FREE ESSAY ON EGYPT

EGYPT

Place yourself in an ancient world. On September 28th, 2000 my boyfriend and myself
attended the Metropolitan Museum of Art located in New York City, to visit an
archeological exhibit on Egyptian Art. Located in the first floor off 83rd street and
Fifth Avenue, the exhibit consists of thirty-two galleries each illustrating a time
period in Egyptian history. It is difficult to elucidate the colossal impact this exhibit
delineates. But given the chance in this essay, I will try to depict to the reader how
The Metropolitan Museum of Art has successfully designed an overall picture that reflects
the aesthetic values, history, religious beliefs, and daily life of the ancient Egyptians
over the entire course of their great civilization.
Within the walls of this vault-like exhibit area, you will find precious jewels, stone
carvings and giant tombs. While many of the precious pieces of art lie behind glass
walls, some of the most impressive stone carvings and slabs lie right in the middle of
the floor, with nothing between you but the temptation to touch. I was transported to a
world long gone, and I found myself feeling faint. The collection consists of
approximately 36,000 objects dating from the Paleolithic to the Roman period (ca. 300,000
BC - 4th century AD) as seen in Gallery 1 in a time line against the wall. According to
Mrs. Robins at the information desk, the collection derived from the Museum's thirty-five
years of archaeological work in Egypt beginning in 1906 by Mr. J. Perpont Morgan, the
Museum's president, until his death in 1913. After his death, the museum conducted
fourteen seasons of excavations at Lisht (artifacts seen in Gallery 10- Middle Kingdom-
Lisht). Mr. Albert M. Lithgoe, a famous American Egyptologist led the early excavation
teams, and he was the first curator of the Department of Egyptian Art. As the years
passed, more and more discoveries were made like in the tomb of the early Middle Kingdom
Chancellor Meketre. In this site, an untouched chamber was discovered consisting of
twenty-four painted wooden models of "boats, gardens, offering figures, and scenes of
food production" that are more detailed than any found before or since." Over the years,
the Department of Egyptian Art has also been able to obtain private collections through
inheritance and purchase, gifts and from individuals willing to provide funding. In
addition, the staff of the Department of Egyptian Art continues to excavate in Egypt, to
conduct research for publication, and to organize special exhibits. 
Locating the beginning of the exhibit was a bit difficult. As I previously mentioned, the
exhibit consists of thirty-two galleries making it an extremely large exhibit. Some of
the galleries have sub-sections called studies. It wasn't clear to us what this meant and
it seemed like no one in the staff really knew what "study" was. The security guards,
placed at different points throughout the museum, were not of much help. They send us to
a map on the walls that were also a little confusing. Finally we where able to locate the
beginning of the exhibit and thus commence the journey. The first thing you see is an
illustration of a temple of the Fifth Dynasty with its description. It took me a while to
discover that there were thirty-two sections and that there were in chronological order.
I was a bit off. What was this temple doing in Gallery 1 Dynasty 0? As no explanation was
given, I continued on towards Gallery 2- Dynasties 1-10. Here there where examples of
linen, frames for couches, stone plates, statues. All located behind glass walls and with
their appropriate markers explaining a little about the origin and assumption or facts
about what the piece meant. Gallery 3 to 5 depicted the eleventh Dynasty. Included here
was also a sub-section (4A) study. It is in this Gallery that we see the finest preserved
artifacts discovered in the tomb of Chancellor Meketre. I did not know this till much
later when I visited Gallery 4A where brief explanations were given for the various
artifacts throughout the gallery 4. My initial reaction was: shouldn't this be before the
models presented in Gallery 4? Another interesting fact is that this small room is almost
invisible and not easily perceived. It is almost hidden. If it weren't for my boyfriend
who noticed it accidentally, I would have totally dismissed it and probably never would
have discovered the importance of this section.
Upon entering Gallery 6- Amenemhat I, I noticed a brief description depicting the late
11th Dynasty to Amenemhat I located on the wall. From here thereon, this would proof to
be very helpful in putting together the pieces that didn't fit with the brief labels put
before the item. It is also worth mentioning that at this point, I noticed that things
were placed chronologically, well at least as best as it could possibly be arranged and
that the different galleries were marked accordingly. (Later on we would encounter
confusion again. Up to this point, all was fine.) There were also descriptions of the
different excavations that took place. In Gallery 6 we see description of excavations of
the Pyramid of Amenemhat I. The end of this section led to Gallery 11, so we had to turn
back to look for Gallery 7 if we wanted to keep looking chronologically. This was really
time consuming and caused a bit of distraction. 
