These are all stone sculptures of heads that were carved and polished nearly four thousand years ago! They are absolutely stunning when seen in person. As I went through the exhibit I was taken by the fact that almost all of the sculptures of heads had smashed noses! I began to think there was some kind of reason for this, but there was nothing written about this in any of the descriptions. I stopped to look at another sculpture on the way out of the museum, and it was a fragment of a face. Another visitor was looking at it as well, and we remarked at how moved we both were about the piece. He seemed so knowledgeable, so I decided to ask him about the missing noses. He said that that the damage was done intentionally by newer rulers, to sculptures of older rulers. He said that disfiguring the faces took the "magic" away from them, and made them less powerful. Amazing story, isn't it?
Glad you spoke with the other visitor to learn so much from him. Such an odd thing to do.
ReplyDeleteJoan
I keep going back to these faces. Interesting story that new rulers would "disfigure" their predecessors. It seems as if they are trying to take away their powers. I will definitely do some research...bsk
ReplyDeleteIt is a fascinating story, and it makes a lot of sense to me. Not sure where to start researching that. I have spent time with more than a few books about Egyptology and the pyramids and tombs, and never read that before.
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