Lost forever

When we walked into the Cairo museum of antiquities, I was struck with several thoughts.

There was simply so much history, so many thousands of years of wealth and art and religion in one place, that it was hubris to think that we could, and would protect and preserve it all.

In the great pyramids these brilliant artifacts were housed safely for literally thousands of years.

In the museum they were exposed, ageing and at risk.

If America decided to bomb a future Cairo as they did Bagdad, all this could be lost in an instant.

Not just lost, they would be irreplaceable.

So was I actually suggesting that they be returned to the pyramids? That the current generations be denied the thrill of seeing all of that history?

Yes, I actually am.

There is so much on display, in Cairo, and we are  told  that the basement held so much more that they could not display.

There was  literally too much to be seen.

The Egyptian hall in the Louvre in Paris had just enough on display to amaze, care was taken to not overwhelm the senses.

Some could be displayed for the world of gawking tourists to, well "gawk at" and the rest could be entombed in the mountains of granite that are the pyramids, their natural, intended resting place, and we could be sure that future generations would actually have the honor of viewing the last remains of a great civilization.

Long gone.

M Parak. 2014