What happens after death?   If you visit the British Museum this weekend, you'll see a dark, terrifying underworld populated by vigilant baboons, an Ibis god called Thoth and crocodile-headed devourers who threaten to eat the damned.

The exhibition opens Thursday and includes an an unrivaled collection of the Book of the Dead papyri, including many documents that have never been on public display because they are so fragile. 

The "books'' were used for 1,500 years, between around 1600 BC and 100 AD.

The exhibition is sponsored by BP, who spent a good chunk of 2010 trying to create a Gulf of the Dead.


Credit: British Museum