Treasures fit for Kings, yes, but only for Kings!?

"Let's take a trip to Atlanta, maybe couchsurf at someone's place, and there's these 2 simultaneous exhibitions that's going on that we should see.."

That was my room-mate Richey. I think his one goal in life is to have fun. Everything else be damned. He's like the grasshopper in the ant and the grasshopper story. The one that teaches you not to party too much. Apparently when Richey was a kid, he took the day off when they were teaching that story in school..

Spring was upon us, and so was Spring Break. We both had some time on our hands for a change, and were trying to figure out something interesting to do together.

I'm very much a warm-weather kinda person, and I had been cooped up indoors for a while, so yes, I wanted to get out and do something. I like to stay indoors and do indoor things during the cold months, like go shoot pool, to the movies, or what not. And when warm weather rolls around, I want to be outside mostly.

So while Atlanta's not too far away and we both like road trips, I didn't know if I wanted to go spend a good part of the day stuck indoors in some museum, exhibition, whatever. I enjoy intellectual outings, Museums, Exhibitions, most times, but I was really wanting to be outside. Plus I've never really seen the sights of Atlanta, so I was excited at that possibility. (For that matter, I've been here for a lil while and I'm just starting to explore Birmingham, but that's a story for another day..)

"But it's King Tut & China's Terracotta Army.. They're together in Atlanta at the same time, for the first time in the US. Two of the greatest finds of the last century.. blah blah blah"

That gave me pause. I'm a bit of a history buff. An exhibition involving Egyptian Pharaohs, and esp. Tutankhamen, the Golden King, (well.. ahem.. all of them were a bit obsessed with gold, me thinks) sounded intriguing. I've never really seen any Egyptian artifacts, except maybe in movies.. And at the same time, the Terracotta Army of the first Chinese Emperor.. I'm also a bit of a movie freak, and I had seen the trailers for "The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor" with Brendon Fraser and Jet Li just a coupla months back, and had been salivating at the prospect. Pity I couldn't find anyone to go with then. That was the extent of my knowledge about the Terracotta Army.

So yes, my curiosity was piqued. A little. But then, I found out how much it cost. Approx. $40/- for both. Which I admit is not bad.

But I couldn't help thinking, two such treasures belong to all humanity. Not just to to the people that could afford to pay to go see the exhibitions.

Yes it costs money to transport the artifacts across locations, to provide a controlled environment for these delicately fragile artifacts, for the security, not just from would-be theives, but also the crazies, and myriad other details.

Still, even if the motive is not to make a profit, would it not be possible to do this for a more affordable fee, that would attract more than just the artsy crowd, more than just the crowd that doesn't worry about money a whole lot, more than just the typical Museum goer!?

People routinely go to the Movies. If you want people to go to Museums, but you price it 3 or 4 times a movie ticket, just to use an example, then how are you going to attract a broader crowd!?

It is my opinion that the powers that be missed out on a great opportunity here. An opportunity to reach out to a new audience. An audience that doesn't typically consider Museums entertainment. And maybe they have good reason. But two such treasures that belong to all humanity, we as a people have a moral obligation to make them available to the broadest, to the biggest, to the widest group of people that we can.

http://www.atlanta.net/treasures/

http://www.high.org/main.taf?p=3,1,1,10,10

http://www.kingtut.org/home

I'm still going to see it. I just have to save up some money first.