After seeing Spamalot we had pre-booked ticket to go see the Tutankhamun exhibit at the O2 (The landmark formerly known as the Millennium Dome). I won't bore you with the details, but due to some unforeseen closure in London's otherwise reliable(ish) public transport system, getting there was a nightmare.
We did however arrive on time (By about 5 mins). On the way in we were treated to airport style security checks, passed through the 1st one, carrying my bag and the mountain of electronic equipment I usually carry. The second one however (To my embarrassment) picked up that I had a pen knife in my bag pocket. Thankfully all that meant was I had to pick it up later.
The exhibit was really well thought out, with plenty of room around the cases to see what was in them, however even though they were using this pre-booked ticket system to limit numbers (At least that's what I hope it was doing) their was still far too many people scrabbling to take a look at the exhibits.
The exhibit was really well thought out, with plenty of room around the cases to see what was in them, however even though they were using this pre-booked ticket system to limit numbers (At least that's what I hope it was doing) their was still far too many people scrabbling to take a look at the exhibits.
Everything was well lit so you could see all the fine details, as an engineer I always look at the way things are constructed, It's very humbling to look at some of these items that are well over 3000 years old and appreciate the meticulous craftsmanship that went into making them. One particular statue that sprang to mind was carved from wood with a interlocking series of alternate triangles which gave the impression of a twist/locs hairstyle. The intricacy of this amazed me, as instinctively I worked out a CAD design to achieve such a pattern, it suddenly dawned on me that by hand this must have taken hours to achieve, and to do it so accurately (And without making a single mistake) would take a level of skill only a master craftsman with many years of experience would have. I doubt they'd be many people the world over that could replicate such work using the tools and methods the Egyptians had, which is very sad.
Humbling to think that whilst the Egyptians had been creating all this beauty for thousands of years the British Isles was still relatively primitive and had only just started using stone buildings for housing.
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1 comment:
It was a great experience and I was truly awed by their achievments, perhaps even more so because I knew that some of the most impressive creations were missing from the exhibition. I'll get my moaning over with quickly as I feel bad for moaning at all.
1. An average stay of 90 mins, my arse (we were there 2 and a half hours and I don't feel like we dawdled at all, I could have stayed much longer).
2. No toilets.
3. No security men or guides who could speak any English!
4. Too many people in at once (too much crowding round the exhibits).
5. Never mind the "Ye Olde Rippe Offe Shoppe" at Spamalot this one really was summin' else! I'm still waiting for my 5 grand necklace by the way, valentines is coming up afer all darling!
6. Tasteless items in aforementioned extortion establishment, eg. a tissue box cover where you pull the tissues out through the nose of Tut's death mask (mimicking the action of the brain removal for mumification purposes). Gross, and offensive... and downright not on.
Moaning over! I managed to go on a bit I know... sorry. The exhibition was fantastic, I've always been so facinated by the Ancient Egyptians and it has really rekindled my love of it all. The hair you mentioned was phenomenal, I was particularly struck by the gold work on the jewellery, the hours of work and skill needed was like nothing I'd ever seen. The crook and the flail shocked me too, it really does look brand new, it's impossible to imagine that it is over 3000 years old! That little throne of his from childhood was amazing too, still with its original woven seat, nowadays we can't even make washing machines that last more than 2 years, and our furniture comes in flat packs from Sweeden. Ho hum, I'm going on aren't I. I will stop, this is your blog, not mine and I could go on for hours. All in all I'd recommend this to anyone and I'm so glad you enjoyed it too.
xxx
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