It was a cold December day and my family and I were in New York City. It was very
comfortable and cozy in our small apartment. I didn’t want to take a taxi to the MET, (The Metropolitan Museum of Art)! I wasn’t looking forward to being in a crowded museum. But my mother had scheduled a tour, because we were studying ancient Egypt. My father was determined to get us out of the apartment. When we reached the MET, a large gray building with a lot of stone steps, we got out of the taxi. I was more interested in the pigeons than climbing the steps to the museum. They looked kind of crazy with their ruffled feathers and orange eyes. They did not look friendly, but I really wanted to pet one. I wanted to hold it, to feel it. Crouching low to the ground, I slowly approached the bird while quietly saying “here pigeon, pigeon, pigeon!” The pigeon looked at me with it’s big yellow eyes and spoke with my mother’s voice, ”GET AWAY FROM THAT DIRTY PIGEON!!!”
Disenchanted, I entered the building and a blast of warm air hit me. On the ground floor there was a large, black statue of an Egyptian Pharaoh and a marble statue of a regal looking woman sitting on a throne. We checked into the museum and met our tour guide, a soft spoken, older woman, with short, wavy, gray hair and twinkling blue eyes, framed by glasses. She wore a blue turtleneck, jeans and around her neck was a shiny, silver, Ankh. Her name was Beatrice Cooper. In a whispery voice she asked me “do you know what this symbol represents?” “It is the symbol of the house of life” I responded, as more people began to congregate. The tour began in a large room with tan walls. Inside the room was a large tomb. According to the museum notes, the tomb originally belonged to an official named Neferiretnes whose family probably died out, leaving no one to care for it. The tomb then was reused for a prince named Raemkai. Beatrice took us inside the tomb and showed us the hieroglyphs, the carved people, depicting rituals and offerings to the dead, so they could have comfort, and wealth in the afterlife. The hieroglyphs were all shown in a side view, but they were very detailed. You could have counted the fibers that made up hair and ropes. The paint had been worn away by time and sand.
A black stone statue called, “Merti with flaring wig, and wife” were next on our tour. Merti was a high official and provincial governor. Positioned next to them was a statue of King Sahure and a Nome God. King Sahure was bigger than the Nome God who, was placing an Ankh in Sahure’s palm. Beatrice brought to our attention that when painted, male Hieroglyphs had a darker complexion than females. Was this because the men were always working in the fields so they were darker skinned, than the women that worked inside? Who would have guessed that my favorite piece of the entire tour would be in the next room? We looked at a beautiful wooden statue of an Egyptian woman with a basket on her head known as The Offering Bearer. It was a very realistic statue. She was walking in a feathered dress. Each feather was painted and defined even though the statuette was very old, ca. 1981–1975 B.C.
We entered a bright room with high ceilings and glass cases displaying Egyptian jewelry. “This one belonged to a princess”, said Beatrice as we observed the jeweled Necklace of Sithathoryunet. Decorated with semiprecious stones of red, gold, blue, and lapis lazuli, the necklace was given to Sithathoryunet by her father, King Senwosret ll. The bottom of the necklace had bejeweled symmetrical falcons, with the god Heh in the middle. Above Heh was a cartouche. Around the cartouche, were snakes and suspended from their tails, hung two gold Ankhs. Jewelry of this time worn by women wasn't only for decoration, but granted the wearer with superhuman powers.
Fatigued, I dragged myself into a room with coffins. All the coffins had hieroglyphs and Eyes of Horus painted on them. The coffins that still had color were swathed in bright blues and reds. Beatrice showed us where the liver and intestines were stored. They were put in a Canopic Jar with a carved head for a top. I had a very uneasy feeling the bodies were still in the coffins and was very eager to leave the room.
In the next room, the most successful first female pharaoh awaited us. Beatrice said that Queen Hatchepsut wore the traditional nemes head cloth and shendyt kilt of a pharaoh. She declared herself king in between the reign of her stepson and nephew. She took on the full role as pharaoh including the throne name Maatkare which is actually inscribed on most of her statues. After that, my father led me away from the tour so I could rest.
I read, in the book Tales Of Ancient Egypt by Lancelyn Green, that all the Egyptians believed that one day the god Osiris would come back to life and restore all the Ba’s (mummy spirits) to their original bodies. People work hard to show us this amazing history, but what would the Ancient Egyptians think if they knew that all their hard work in building, crafting, and sculpting the wonderful art they made was ending up behind glass cases? Also the Ancient Egyptians left those treasure’s and riches in the pyramids so the deceased could live in comfort but now that the tombs have been stripped of their riches, what will happen to the spirits? I thought about this as I stepped out of the museum, into the cold night air. The pigeons were gone and all that awaited us as we breathed in the cold, were the bright lights ahead.
Disenchanted, I entered the building and a blast of warm air hit me. On the ground floor there was a large, black statue of an Egyptian Pharaoh and a marble statue of a regal looking woman sitting on a throne. We checked into the museum and met our tour guide, a soft spoken, older woman, with short, wavy, gray hair and twinkling blue eyes, framed by glasses. She wore a blue turtleneck, jeans and around her neck was a shiny, silver, Ankh. Her name was Beatrice Cooper. In a whispery voice she asked me “do you know what this symbol represents?” “It is the symbol of the house of life” I responded, as more people began to congregate. The tour began in a large room with tan walls. Inside the room was a large tomb. According to the museum notes, the tomb originally belonged to an official named Neferiretnes whose family probably died out, leaving no one to care for it. The tomb then was reused for a prince named Raemkai. Beatrice took us inside the tomb and showed us the hieroglyphs, the carved people, depicting rituals and offerings to the dead, so they could have comfort, and wealth in the afterlife. The hieroglyphs were all shown in a side view, but they were very detailed. You could have counted the fibers that made up hair and ropes. The paint had been worn away by time and sand. 
We entered a bright room with high ceilings and glass cases displaying Egyptian jewelry. “This one belonged to a princess”, said Beatrice as we observed the jeweled Necklace of Sithathoryunet. Decorated with semiprecious stones of red, gold, blue, and lapis lazuli, the necklace was given to Sithathoryunet by her father, King Senwosret ll. The bottom of the necklace had bejeweled symmetrical falcons, with the god Heh in the middle. Above Heh was a cartouche. Around the cartouche, were snakes and suspended from their tails, hung two gold Ankhs. Jewelry of this time worn by women wasn't only for decoration, but granted the wearer with superhuman powers.
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