Documentary available for replay until 12/18/2024 With the Egyptologists of the Louvre, a fascinating exploration, in Saqqara, of the mysterious necropolis of the serapeum, dedicated to the sacred Apis bulls in Antiquity. A stone's throw from the pyramid of Djoser, on the mythical site of Saqqara, the Apis bulls were buried, for more than a millennium, in the immense underground necropolis of the serapeum. Selected by the priests of ancient Egypt according to rigorous physical criteria and then taken to the great temple of Memphis, these sacred bovines, a sort of everyday divinities, served as intermediaries between humans and the intimidating god Ptah, considered one of the creators of the world. Upon their death, their bodies were mummified and a funeral trousseau worthy of the highest dignitaries accompanied them to their eternal home. Discovered in 1850 by the French Egyptologist Auguste Mariette, the serapeum, dedicated to them, houses a treasure - canopic jars, jewelry, amulets, statuettes, etc. - part of which is preserved at the Louvre. The collapse of the ceiling of one of the galleries had, however, prevented the archaeologist from venturing into the entire necropolis. More than one hundred and seventy years later, the museum's Egyptologists are continuing the work of their famous predecessor. During two successive excavation campaigns on the overhanging exteriors of the site, they discovered a plethora of antiquities, vestiges of this sacred place that the Greek historian Strabo had already mentioned. Leading the investigation into the cult of the Apis bull and the mysterious rituals surrounding it, the team is mainly looking for access to the unexplored parts, which contain at least eight burial chambers, with the hope of finding intact tombs, unpublished evidence of the extraordinary burial of these sacred bulls. Alongside passionate Egyptologists, including Vincent Rondot, director of the Egyptian Antiquities Department at the Louvre Museum, and his assistant Hélène Guichard, Frédéric Wilner (Il était une fois le musée du Louvre..., Toutankhamon, le trésor redécouvert) and Moataz Madi are following this new Franco-Egyptian project step by step. In the geological mille-feuille of the Saqqara desert, scientists and workers, led by an expert raïs, are exploring the underground of the necropolis. Shedding light on the fascinating cult and funeral rituals that Apis bulls were subject to between the 13th and 7th centuries BC, the film also reveals the wonders produced in honor of these sacred animals, such as these steles covered in hieroglyphics and these statues of funerary servants, requiring meticulous care during their exhumation. A scholarly and fabulous journey to Egypt, at the time of the pharaohs. Documentary by Frédéric Wilner (France, 2022, 1h31mn) #archaeology #egypt #arte Subscribe to the ARTE channel / @arte Follow us on social media! Facebook: / artetv Twitter: / artefr Instagram: / artefr