Ghosthunting Ohio by John Kachuba

Author:John Kachuba
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: eBook ISBN: 9781578604012
Publisher: Clerisy Press
Published: 2004-01-15T00:00:00+00:00

Cincinnati Art Museum

CINCINNATI

JUST AS THE CINCINNATI ART MUSEUM CONTAINS TREASURES FROM ANTIQUITY TO MODERN TIMES gathered from all around the world, the ghosts that roam its cavernous halls after the lights are out are equally international and timeless. The Egyptian mummy. The medieval Spanish monk. The Victorian-era artist. Security guards and maintenance workers at the museum have seen these three, along with other unidentifiable entities, haunting the museum.

The beautiful neoclassic edifice stands on a hill in Cincinnati’s Eden Park, and houses the Cincinnati Art Academy as well as the museum. Since its founding in 1881, museum curators have collected an eclectic mix of artwork, more than eighty thousand pieces displayed in eighty-eight galleries, providing the residents of Cincinnati with a broad overview of art history.

One of the most popular attractions at the museum, especially among school-age children, is the Egyptian mummy lying in a glass case located in the first-floor antiquities section. An X-ray examination has revealed that the mummy is that of a man, approximately thirty-five years old. Still tightly wrapped in linen, the mummy wears a painted mask, breastplate, and leg coverings. Despite the children pressing fingerprints onto the glass case as they crowd around him, the mummy rests serenely as the long years roll by.

Or does he?

At least one guard has admitted seeing a strange mist resembling the figure of a person rise up above the case holding the mummy, linger in the air for a few moments, then disappear as suddenly as it appeared.

As I stood there in the brightly lit gallery, looking down at the beautifully painted red, black, and gold mask of the mummy, I was drawn to its enigmatic smile and wondered what secrets it concealed. After all, few cultures had as strong an interest in death and the afterlife as did the ancient Egyptians. Perhaps this particular mummy has learned how to cross over between this world and the next at will.

A different sort of apparition has been seen in the second-floor medieval Spanish section. In a small alcove off one of the larger rooms in the gallery is a reproduction of the twelfth-century chapel from Ermita de San Baudelio in north central Spain. As I entered the alcove, the first thing I noticed was the thirteenth-century wooden tomb effigy of Don Sancho Saiz Carillo lying in a glass case directly before me. Beneath a fresco of a knight on horseback, a hunting falcon perched on his hand, Don Sancho lay peacefully, wearing his crown, his sword ready at his side. To the left of the effigy was a tiny room containing an ornate gilt and paint retablo of Saint Peter created by Lorenzo de Zaragoza in 1400. The chapel was to my right.

A Moorish arch lined with faded frescoes of ibises separated the chapel from the alcove. The chapel itself was dark and gloomy, the only light coming from a narrow slit of a window in the wall above where the altar would have been and from one weak electric light set high up in the masonry of the barrel-vaulted roof.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.