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July 30th, 2007

This Sunday Rebecca, her mum and I took a trip to the Art Gallery of Western Australia. It was the second week in the Egyptian antiquities from the Louvre: journey to the Afterlife.

The last time we went to the museum was to see Raised by Wolves, part of the Perth International Arts festival. When we went to see this we were just about the only people in the gallery, apart from the throng of security guards. This time around however we had to line up to just get into the exhibition and it was shoulder to shoulder the whole way through.

The whole exhibition is about the journey to the afterlife, as the title says. So there were lots of what looked like headstones, statues symbolising the gods, Canopic jars (which hold your innards) and even some Sarcophagus for good measure. I’m no historian so I won’t embarrass myself with trying to name these various artefacts. But it was very interesting to see and learn about these objects and what their purpose/meaning was to the Egyptian people.

Craftsman ship in all of these objects is also amazing. The fact that they’ve survived this long is testament enough for that. But also the fact that thousands of years ago they could make those various statues out of granite, limestone etc and they are as smooth and intricate as anything our modern tools could do. Then there was also the paintings on each object. Although I’m sure the colour has faded over time you can still see the amount of detail and probably time that went into it.

If you’re interested though I’d definitely go and have a look. It was vary busy when we went, which would be the only downside, but otherwise well worth it. Its $20 for adults and something like $15 for concession. There are probably prices for families and children too but I was there with neither. You also aren’t allowed any cameras, so you have to just keep it in your memories, or buy the book.