laowai Posted October 9, 2015 Posted October 9, 2015 What happened was the masks beard fell off during cleaning and scared that the higher powers would get angry with them a museum official called her husband who performed a botched glue job that also caused glue to fall on the face of the mask and damage it further when a spatula was used to scratch the excess glue off. Now what is interesting about this whole thing- and what only one report mentioned briefly- is that the beard of the mask was never actually attached to the mask in situ when it was discovered in 1922. It was later glued on in 1941 for display. So in effect we don't even know if the beard was originally meant to be permanently attached in the first place. I don't understand why the mask would be displayed with the beard on in the first place. If the beard was supposed to be attached it would have been riveted on. I think what happened was the museum worker was scared she might lose her job over the incident. So one has to then ask why the workplace conditions didn't allow her to feel comfortable enough to approach someone from a higher position to ask for help. I think this is a classic example of what happens when you get a culture in the workforce in which highly qualified academics or medical doctors bully lower qualified staff- you see it all the time in the west. There is a lesson to be learned from this- treat everyone equally and with respect. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v6cvfBX3ql8
dsayers Posted October 9, 2015 Posted October 9, 2015 I grew up with a dad who would mistreat me for the sake of inanimate objects. So my bias when I see stories like this is to wonder how people can behave as if objects are more important than people. I thought about this a lot recently when a video sparked my interest in Machu Picchu. Pretty incredible stuff. If we can preserve it, great. But not at the expense of people. I look at the Mona Lisa and I'm not impressed. Apparently you're not allowed to engage in photography at all at the Sistine Chapel. The list goes on. This planet and our species is being run into the ground by people subjugating other people. I think we have more important things we could focus our efforts on than the preserving of a trinket, regardless of how important people who have been dead for centuries said it was.
laowai Posted October 9, 2015 Author Posted October 9, 2015 I see your point but I do feel some things are worth protecting, and I don't see why something that has existed for 3,000 years needs to suddenly get damaged, and especially not in our modern era. People are employed to look after these things and I think it's reasonable to expect they keep them intact. I wouldn't say anyone saw the mask as more important than people- if anything the mask is giving people employment and keeping afloat the tourism industry in Egypt which helps many people to live more prosperous lives than they otherwise would have. I agree society focuses too much on the stuff- but if we are being honest people are pretty crap in general and I can see why people end up caring more about material things than other people. There is no way you could overhaul the system and have people care more about other people- it's just not realistic. It's human nature to prize inanimate objects. I just read that infact the mask was dropped during cleaning. So this shows that the accident happened due to mass incompetence. I can't believe they would have one person cleaning the mask like that. I would have thought they could get two people to hold it while the third one cleans. I think I overreacted when I said the staff was too scared to tell someone. I think they tried to hide the damage so the error is on their part and not necessarily anyone else. I wouldn't be surprised if it doesn't last another 100 years. Personally I don't care about objects much either but there is something special about this piece that transcends the ordinary. I mean it pre-dates our civilization and was created during one of history's most interesting philosophical periods- I just can't even comprehend how it could get damaged.
laowai Posted October 10, 2015 Author Posted October 10, 2015 I don't know what's funnier, that it was a woman in charge of the exhibit who made the decisions that lead to this blunder; or that the country this happened in is Islamic. Restoration will begin this Saturday, more than a year after the mask was broken last August http://news.yahoo.com/egypt-restore-king-tut-mask-botched-epoxy-job-124425920.html
laowai Posted October 10, 2015 Author Posted October 10, 2015 In situ picture showing mask without beard on discovery. https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CQlXLmtUsAELNtN.jpg Germany is donating 50,000 Euros to pay for the masks restoration. I can't help but feel that this whole thing is a metaphor for the migrant crisis in Europe. Just another case of peoples of European descent playing the role of responsible global citizens and acting like the only adults in the room. Get's tiring being the only adult surrounded by children after a while.
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