Egypt exhibitions at the Cinquantenaire Museum (10.1.2015) #Egypt #exhibition #museum #Belgium
Last Sunday Bert and I went to the Cinquantenaire Museum , my favourite museum (together with the V&A in London, UK) for Sarcophagi. One of the great things about the Cinquantenaire (other than that it's amazing on the whole) is that they let in press free, which we never ever abuse because we always go to review exhibits for The Gatehouse (here and here of both Egypt exhibits currently on) or to use the museum for shoots for BCM (just to shut up the rumour mongerers that love to say we abuse our passes).
Because of the terrorist threat levels in Brussels, the museum installed a walk through scanner like you see at the airport which you have to walk through, and all bags are also checked. The security staff was friendly though, and whilst it is really rather practical that way to check everyone, it was lucky it wasn't super cold or raining because we'd be queuing in crap weather. Whilst the security staff was bilingual and didn't have an issue what so ever speaking Dutch, the lady at the ticket booth was DISPLEASED she had to speak Dutch and attempted to just ignore the fact we were Flemish, only to realise we were point blank refusing to speak French (we shouldn't have to in Brussels, which is actually the capital of FLANDERS as well as Belgium) so she very reluctantly switched to Dutch. Which was all ridiculous because she understood and spoke Dutch perfectly. Seriously, wtf.
The staff at the main hall was all super friendly and happy to speak Dutch and provide with helpful information to everyone, which was nice :)
We left our backpacks and coats at the cloackroom and went into Sarcophagi for a few hours of Egyptian funerary culture throughout the ages.
I really liked the exhibit, sure it was very mainstream and they didn't actually mention anything about the Osiris vs Set(h) myth at all, which was a shame, but they made up with that with the amazing presentation and all the beautiful pieces on display. Most of which never displayed before.
They did a really good job of providing a lot of information with most pieces, and even if there wasn't a lot of info, there were plenty of guides around with their group we could sneakily join for a bit :)
I did feel bad for the English and especially German visitors, because English info was limited and German texts weren't present at all, which is a total fail considering German is one of the three official languages of Belgium. I do hope there were free audio guides available for them!
What sadly, wasn't cool, were all the people that brought their spawn and let it run rampant. I did not envy the poor museum guards that had to explain to parents that no, they could not let their offspring run rampant and use exhibit pieces as toys or tools (some kids were trying to climb them). And that yes, they needed to pay attention to their spawn. It got so bad at some points that I told Bert that the museum should only allow kids to enter on set dates so that people could see exhibitions in peace on the others. I know that''s pretty controversial, but seriously, if you had been there, you'd have understood my point. There was ONE set of parents that were actually parenting, really engaging their son in the exhibition, and you could see they all had a great time. If all the parents and kids had been like that, I wouldn't have had any issues with kids being there :)
But what really pissed me off was the fat creepy dude (and no, he was NOT a foreigner, before anyone else asks, he was white!) that tried to grope my ass, only to fail miserably because he got a handful of petticoat instead. HAIL THE PETTICOAT. I did consider punching him, or shouting at him, but the reality was that that wouldn't have helped, because he would probably have denied everything and it would have been useless drama. So instead I went over to Bert, pointed it out, loud enough for the men standing by to overhear, and the response was that not only Bert but also all the other guys instantly DEATHGLARED creepy fatso. For the rest of the exhibit. He got the message just FINE.
But seriously this guy was a swine. He was there with his wife, and whatever she said (I had walked past them before the attempt at groping a few times) he started to put her down, really viciously. And he pulled her along by the strap of her bag, like a dog. Seriously, people like that are HORRID.
But irresponsible parents and creepy douchebag aside, we had a great time at the exhibit.
There was a restoration lab right at the end of the exhibition, which was also awesome to see.
We spent a lot longer in there than we thought we would have, and got out around 4pm. We decided to get early dinner, as the restaurant listed last admission at 4.45pm. There were two main areas in the restaurant, one was nearly full, the other half empty. The chick that had to tell people were to sit not only refused to speak Dutch (which she clearly could and understood), she was also one of those Flemish haters and she was none too subtle about it either. She claimed we couldn't sit in the half empty area, because she was closing it up. Yet, the family that got in after us that addressed her and that spoke French, was let in immediately. So far for closing it up, closing it up for Flemish speakers more like it. We ended up finding the last table in the crowded area, right in front of the bar, only to have Flemish hater bitch move there and basically we didn't get any attention from waiters for about 10 minutes. Which was ok because it gave us time to look at the menu and decide what we wanted. The waitress that did show up was friendly enough, and happy to speak Flemish, but informed us that there was no dinner served after 3.30 pm and that we could only get drinks and desserts. Frankly I think this is bollox, seeing that it wasn't listed ANYWHERE, but I was also disinclined to have sugary sweet stuff that just would give me a horrid sugar crash half an hour later. Bert also wanted real food, so we politely thanked her for the info and told her we were just going to go, which she totally understood (or at least she said she did). So yeah, whilst the museum is amazeballs, the restaurant is far from XD.
It's a bit annoying, because if you go for a day, you are forced to eat there as you can't go outside and re-enter (well it wouldn't be much of an issue for us as we have press passes) after having lunch in your car or picnicking in the park outside (which is totally an option on nice days).
Seeing the museum wasn't closing 'till 6pm and we still had time, we decided to go check out the Djehutihotep in the Egypt section, which was also very interesting and nicely presented, although it was clear that Sarcophagi was the main event. Yet, I did enjoy this exhibition a lot too, especially seeing the tools they used back in the day :)
There were a few other people in the Egypt area, which was a strange sight because it can be pretty hard to find, and is generally as dead as a proverbial doornail.
But it was nice to finally see it get some love :)
Even though all the good light was gone and the area wasn't well lighted in general, I asked Bert for an outfit shot in front of the totem poles, because I really like those totem poles :)
Ok yes, I look dishevled, but I suppose that what's happens if you dodge a horde of spawn (I'm not actually exaggerating here) all afternoon XD
Glasses: Theo
Cardigan: Primark
Blouse: Forever 21
Bag: Zatchels
Hip bag: Zara Girls
Skirt: made it myself with fabric by Rouge Aerie Designs (Carouskel)
Petticoat: Dear Celine
Tights: Teja Jamilla
Socks: HEMA
Boots: Kickers
Accessories: handmade, Disney, Il Metromezzo, Il Metromezzo, Han Cholo, asos, British Museum
You can't really see it on the photo, but the button on my cardigan has a mummy on it and the text "I love my mummy", I got it at the British Museum a few years ago :)
All my photos of the exhibition are here.