After spending the afternoons at the Art Institute of Chicago and the Field Museum, I ventured outside of the city centre to check out the Oriental Institute, located on the University of Chicago campus.
The Oriental Institute, a research division of the university, has five galleries showcasing the history, art and archaeology of the ancient near east, from about 10,000 BC to 650 AD. The museum houses a comprehensive collection of antiquities from ancient Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Palestine, Nubia, Syria and Turkey.
Fun fact: most of the exhibits were unearthed during the departmental museum’s own excavations!
One of the first things you see is a human-headed winged bull sculpture at the entrance. The colossal sculpture or Lamassu was excavated by the institute in 1929. The Lamassu stands over 16 feet tall and weighs 40 tonnes.
The biggest draw at the institute is the colossal statue of King Tutankhamun, one of the most famous pharaohs of ancient Egypt. The statue stands 17 feet tall – the tallest ancient Egyptian statue in the western hemisphere – and weights approximately 6 tonnes. The statue was excavated by the Oriental Institute in western Thebes, or what is now Luxor.
I must admit, I was surprised that there weren’t any artifacts from Asia, as in China, Japan, or other parts. The word “oriental”, historically, refers to that part of the world. So that’s kind of what I was expecting to see.
Save for the Lamassu and King Tutankhamun, there wasn’t anything there that I wouldn’t have already seen or similarly seen from my multiple times at the met or British Museum. And to get out to the university, without a car, takes a long time, which was a real time-waster. I spent more time getting there and back than actually perusing the museum. In hindsight, I wish I had done something else.
Although it was fine to go this time, I would probably not hit up the Oriental Institute again. Perhaps, I had expected more, which may be poor planning on my part. But that’s sure to happen whenever one is traveling. Some days are a hit, some days are a miss. They can’t all be winners.
View more photos of my trip on my Flickr album.
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