ARTS / CULTURE & LEISURE
Egypt restores ancient Fayum portrait ahead of first overseas exhibition
By Xinhua Published: Oct 12, 2026 09:15 AM
Photo taken on Oct. 11, 2026 shows a Fayum portrait which will be displayed at Rome's Ara Pacis Museum, at a press conference in Cairo, Egypt. Egypt has restored the Tondo of the Two Brothers, an ancient Egyptian portrait from the Roman period that will be displayed outside the country for the first time, Egyptian Minister of Tourism and Antiquities Sherif Fathy announced Sunday. Fathy made the announcement at a press conference at the Egyptian Museum in Tahrir, Cairo, where the restored masterpiece was unveiled. It will be displayed at Rome's Ara Pacis Museum as part of the exhibition The Power of the Portrait: Egypt and Rome, Faces of Fayum, running from Nov. 5, 2026, to May 2, 2027. (Xinhua/Ahmed Gomaa)

Photo taken on Oct. 11, 2026 shows a Fayum portrait which will be displayed at Rome's Ara Pacis Museum, at a press conference in Cairo, Egypt. Egypt has restored the Tondo of the Two Brothers, an ancient Egyptian portrait from the Roman period that will be displayed outside the country for the first time, Egyptian Minister of Tourism and Antiquities Sherif Fathy announced Sunday. Fathy made the announcement at a press conference at the Egyptian Museum in Tahrir, Cairo, where the restored masterpiece was unveiled. It will be displayed at Rome's Ara Pacis Museum as part of the exhibition "The Power of the Portrait: Egypt and Rome, Faces of Fayum," running from Nov. 5, 2026, to May 2, 2027. (Xinhua/Ahmed Gomaa)

Egypt has restored the Tondo of the Two Brothers, an ancient Egyptian portrait from the Roman period that will be displayed outside the country for the first time, Egyptian Minister of Tourism and Antiquities Sherif Fathy announced Sunday.

Fathy made the announcement at a press conference at the Egyptian Museum in Tahrir, Cairo, where the restored masterpiece was unveiled. It will be displayed at Rome's Ara Pacis Museum as part of the exhibition "The Power of the Portrait: Egypt and Rome, Faces of Fayum," running from Nov. 5, 2026, to May 2, 2027.

The exhibition will also mark the first time Egypt has loaned a group of Fayum portraits from its museum collections for display abroad. Works from the Egyptian Museum in Cairo, the Kom Aushim Museum and the Hurghada Museum will be presented in Rome, with the Tondo of the Two Brothers among the highlights of Egypt's contribution.

The Tondo of the Two Brothers is a circular wooden panel measuring about 62 centimeters in diameter and less than one centimeter thick. Painted in encaustic, a technique using pigments mixed with molten wax, it depicts two young men side by side, an unusual composition among surviving Fayum portraits.

Fayum portraits are among the most striking surviving depictions of people from the ancient world. Painted mainly on thin wooden panels and placed over the faces of the deceased in mummy wrappings, they combined Egyptian funerary traditions with wider Greco-Roman artistic influences.

Photo taken on Oct. 11, 2026 shows the Tondo of the Two Brothers, an ancient Egyptian portrait from the Roman period, which will be displayed at Rome's Ara Pacis Museum, at a press conference in Cairo, Egypt. Egypt has restored the Tondo of the Two Brothers, an ancient Egyptian portrait from the Roman period that will be displayed outside the country for the first time, Egyptian Minister of Tourism and Antiquities Sherif Fathy announced Sunday. Fathy made the announcement at a press conference at the Egyptian Museum in Tahrir, Cairo, where the restored masterpiece was unveiled. It will be displayed at Rome's Ara Pacis Museum as part of the exhibition The Power of the Portrait: Egypt and Rome, Faces of Fayum, running from Nov. 5, 2026, to May 2, 2027. (Xinhua/Ahmed Gomaa)

