded by leading experts, doctors and scientists, all with a real gung-ho approach to throwing themselves into the project.
Each were designated their remit – one would look into her age and possible cause of death, two would agree to travel to Egypt to locate where she lived and where she was buried, another offered up information on a man, the Reverend Edward Hincks, from Killyleagh, who had been responsible for breaking the coded hieroglyphics on Takabuti’s sarcophagus ... and so on.
And so the adventure began. The mummified remains were taken by boat to Manchester Infirmary, so that the experts could see what was inside the body and to inspect it for any signs that might offer up information on this individual.

It should be pointed out that the body of Takabuti was treated with the same care, consideration and respect as though she had died only a day before.
Universities from England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland joined forces over the next year, to share their resources and research facilities. Every participant in this project shared the same passion for the challenge given to them.

The search for solid answers inevitably led members of the group to travel to Egypt to see for themselves the temples and tombs that made up the backdrop to Takabuti’s life.

Here, they were guests of Dr Zahi Hawass, a world leader in Egyptology and Head of the Cairo Museum.

Dr Hawass is an incredible character, a modern day Indiana Jones, right down to the hat. With a click of his fingers, he could open up a closed tomb or demand a long-hidden mummy be brought out for our experts to inspect.
A year after the group first met, they returned to Belfast Castle to reveal their individual findings and to look at the face of Takabuti.

When the Ulster Museum re-opens on the 22nd October 2009, I know that I will continue to visit this mummy, whose name is Takabuti.

And I will be able to look at her face and think what a privilege it is to be that 9 year old ‘Me’, who grew up to be able to play a small part in showing people the mummy and the true face of Takabuti.