New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1880-05-16
THE MUSEUM, Boolak, April ., 1850.

1880.
THE MUSEUM, BoOlak, April ., 1850.
MADAM: Knowing the interest You take III ~, Ely "
tian antiquitIeA and in our new arrahgculirulS,
hasten to forward YOU the following par tlcIlaiS
iii ,.nr nothing new when inform you that the
old Boolak Museum, having been SERIOUSLY ua,,i .
aged by more than one unlsuaY Il.El IN IN rJ
M Ion ger hlnless radically trallslOTmcI w
to aer1,e the purnOse to which 1t was HeNOtcu Luz,
walls were lettering the soil had become sa'uIauI
ond hoCUv and many of orr monuments WOulu
IN nprisbrd had we not taken the prccautlOn OF
removing them to place ol salEtS', roI - Mt"no
wear the museum has been clos'd LOT pnlpus,s
IF renovation, or rather, the collection oeing
Tor n whole wear packed away III cases, thcrc mas
beep no museum at all Now. however me-" Inu'
scum, rebuilt, reOrganized' anu AuEulVIi'ou ~ ~
LARGE number of monuments occupies llc Sl'o Va
the former structure. 1t is OF tins new museum
that proceed to give yOu Descriptions nc ne"
Rnolok Museum stands precisely where us pIede-
cessOr stood It built on the same pan ana u ~
of the same dimensions; but the SOL h'tS 'rI' ."l
sidcrably elevated and the ceiilhgS Hl inc Nti"uS
halls are no much more lofty than bcioIe' nus
reconstructed, IT seems 10 l'S 't ,,,, ;,,rrJa
stands beyond reach of danger from luiurc lh'uua
tions, aid that the safety 81 us r"n'''t ~
il thereby assured. The OH names ~
many of the rooms have been chahEeh.
The Little Vestibulc, tho Great Nehlbulr' inc
Centre saloon and the EaS,c'9 r cno1E topr las
become the Sale Historiquc de IOhrSt " tne
Sale DIES Hvksos has become the Halle lllsa"i'ino
SoIie lie TAucicn Empire and (il the ycstlhule "t
fine Sale DIES BijOuX has become me 'fileIlo
E1DVDtO. l Romano. EuCll llh''''N''' 49, -
may now VISIT our hiEE,uul' ,'H! ~ ,I"r
formation upon their Murray "u"r' lH''rr
" Bacdekcr," or our own NulIGo '."l,llihii'r.
will find their catalogues useless, ana u'hS ou'
NOT even numbered. THIS unfortunately ~ an ~
convenience which. for the present, we are uhaolc
Ia rrnoyc We have fact. brought into our ealIr-
les n variety of admirable monuments tthe results
of successive excavations Tor "hlcii hllh'ldU We
have had no space, except III our hlnlcilllSc lHs'
objects now occupy their due position III III,
,,y u,nscum Int are necessarily uunuticcd
in the guidc-bouks. On the other IlHH' GER
tain monuments oi inferior interest whlch were
exhibited in the former galleries. hiNc PIE"
temnororilv removed; and thus II nap
mems that The guIde-bOukS take note oi some on
ncfs which are no longer view. All TINS IS very
9gnnovnu TO visitors hut am NJ wOrl, upon new
catalOQur and the inconvenience az tchdah upon luo
urescnt transitiOnary state OF Things Will uuHl'
! he of no long continuance. j may add mai nc
e,dps fine museum proper, we possess large ADJOINING
warehouses; with we shall transform next summer
INTO a set of Galleries Annexcs' In thrae ''ucrl,S
| irrts now excluded from the museum,
| and they will stand 10 the museum proper
| i'm much the same relation as the salon DIES kc-
! fnSfs stood some few wears ago, 10 the Expo
siton des Beaux Arts in Paris. The public wlll Dc
| admitted to them. The general phySloEh4nV ol
| thc new Boolak Museum IL distinguished by GER
tain snccial characteristics which II ~ important
| should explain to you. ! consider that the new
| Booak Museum may, above all else, NC htyISH
| Museum of the Ancient Empire. iho sale de An
rru Eupirc is in fact, unique IN the world, both s
! regards the number and Importance OF me
| hoiI that we find surrounded by statues,
| hbation-tanles. and stella innumrrable, the
| nriceIrss Cheplrcn (Shafral the wooden
statno which our Arabs call the Shcyhi-rl-Beled =;
fhr two statues Of Mcy doom, the wooden panels n1
Uog the statue of the priest lta-netrr the Narcopl-
apus of KOo-foO-Ankh he stone ct Chtops (Sho0O"l'
| the autOuOpraphlcal inscription OF Iha exc. III Is
to be rem ,lrbcTcd that the ancient Empire pluiGrS
us into IL past remote tlat IL Is lcraE 1851 III lho
uiyht of lime In these monuments. We see man Tor
the first time awang to history ana clyilZatlOn
It's in thsscnsc that the BOola Museum Is without
| n rival; and, surveying the enormous array on
| II, bcrn assembled. almost forget That inc
collection has cost me not less than twenty years OF
| labor History is not forgotten IN the new Bu0lali
| Museum We do not, IL is true, possess tile roNal
statues Of Turin, nor, unhappiy lOr u.s. inc hlgI,
| nlfccnt papyri Of London. lut we can at al
events display with certain sense OF balsl',ctlH
the fine selD of Gebcl BaIkaI, when nave reVehIcu
| n wholly unknown chapter Of Egyptian history
the great stella of ThOthmes ILL.,. which preserves
for us tho text of hymn OF victory COM
noaed by SOHO contemporary poet IN honor
of that Pharaoh the stone OF Alexander IL; the De
aforementioned stone OF Cheops; the stone Oh san
| 40 nnch more precious than tho Rosetta Stone, be
cause 1t Is complete in all three writings not Tor
getting tho Tablet of Sakkarah the enigmatiC
stella Of the year 100 ana th9 lnes,lhaoiG eGirc
kings which have been to us ~ a lifted curt ain, re-
vealing Il scene of which we previously kne"
nothing whatever. You Will perceive that history
! plays sufficiently important part in tho
general aspect Of the new Boolak Museum
| / iust now remarked madam, that our museum
might fitly be styled Museum Of the Ancient En-
| nire We might, however, qnite as appropriately
entite it the Museum of Slelie,' for OF monument
| of this class We pOSbtSS IItdig i1uOO' "
these stella come from Abydos. and belong to ont
epoch (12h. 14th Dynasticsl. IN these the intGres
! of the whole collection eliminates. IN thes
, | we behold tho resurrection OF an Egyptian
city of the Middle Empire; with its .Grea
, families, its officials, and all ITS inhabitants
Grouped, as it were in single tableau, here Sc
before me several thousands of personages who live
r | in AbydOs under the rule OF the AmenenhatS ant
, Sebckhoteps. 1t will be useful by and by to sor
, and compare all these names, and to classify al
. these professions. Taking for our point of depal
tuTe the social condition of Abydos under the Mid
die Empire, may we hope to form some idea OF tn
social condition of other parts of Europe during th
3 same epoch 7 As yet do not know. In the mear
!, while it is to be noted that we hnd a
very rarely soldier i9 A6ydtOSs tho %o. civ t
I | the case elsewhere Arc we TO conclude that th
fever Of foreign conquest was malaGy as yet III
70 military affairs have paved the way for tho occ
i patton of the country few years later ti 9y tho
| such madam are tho leading features OF the Ne
q | Boolak Museum. l am we'll aware that the cole
d ton is far from being all that could DESIRE