Pompeii: Questions remain
13 Jan 2012 Leave a Comment
in Random Thoughts Tags: artifacts, displays, Museum of Science, Pompeii
Yesterday, Mom and I went to get some edumacation at the Museum of Science in Boston. After picking up my discounted pass at the library we were off. I was naively thinking that the discount pass would be the cheap way to see Pompeii frozen in time…I was wrong. Pompeii was extra, $21 extra ($11 for me and $10 for mom). [As an aside, I don't know how families can afford to go to the museum] So I guess my first question would be, why the heck is it so expensive?
The exhibit itself was fabulous yet disappointing. As long as you kept in mind that all of the artifacts had been rescued from under feet of pumice and ash, it was awe inspiring. The minute you forgot that fact, you were looking at a bunch of displays in glass cases that you have seen many times over. Perhaps as a museum goer in Boston I have been spoiled by amazing exhibits of the past (i.e. Tut), I won’t deny that as a possibility, but I was surprised by the excess of reproductions on display. From the resin casts to the reproductions of reliefs, the work was impeccable, but to me they cheapened the beauty of the real artifacts. The statues, ovens and gladiator helmet were my favorites. The plumbing examples were incredible and the fact that there was a wooden settee still around is mind-blowing. There were two movie rooms: one explained the way life was back then (urine was used to bleach clothes) and the other was a dramatized time lapse of the day Pompeii was buried. Both got As in my book. Far and away the absolute most touching/breathtaking/disturbing/eerie/gut-wrenching display were the 10 body casts. Words defy description of how a still statue can evoke such panic, horror, love and desperation. Altogether, would I go see it again, probably not, but I’m glad I saw it once.
For those of you who will go see it or have seen it, here are my remaining questions:
The marble table that was repaired-Did the restorers piece it together or was it fixed by a Pompeiian family that didn’t get to enjoy it? If it was restored during our time, did they use old-school methods or Liquid Nails?
After the explorers poured the plaster in to the cavities of bodies and it dried-Were the casts hollowed out to retrieve what I’m sure was a pile of bones at the bottom? How did they know that they were on/around a cavity to begin with?
The burial jar that “once contained” bones-Where did the bones go?
They had a lot of artifacts from one rich guy’s house-What’s his story? Is it even known?
The wood and bronze settee-Why didn’t you hint to how it could possibly have been preserved?
Was the old guy letting people touch the orchid pot from Pompeii? Because he was not born in the last 100 years
There was a poster sized description of how the weights used back then compared to today’s, but why didn’t the large display on business and money not have any conversions?
The rocks surrounding the body casts-Are we talking cases of Kingsford briquettes or real chunks of lava rock and pumice?