Photo taken on Oct. 11, 2026 shows the Tondo of the Two Brothers, an ancient Egyptian portrait from the Roman period, which will be displayed at Rome's Ara Pacis Museum, at a press conference in Cairo, Egypt. Egypt has restored the Tondo of the Two Brothers, an ancient Egyptian portrait from the Roman period that will be displayed outside the country for the first time, Egyptian Minister of Tourism and Antiquities Sherif Fathy announced Sunday. Fathy made the announcement at a press conference at the Egyptian Museum in Tahrir, Cairo, where the restored masterpiece was unveiled. It will be displayed at Rome's Ara Pacis Museum as part of the exhibition "The Power of the Portrait: Egypt and Rome, Faces of Fayum," running from Nov. 5, 2026, to May 2, 2027. (Xinhua/Ahmed Gomaa)


Photo taken on Oct. 11, 2026 shows a Fayum portrait which will be displayed at Rome's Ara Pacis Museum, at a press conference in Cairo, Egypt. Egypt has restored the Tondo of the Two Brothers, an ancient Egyptian portrait from the Roman period that will be displayed outside the country for the first time, Egyptian Minister of Tourism and Antiquities Sherif Fathy announced Sunday. Fathy made the announcement at a press conference at the Egyptian Museum in Tahrir, Cairo, where the restored masterpiece was unveiled. It will be displayed at Rome's Ara Pacis Museum as part of the exhibition The Power of the Portrait: Egypt and Rome, Faces of Fayum, running from Nov. 5, 2026, to May 2, 2027. (Xinhua/Ahmed Gomaa)

Photo taken on Oct. 11, 2026 shows a Fayum portrait which will be displayed at Rome's Ara Pacis Museum, at a press conference in Cairo, Egypt. Egypt has restored the Tondo of the Two Brothers, an ancient Egyptian portrait from the Roman period that will be displayed outside the country for the first time, Egyptian Minister of Tourism and Antiquities Sherif Fathy announced Sunday. Fathy made the announcement at a press conference at the Egyptian Museum in Tahrir, Cairo, where the restored masterpiece was unveiled. It will be displayed at Rome's Ara Pacis Museum as part of the exhibition "The Power of the Portrait: Egypt and Rome, Faces of Fayum," running from Nov. 5, 2026, to May 2, 2027. (Xinhua/Ahmed Gomaa)



Photo taken on Oct. 11, 2026 shows the Tondo of the Two Brothers, an ancient Egyptian portrait from the Roman period, which will be displayed at Rome's Ara Pacis Museum, at a press conference in Cairo, Egypt. Egypt has restored the Tondo of the Two Brothers, an ancient Egyptian portrait from the Roman period that will be displayed outside the country for the first time, Egyptian Minister of Tourism and Antiquities Sherif Fathy announced Sunday. Fathy made the announcement at a press conference at the Egyptian Museum in Tahrir, Cairo, where the restored masterpiece was unveiled. It will be displayed at Rome's Ara Pacis Museum as part of the exhibition The Power of the Portrait: Egypt and Rome, Faces of Fayum, running from Nov. 5, 2026, to May 2, 2027. (Xinhua/Ahmed Gomaa)

Photo taken on Oct. 11, 2026 shows the Tondo of the Two Brothers, an ancient Egyptian portrait from the Roman period, which will be displayed at Rome's Ara Pacis Museum, at a press conference in Cairo, Egypt. Egypt has restored the Tondo of the Two Brothers, an ancient Egyptian portrait from the Roman period that will be displayed outside the country for the first time, Egyptian Minister of Tourism and Antiquities Sherif Fathy announced Sunday. Fathy made the announcement at a press conference at the Egyptian Museum in Tahrir, Cairo, where the restored masterpiece was unveiled. It will be displayed at Rome's Ara Pacis Museum as part of the exhibition "The Power of the Portrait: Egypt and Rome, Faces of Fayum," running from Nov. 5, 2026, to May 2, 2027. (Xinhua/Ahmed Gomaa)