âDonât worry, son. In two weeks, no one will care that you messed that up!â
4000 years later:
âMOOOOOMMMMM!! You promised!â
[âŚ]
The bones are parts of cattle metacarpals and metatarsals (foot bones), and were all cut to the same size.
[âŚ]
that gives new meaning to âknuckle draggerâ, dunnit?
âof cobblestones and knucklebones,
let us spare trouble.
yet come knockinâ round these parts,
yeâll lie 'moungst the rubble.â
Was I the only one to think of Shelleyâs poem?
minor corrections:
And on the pedestal these words appear:
âMy name is Usermaatre Setepenre, King of Kings:
Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!â
And though broken, much more remainsâŚ
But this was another of Ramesses IIâs/Usermaatre Setepenreâs giant statues.
Just dropped: major article on the outrageous âfragments schemeâ whereby (evidence suggests) D. von Bothmer, curator @metmuseum1870.bsky.social conspired with antiquities traffickers like Giacomo Medici & Robert Hecht to get around export laws by BREAKING INTACT ANCIENT VASES INTO FRAGMENTS ⌠1/3
âThe idea just came to me one day when I was sniffing Krazy Glue.â
If anyone were to show me those pictures without any context my first guess would be Las Vegas.
Yes, from those pics, there appears to be more than a bit of horror vacui.
Many of the artifacts are displayed through visual storage, a clever choice used to maximize space while also allowing for a more extensive array of objects to be exhibited. This curation method also focuses on highlighting artifactsâ interconnections as key parts of Egyptâs cultural narrative rather than as isolated pieces.
WTF is âvisual storageâ ? It sounds like bizness speak for âTheyâre in clear cases,â which is quite a common thing among museum displays.
Iâm also rather confused by the, âThis curation method also focuses on highlighting artifactsâ interconnections as key parts of Egyptâs cultural narrative rather than as isolated pieces.â Um, many museums display objects together whose use, or time period, or appearance, etc are similar. The Detroit Institute of Arts had a large display of itty bitty Egyptian amulets, in order of age; as well as a display table w/a buncha pieces of jewelry, also arranged by age.
The Met Museum in NYC has rooms full of statues of Hatshepsut - theyâre spaced far enough apart that a wide wheelchair can be navigated all the way around them, which is how it should always be. I canât imagine someone in a wheelchairâs being able to see much of those statues whoâve been stuck on that GEM staircase of all places.
Cramming things together does not make for easy nor pleasant viewing, esp for some neurodivergent museum visitors.
ETA: tyop
Oh, and couldnât they have had a statue of a less ubiquitous chap than King Ramses II greeting the visitors at the front door?
It appears to be a defined term? Shelves of stuff in areas unsuitable for a gallery but accessible to the public
Based on the photos in the places linked below, this is exactly what visual storage does
Taking the salon/academy stack em high route â pleases nobody.
I donât admire the self-importance of this critic but I have to admit to agreeing with this
Thank you for hipping me!
Love that so much stuff is so far above eye level! /S It may as well be hidden in a locked room, unless everyone but me has some kind of super stable zoom lens that can see around curves and corners, and/or museums now allow camera drones. Kids, short adults like me, and folks w/wheelchairs can barely see anything thatâs displayed like that.
When I go to museums, I want to be able to drink in the art and artifacts - Iâm not there so I can robotically tick items off a checklist. âOK, Iâm ten feet away from that van GoghâŚwhatâs next?â Nope. I want to look into that artwork, not just give it a quick glance.
After spending the requisite number of years in US elementary schools, surrounded by other children, I canât help seeing schoolkids saying/thinking, âTerrific. Another gigantic wall of really old pots/weird things that mean nothing to me.â
Shorter cases would allow more people more intimate views, and maybe some might even find themselves V much appreciating those magnificent old pots. I get goosebumps whenever I see ancient pottersâ thumb- and fingerprints.
I look at those tall ass cases, and also canât help thinking about how far the stuff on the top shelves would fall were there some kind of accident (like an earthquake) or vandalism. 
[isilâs & othersâ thirst for destruction, and the assholes who stole and trashed artifacts in the Egyptian Museum during the Arab Spring have forever altered my view of museums, their security, and displays, Iâm afraid.
Sorry if I got too rant-y. Museums mean a lot to me. Museums and libraries have always been my cathedrals, and itâs V hard for me to control my emotions about them.]
Oh I have seen one of those:
I liked it but then again I to tend to prefer visual overload. Maybe I will take some pics next time I go.