The Museo Egizio di Torino has launched ME-Scripta, a new research center dedicated to the study, restoration, and digitization of ancient Egyptian written sources, including papyri, ostraca, and Coptic bindings. Funded by a €3 million grant from the Fondazione CRT, the center will operate under the direction of Susanne Töpfer and employ a dedicated team of curators, collaborators, a data manager, and an apprentice. ME-Scripta will pursue three major projects: reassembling and studying papyri from Assiut and Gebelein, analyzing ostraca, and restoring 17 Coptic bindings, with a goal of launching an integrated digital platform by 2034.
This initiative matters because it systematizes the museum's research efforts, leveraging one of the world's most significant papyrus collections—over 1,000 manuscripts and 30,000 fragments spanning 3,000 years of written culture in seven scripts and eight languages. The center positions the Museo Egizio as a global leader in Egyptological studies, fostering international partnerships and applying multidisciplinary approaches that combine philology, multispectral analysis, and digital humanities. The planned digital platform will be the first of its kind, offering systematic access to Egyptian writing across millennia, thereby advancing both scholarly research and public engagement.