PBS Launches Ancient Exhibit: Egyptian Pharaohs, From Cheops to Ramses II
By Space Coast Daily // November 18, 2025
Florida might seem about as far from modern-day Egypt as possible – and just a few thousand years from the end of the sprawling Ancient Egyptian Empire. However, like many places in the world, Florida’s populace has a fixation with long-lost civilizations that spills from the dust to museums, cinemas, and all sorts of media.
For example, the South Florida Science Center at UF hosts an experience called Exploring Ancient Egypt. It makes use of motion sensors to provide four interactive scenarios – Build the Pyramid, Travel the Nile, Wrap the Mummy, and Dance Egyptian Style.
The technology behind the exhibit is actually quite simple – four Xbox Kinect sensors – but, combined with the 200 real-life artefacts at UF’s Afterlife: Tombs and Treasures of Ancient Egypt, it’s one of the few ways to get an “authentic” look at a mostly-vanished people.
One other way to achieve this in Florida is to visit an attraction that recently became home to another gateway to Ancient Egypt. South Florida PBS and video game developer Ubisoft have teamed up to create Egyptian Pharaohs: From Cheops to Ramses II.
The Public Consciousness
This impressive experience at 3401 S. Congress Ave., Boynton Beach, echoes the purpose of UF’s effort, albeit with a different presentation.
The appearance of these shows at Florida’s most important science and history establishments echoes the ongoing presence of the Ancient Egyptians in the public consciousness. In fact, one of the creators of the latter exhibit, Ubisoft, launched a game set in Ptolemaic Egypt in 2017 – Assassin’s Creed Origins.
Other famous people from Egypt appear in casino games. Cleopatra, the last queen of Egypt, is the topic of one of the top 10 slots in the UK. It features the likeness of the monarch, as well as familiar motifs like the scarab beetle and a death mask.
Egyptian Pharaohs: From Cheops to Ramses II is a walk-around experience that “surrounds” visitors in stories of daily life, the construction of the pyramids, and the sacred Nile. It also touches on some lesser-known aspects, like the colour schemes used by monument painters.
“A Nation of Giants”
PBS places its vision in a modern frame by starting out in 1838 with Scottish painter David Roberts. Roberts was one of the earliest “tourists” to the ruins of Egypt, recording it as “a nation of giants”.
Egyptian Pharaohs: From Cheops to Ramses II then turns back the clocks to the Egyptian creation myth and the underground ocean of Noun. The god Atum is born, followed by a pantheon of others. Finally, the famous sun god Ra appears.
Visitors are pulled forward through time until they once again arrive in the near-present, in 2001, and the rediscovery of the city of Thonis-Heracleion. Highlights include Egyptian astronomy, the Valley of the Kings and Queens, and the role of gold in the local canon.
Egyptian Pharaohs: From Cheops to Ramses II debuted in October 2025 and now runs every day from 10:30 am til 7 pm. It takes a full 70 minutes to explore and costs between $35-$49. PBS can accommodate people of all financial situations via email.