Gallery 7 - Senwosret I. In this section, there was a good example of something that was
said in class and it helped me understand a little more what the professor was trying to
illustrate when talking about assumptions made in archaeology. The item was a Ritual
Figure wearing the Red Crown. In the label before the item, it stated, "... a certain
distinguished characteristic style of this wooden sculpture accords well with the
chronology suggested by the archaeological context." Thus implying that an assumption was
correct just because of a distinguishable characteristic.
By Gallery 8, it is obvious to the viewer that the different artistic styles have changed
becoming more detailed and precise. We see this contrast in the item titled The Steward
Schetepibreanth Statue. His face is youthful and idealized. His muscles are emphasized
and the wig and kilt are elaborately detailed. This is in sharp contrast to the careworn
expression found in royal portraits of the second half of the twelfth dynasty.
In Gallery nine, mirrors have been placed inside the sarcophagus placed here so we can
view the elaborate art inside the coffins.
There were two sections of the exhibit the caused the greatest impact in me. The first
was in Gallery 12th - Hatshepsut - Dynasty 18. Eight enormous sculptures adorn this
section. All were about 9-12 feet in length (this is an assumption because no where was
this information available) and were recovered at Deir el Bahri. To me, this was one of
the most beautiful sections of the exhibition. It showed a little of the grandeur and
splendor of this civilization giving it new depths and understanding to the imagination.
By this time, a good break was badly needed. We were bombarded with so much information
that we felt drained and without much conviction to move on. At this point, we had spent
about 2.5 hours viewing the first half of the exhibition.
The second half of the expedition proved to be the beginning of a maze. We couldn't find
Galleries 14-16. At the end of Gallery 13, which consisted of a very long hallway,
Gallery 25 appears which is the Temple of Dendur; the second most impressive section of
the exhibition. The beautiful ruins help to establish a connection with all the items
previously viewed. It is not hard to imagine living during the time of the Roman emperor
Augustus by physically viewing the magnificence of the Egyptian civilization. Two
colossi's of Amenhotep III locate the entrance to the temple and a small stream runs
behind the statues. The ruins can be entered and we get a sense of how it feels to be
inside; an awareness of ancient voices, ancient language, and ancient writings on the
walls. It is simply beautiful.
After this section, it is hard to keep concentrated on the rest of the exhibition. What I
remember distinctly after this is in Galleries 27 & 28 - Macedonian - Ptolemaic Period
and this is the papyrus illustrating the Egyptian Book of the Dead in its entirety. This
was amazing to look at. How a rarity like this could be so well preserved.
Gallery 29 exhibited Egyptian wall paintings from the New Kingdom and Galleries 31& 32
represented the Roman period in Egypt; a small section. The end of this section leads us
back to the beginning of the exhibition and home towards a critique.
Overall, the museum presented its intentions clearly and concisely. Walking through the
exhibition, I felt not only transported back in time , but full of knowledge of a
civilization that we may never had learned of if it weren't for the many hours of labor
and dedication to the preservation of these artifacts. Of course, there was so much data
that it will take several weeks, not one day, to fully grasp the meaning and significance
of these findings. It is completely absorbing and engaging, so much in fact that you feel
wearied and consumed at its end. But, I believe that this is part of the museums' layout
to fully perceive and interpret its importance. But, as I have previously illustrated.
Not all was sugar and spice.
Besides the other disturbances previously listed, one of the things I didn't find so
appealing was the lack of consistency in the sections. They did not flow logically from
one place to another. This added to the accumulating exhaustion. Another aspect that
bothered me was the language used in the markers and labels used in depicting the items.
To a non-native English speaker, it would be extremely difficult to understand what was
being said. I think that clearly this illustrates that the exhibition is geared to an
audience that must have, at least, college level historical education. It would be fair
to say that this could use some improvement. Everyone needs a chance, no? All in all, I
still believe the exhibition presented very well the aesthetic values, history, religious
beliefs, and daily life of the ancient Egyptians, and perhaps one-day perfection may
arise.