Friday, July 12, 2024

Visiting a Very Old Friend at the Natural History Museum



Gruss Gott.

And there she is The Lady of Willendorf commonly known as Venus.  

Once again I bought my timed ticked on line and got a discount for being old. To tell the truth, I don't think museums are all that strict about timed entries, since I entered about fifteen minutes early, and no one asked me to prove my age either.

Now I was there specifically to see The Lady, but that does not mean I did not enjoy the rest of this fascinating museum. The exhibits are excellent and educational. I walked along viewing various minerals, crystals, salts, metals, many of which were colorful and beautiful. They will even show you big chucks of meteorites that have fallen to Earth. I especially appreciated the gemstone offerings featuring the raw material and then what could be done with it once polished.

Do you like fossils? I do! The museum will take you through the stages of multi cellular life all illustrated with wonderful examples. Then you can visit the evolution of plants and fish and amphibians and . . . Well, I thought you needed to see this horrid Murder Bird. Chirp.


Everyone loves dinosaurs, right? You can find plenty. I didn't photograph it, but there is a very threatening animatronic T Rex.


There's also a lot about human evolution, and then they get into the copper, bronze, and iron ages. This is a very generous interpretation of "natural history."

But I got to spend some time alone with The Lady. No one knows why she was made or what she was for. Lots of speculation, but we just don't know. No member of a hunter-gatherer society could possibly look like her.  She's fat with a pudgy belly, pendulous breasts, and big thighs. She has no face, and yet she does have an identity. We just don't know what it was. She is small--about the size of the palm of my hand, but you get a sense of monumentality. I have always found her very moving.

Servus

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