A Visit to the Near East in Chicago
Image & Artwork: designslinger]
We made it to the Oriental Institute Museum on Saturday -as planned. I hadn't been there
in a very, very, long time.
& Artwork: designslinger]
The museum seemed different, and I found out that the building had undergone an
extensive renovation and expansion that began in 1996. A state of the art climate control system was installed and the galleries displaying the museum's collection have been redesigned. I have to say, the new lighting scheme is wonderful.
& Artwork: designslinger]
The museum is not huge, even though certain pieces are colossal in scale, and has an
amazing collection of artifacts that date from around 2 million years B.C. up to about 700 A.D.
designslinger]
In the 1890s, the University of Chicago hired a man named James Henry Breasted, the
country's first professor of Ancient Egyptian studies. In 1919 Breasted (O.K. enough snickering) founded the Oriental Institute, and created a research center to study the ancient Near East, birthplace of the world's first civilizations. The museum is a branch of the Institute and houses antiquities from ancient Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Sudan, Syria and Turkey. Back in Breasted's day this region of the world was known as the "Orient."
designslinger]
Today the research center is world-renowned. The Institute has been studying ancient
text for generations, and has published multi-volume dictionaries of the long-lost languages of Assyrian, Hittite, and Demotic.
The Institute has a very thorough and informative website. But, nothing beats a real, live,
in-person visit to this little gem of a museum.
Posted by designslinger at 8/3/2009 2:33 AM 
Categories: Archaeology,Art
Tags: University of Chicago Oriental Institute Museum James Henry Breasted
Categories: Archaeology,Art
Tags: University of Chicago Oriental Institute Museum James Henry Breasted
Lovely and impressive photographs. As the old saying goes, "next best thing to being there!" Thank you for the vicarious pleasure.
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