Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala announced on Tuesday that the Czech National Museum in Prague will host the 3.2 million-year-old fossil of Australopithecus afarensis, known as Lucy, from August 25 to October 23, 2025. This event marks the first time Lucy's remains will be exhibited in Europe. "Lucy's skeletal remains will be displayed in Europe for the first time ever," Fiala said.
The exhibition will also feature Selam, the fossil of a baby Australopithecus predating Lucy by 100,000 years. Both fossils are being loaned from the National Museum of Ethiopia with the support of the Ministry of Culture of the Czech Republic and the Ministry of Tourism of Ethiopia, as reported by Dennik N. The Human Origins and Fossils show will include some of the most valuable and oldest exhibitions on paleoanthropology in the world for 60 days.
"We will have the opportunity to exhibit in the Czech Republic a three-million-year-old skeleton of Lucy. It is an absolutely unique event," Prime Minister Fiala said. The idea to exhibit Lucy in the Czech Republic arose during his visit to Ethiopia in November 2023, according to Dennik N.
"This historic exhibition... will offer tourists and researchers a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to see these priceless fossils first-hand," said Ethiopian Minister of Tourism Selamawit Kassa, according to Le Monde. At the press conference, she invited the public to discover why Ethiopia is called the Cradle of Humanity. "The historical exhibition will offer a unique opportunity for all Europeans to see some of the most valuable remains of human ancestors, and it will certainly be something that history lovers, as well as scientists and the public, will want to see," Kassa added.
Lucy was discovered in Ethiopia in 1974 and became famous worldwide after the discovery was announced. Named after the Beatles' song Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds, which the discovery team listened to repeatedly after finding her, Lucy was at the time the most complete hominid skeleton ever found. Her discovery revolutionized the understanding of humanity's ancestors.
Measuring approximately 1.10 meters tall and weighing around 29 kilograms, Lucy is thought to have died aged between 11 and 13 years, which is considered an adult age for her species. Her remains consist of fossilized dental remains, skull fragments, parts of the pelvis, and femur. Lucy walked on two legs and resembled a chimpanzee more than a modern human.
Although the National Museum of Ethiopia receives many requests to study Lucy's skeleton, it rarely leaves Ethiopia, Le Monde reports. The skeleton is kept in a room not open to the public in the heart of Addis Ababa, with only a plaster cast displayed for visitors. This will be an unprecedented trip to Europe for the 3.18 million-year-old skeleton, according to Le Monde.
Lucy's skeleton previously toured the US between 2007 and 2013.
The remains of Selam, the baby Australopithecus fossil, will be presented alongside Lucy. Selam's remains were discovered about 25 years after Lucy in the same area of Ethiopia, as reported by Khaleej Times. The discoveries of Lucy and Selam have helped uncover the origin of modern humans, and many subsequent findings have reshaped the understanding of human ancestry in Ethiopia, South Africa, Kenya, and Chad.
Lucy was long considered the oldest known human ancestor until she lost her status in 1994 following the discovery of Ardi, a female Ardipithecus ramidus who lived 4.4 million years ago and was also discovered in Ethiopia. Further discoveries, such as Toumai, a skull dated to six or seven million years old found in Chad in 2001, have continued to push back the timeline of early hominids, according to Le Monde.
An analysis of a fracture on one of Lucy's bones in 2016 suggested that she probably died from a fall from a tall tree. The study indicated that she had strong upper arms, suggesting she regularly climbed trees and nested in branches at night. Conversely, it concluded that Lucy had relatively weak legs that were inefficient for walking.
Lucy is often referred to as the "great-aunt of humanity" and was once regarded as the "mother of humanity" until older fossils were discovered. She is now considered more like an aunt or cousin, as her direct lineage with modern humans is contested, according to Stern.
This article was written in collaboration with generative AI company Alchemiq