Читать книгу The Golden Mask of King Tut The Code - Jesús Ariel Aguirre - Страница 17

Thomas and Anne enter the Museum.

Ancient Egypt is an exciting civilization. The secrets of this civilization are kept in the most important art galleries on the planet, between the Louvre and the British Museum.

However, nothing compares to the Cairo Museum; an enclosure that has a collection of around 120 thousand pieces, all belonging to Ancient Egypt.

The Museum is made up of three floors:

- An exhibition in the basement

- The ground floor

- The upper floor

Lein delighted with this ancient culture, asks which one with the main pieces it contains.

Thomas, infinite, I will mention only 10.

- The Statues of Amenhotep II and Tiyi, these sculptures measure more than 36 meters high, they are in the center of the first room of the museum, and they are the ones that welcome the Museum.

- The Narmer Palette, this small plate is one of the most important works in the museum, since its reliefs relate the unification of Upper and Lower Egypt by King Narmer.

- The Statue of Jasejemuy, this statue is the representation of the pharaoh Jasejemuy, one of the first rulers of the unified Egyptian Empire.

- The Statue of Rahitep and his wife Nofret, this seated sculpture and the round bundle belongs to a marriage of the highest social class of the Egyptian civilization. Archaeologist Auguste Mattiete and his team discovered them in 1871.

- Seated statue of Pharaoh Khaphren, this life-size sculpture captures the greatness of Pharaoh Khafren, son of Pharaoh Khufu.

- Triad of Menkaure, it is one of the most important sculptures of the entire Egyptian civilization. In the center, in a hieratic posture and taller than those of more characters, is Pharaoh Menkaure. He is accompanied, on the right side, by the goddess Hathor; and on the left, the nome deity of Cinopolis.

- The funerary mask of Tutankhamun, the adolescent pharaoh, who was immortalized in this mask of gold, glass and semi-precious stones. It is the most important work in the history of world art. The piece is part of the numerous treasures found in the tomb of the ruler in the Valley of the Kings, by the English archaeologist Carter.

- Sarcophagus of Tutankhamun, said coffin is another of the treasures found in the tomb of Tutankamon. Inside this surprising and preserved solid gold sarcophagus (With about 110 kilograms of weight. Howard Carter found in 1922 the remains of this young pharaoh.

- Stone sarcophagi, mummies are highly emblematic in Egyptian culture for the surprising funerary process they carried out to honor their deceased. The mummy room is kept at a low temperature and is without a doubt one of the most important parts of the museum.

- Funerary mask of Pharaoh Sheshonq II, this gold mask preserved the features of the pharaoh, who reigned in 887-885 BC during the XXII dynasty in the third intermediate period of Egypt.

The ground floor of the museum follows a chronological order in a clockwise direction, in which the Old Kingdom Rooms (rooms 42, 37 and 32) and the Amarna Room (room 3) stand out.

The upper floor contains the

- Galleries of Tutankhamun

- Royal Tombs of Tanis (room 2)

- Rooms of the royal mummies (room 56)

- Greco-Roman mummies (room 14)

- Faraonica Technology (room 34)

- Animal mummies (room 53 and 54)

- Jewels of Ancient Egypt (room 4)

- Tombs of Yuya and Thuyu (Room 43)

While they contemplate one of the two life-size Tutankhamun statues, which they found next to the burial chamber, it is a 92-centimeter-high statue, made of wood with black and gold resin, and which is exhibited in room 45 of the museum of Cairo.

Since then, Lee explains to Lein, the figure of this pharaoh has fascinated the world, resulting in a multitude of books, films and documentaries about the life of the pharaoh-child.

Finally they go to the Room most desired by the visitor of the Museum, the one that has the trousseau of the child King Tut Ankh Amon and his solid gold mask. They contemplate the pharaoh’s throne, with very beautiful golden details, the three golden chapels or cedar wood boxes that contained inside the king’s sarcophagi, true works of art, one inside the other. The war chariot and hunting, with their shields and weapons, the canopic temple golden plated protected gold goddesses cuato (Isis, Serket, Nephthys and Neith) containing the glass canopos with vis c eras di s ecadas of the child king, the furniture is erected on a sled, and its cornice (cavetto) is full of solar cobras, they admire the alabaster chest with the four canopic vessels of the Tutaankhamon faron. Also temple of Anubis covered with stucco and plated with gold leaves, in which the black statue of Anubis stands out.

But suddenly, a metal curtain is lowered in front of them and like a waterfall; all the other rooms were also sealed, so that no one would come out. They are still in the hall, in front of the mask room, where they can see the tempered and armored glass chest that protects it. But a detail does not escape them, it is empty. It is not the first time that Thomas is there, Anne is very surprised. What has happened? She asks with her worried face.

Nobody move! The museum guards shouted, while others ran senseless through the corridors.

Soon military security arrives and they are escorted to the lower floor, in front of the giant Statues of Amenophis III and Queen Tiye.

People did not imagine what was happening, and gradually they were taken out of the museum through another side door, everyone suspects that it is a terrorist attack, because of the way all the guards were in the museum. The security protocol was activated and all the entrances and doors of the museum were closed, nobody could enter or leave. Policemen ran through the Museum and people did not know what was happening, others believed that the protocol had been activated by the deadly virus Covid-19, people panicked.

Professor Thomas is taken to a closed room and they want to separate him from Anne, which prevents him and says that she is an international journalist invited for the inauguration of the Grand Museum and that she is with him. After a short wait, the Director of Egyptian Antiquities himself arrives. Who recognizes the teacher for his continuous work Egypt. And in my ear he says;

“What we feared for so long has finally happened,” Thomas doesn’t understand the riddle. But it does refer to the empty glass chest in the mask room.

But, news that could only be the work of David Coperfied’s magic. The mask of King Tut and for what millions of people came to Egypt every year, has been stolen.

Tutankamon’s funerary mask was made by villapresentine goldsmiths between 1354-1340 BC. C: and is considered the best-known piece of all Egyptian art, it was part of the funerary equipment from the tomb of the pharaoh Tutankamon, discovered in the Valley of the Kings in 1922, by Howard Carter in tomb KV62.

What was impossible, seems not to be, covered with an armored glass box and kept in a closed room on the second floor, with special security, since this small mask of only 11 kg of solid gold is worth millions of dollars.

It seems that the years that the museum had been open they managed to find a way to violate it, the glass box is empty. The room is dark, there is no longer any brightness inside because the reflection of the light has nowhere to be projected.

The search for the relic of yesteryear was painstakingly searched in every room and corner of the museum.