“The loss was incalculable.”
Ancient Egyptian Antiquities at the Neues Museum in Berlin, Germany
I've seen about a dozen Ancient Egyptian mummies up close. Even as a kid, these experiences weren't strange or scary. In my view, mummies are 90% art and only 10% human remains. It was always exciting to see the care embalmers put into their 3,000-year-old work. In later centuries, Greeks and Romans living in Egypt took the extra step of including a painting of the deceased person's face. The portraits were life-sized and placed over the outer wrappings. They add an extra level of intimacy to the experience of standing so close to a person's mortal remains. A few are so well-preserved that you want to say, "Nice to meet you. Never thought you'd end up in a place like this, huh? It's okay, though. They'll take good care of you forever."
And at most museums, that last sentence is true.
In the four museums where I saw these mummies (The Louvre, Pushkin, Neues, and Frist), humidity and temperature sensors in each case ensure that the artifacts do not succumb to bacterial growth or decay. Out of sight from visitors, fire-proof doors are ready to shut automatically the moment flames trip a heat sensor. And in the Louvre, at least, an inert gas suppression system can quickly smother flames without causing damage to the artifacts.
But last night, an electrical spark caused a blaze that obliterated the National Museum of Brazil in Rio de Janerio. Not even a single sprinker stood in the fire's way as it consumed 20,000,000 artifacts that included the largest collections of Egyptian mummies outside of Egypt and Pompeii artifacts outside of Italy. The oldest human skeleton discovered in the Americas and millions of biological specimines are now smouldering ash. And the building itself, a few walls of which may yet survive this ordeal, was once the royal palace where Brazil decalared its independence and abolished slavery.
Why did this happen? It wasn't war or natural disaster, but indifference. Although 2018 was the museum's 200th anniversary, the Brazilian government allocated only $13,000/year for its upkeep. 'The place had been decaying for decades,' is the opinion I've seen most from people reflecting on their past visits.
It's a small miracle that no one died in the blaze, but that doesn't lessen the tragedy. Museums are one of humanity's few creations that argue for our continued existance on this planet. This morning, that argument is a little less convincing.
So it goes.