Mummy mia! Italian historians unimpressed with Poirot pyramid PR stunt

Italian heritage experts have questioned a decision to allow giant images of Kenneth Branagh’s new Agatha Christie film, Death on the Nile, to be projected onto an ancient stone pyramid in Rome’s historic centre.

Video images from the recently released blockbuster, featuring actors Gal Gadot and Armie Hammer, were projected onto the flanks of the Piramide Cestia, which was built in the 1st century BC as a tomb for a magistrate, Gaius Cestius.

Made of shining white marble, it looms over a busy intersection of roads and backs onto the Protestant Cemetery, which contains the graves of the English poets John Keats and Percy Bysshe Shelley.

The pyramid was built at a time when art and architecture from ancient Egypt were very much in vogue in the Roman Empire.

Rita Paris, an archaeologist and a former director of the Appian Way, the ancient Roman road that leads out of the city, was critical of the publicity stunt.

“Certain monuments, especially if they have been restored, should be untouchable. Our monuments should be promoted but they should not be for sale. I hope it won’t set a precedent,” she told La Repubblica newspaper.

Others were relaxed about the use of the monument, which was restored a decade ago with funds donated by a Japanese business magnate.

The city reportedly received a payment of around 15,000 euros for allowing the three-hour projection to take place.

“I think an initiative like this is legitimate if it raises funds that can be used for the conservation of the monument, as long as it is not put at risk in any way,” said Costantino D’Orazio, a museum curator.

“But if I had been at the cultural heritage department then I would have asked for more money. We should review the tariffs we charge for the use of our monuments, which are unique in the world.”

Death on the Nile, which is directed by Branagh and stars him as Hercule Poirot, is based on the 1937 novel by Agatha Christie. As well as Gal Gadot and Armie Hammer, the cast includes Dawn French, Jennifer Saunders, Russell Brand and Annette Bening. It is a sequel to Branagh’s 2017 Murder on the Orient Express.

‘Astounded and horrified’

Last month, a similar cultural heritage row broke out in Florence after company logos, including American Express, were projected onto the city’s famous Ponte Vecchio bridge as part of a light show which took place over Christmas and the New Year.

Commercial slogans were also projected onto the Istituto degli Innocenti, a 600-year-old former orphanage.

“We never authorised the projection of sponsors’ logos onto the facades of buildings,” said Andrea Pessina, the city’s head of art, archaeology and cultural heritage. “These monuments should not be used as billboards.”

Eike Schmidt, the director of the Uffizi Galleries, said he was “astounded” and “horrified” that advertising had been projected onto the Renaissance bridge. “To use these historic buildings as if they were pages of a tabloid newspaper, with advertisements, is just wrong.”