Of the city of architecture - Chicago IV (continue)

Up next after the "Native American" exhibit - The Egyptian Exhibit.

Scarabs. Remember those beetles that crawl into the skins in "The Mummy"?

Frankly speaking, I don't really think that the Field Museum of Chicago has an extensive collection on Egyptian stuffs. I was actually kind of expecting more. But well, they do have a few mummies around.

Meet ermmm...I am sorry, I forgot his/her name.

Another mamee. I mean mummy.

Note for the fragile hearted: You might want to consider skipping the next photo.

A mummified child.

Apart from the mummies, there are actually some other interesting exhibits.

Book of the Dead. Part over the scroll.

There is this interesting small part of the Egyptian exhibit that tells the story of what happens after a person dies.

After the person dies, he/she is mummified. And then there is this elaborate ritual conducted for them. Then Anubis - god of the dead, will serve as a guide and guardian for the person's soul through the land of the dead.


After passing through several gates by chanting spells, the person will face forty two gods and will confess his/her innocence from crimes against the divine and human social order.

Part of the confession


After the confession, the person's heart is then weighted against the feather of truth. Seen in the second photo is Ammit - Devourer of the Dead. If the heart does not balance against the feather, the monster will then eat the person's heart. And that's really sayonara forever.

If however, the scales balance, the person will then be brought to Osiris, father of Anubis - tai lou of the dead. And then the person will live happily ever after.
Or something like that.

Anyway, I read this interesting side information on one wall that says the general public thinks that the Egyptian is obsessed with death. Truth is, that's because a lot of the information we get about Egyptian culture is through the tombs. It is not that they are obsessed with death, but sadly, we can only know more of them through their tombs which actually tells quite a bit of story about their culture.
So yeah, the Egyptians aren't crazy about death in case you didn't know. They are the type of the everyday people who goes to buy grocery, work, sleep, eat, and shit.
It is how our culture has glamorized their death rituals that make it seems like they are obsessed with it.

Osiris - god of life, death and fertility.

Sculpted stone.

Up till now, I have only talked about like what...1/3 of my third day in Chicago? There are actually quite a lot of other exhibits in the field museum. Therefore so as not to bore you, I'll just show pictures and stop yakking so much.

Treasures of the titan exhibit:

Gold plated flower brooch.

Moonstone? No idea what kind of gem is that.

Si beh big de diamond (I think). Its glitter is really mesmerizing.

I can understand why women loves gemstones so much now after visiting these exhibits. Even my own heart skips two beats faster looking at them.

Jade Exhibit:

Bell-shaped jade.

Part of a "如意" (Is that right?)

Evolving planet exhibit:

Not exactly the kind of pet you want.

Ooooooh. Nasty looking.

Look at that tooth. WHOA.

Makes me kind of scared to want to go into the pool.

There are a few more other exhibits in the museum. Sadly, my camera kind of ran out of battery at this time.
I know. What timing.

Bye bye Field Museum

I actually visited the Field Museum twice. The first time I went, which is on the third day, I only managed to squeeze out 2 to 3 hours out of it. Which is not enough at all.
So I went back the second time the fourth day.

So what you are seeing is actually a two-part visit.
=)