"The most stunning of civilisations", "magical and mysterious"... there's certainly no lack of adjectives to describe Ancient Egypt, a source of fascination and admiration that never ceases offering up secrets hidden and treasures buried beneath several thousand years of history.

Although endless exhibitions has been devoted to the subject, the Grimaldi Forum Monaco is going one unprecedented step further by being the first to turn the spotlight on those women who were Queens of Egypt through a 4000m² exhibition.

The exhibition curator, Christiane Ziegler has collected together nearly 250 incomparable exhibits to illustrate the subject exhibits loaned by the world's most important museums in Cairo, New York, Berlin, Munich, London, Turin, Moscow etc and of course by the Louvre, where until May 2007 Ms Ziegler ran the prestigious Egyptian antiquities department.

The spectacular display is designed by François Payet, who recreated Imperial Saint Petersburg for the Grimaldi Forum's 2004 exhibition chronicling the city's history from the reign of Peter the Great to that of Catherine the Great.

So from 12 July prepare yourself for an unprecedented encounter with Egyptian Women, those wives, mothers and daughters of Pharaohs who influenced three thousand years of Egypt's history, through portraits of exceptional figures – Cleopatra, Nefertiti, Nefertari, Hatshepsut and many other female rulers – impatient to reveal themselves to the public.