OTHER SIGHTS AROUND NEW YORK CITY--
Museum Visit to the Big Apple                           
A full day at the Metropolitan Museum (MET) meant tired feet but a whole lot of learning.  Andy's favorite exhibit, the Egyptian temple of Dendur, was originally commissioned by Emperor Augustus of Rome and constructed by Petronius, the Roman governor of Egypt around 15 B.C.

Humans are dwarfed by the Temple of Dendur, a small edifice by pyramid
standards, housed inside the New York City MET.

Dendur was initially called the Temple of Tuzis and was located about 50 miles south of the town of Aswan.  It was dedicated to Isis, Osiris and two deified sons of a local Nubian chieftain, Pediese ("he whom Isis has given") and Pihor ("he who belongs to Horus").  The temple has been exhibited in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York since 1978.  And what fun to tour the display on a beautiful sunny day!
We read the information plaques, looked at the carvings and admired the art.
The temple was dismantled in its entirety and removed from its original location in 1963. This was accomplished as part of a wider UNESCO project in order to save significant sites from being submerged by Lake Nasser, following the construction of the Aswan High Dam.  Egypt presented the temple and its gate as a gift to the United States, represented by Jacqueline Kennedy among others, in 1965, in recognition of American assistance in saving various other monuments threatened by construction of the dam.

Reportedly, the temple was
vibrantly decorated.  Here light is
used to illustrate potential color on
the sandstone walls of Dendur.

The stone blocks of the temple weighed more than 800 tons in total with the largest pieces weighing more than 6.5 tons.  They were labeled and packed in 661 crates and transported to the U.S. by the freighter Concordia Star.  Numbers to reconstruct the temple are still visible on the blocks.
Several institutions made bids for housing the temple, in a competition that was nicknamed "Dendur Derby" by the press.  Alternative plans proposed re-erecting the temple on the banks of the Potomac River in Washington, D.C. or on the Charles River in Boston, but it was determined that the sandstone construction of the edifice would have suffered from outdoor conditions.
On April 27, 1967, the temple was awarded to The Metropolitan Museum of Art, where it was installed in the Sackler Wing in 1978.  The reflecting pool in front of the temple and the sloping wall behind it represent the Nile and the cliffs of the original location.  The glass on the ceiling and the north wall are stippled in order to diffuse the light and mimic the lighting in Nubia.
We tried imaging a trip to Egypt for an authentic tour of the Temple of Dendur in its original location.  Then we headed to more of the extensive exhibits of this incredible museum.  It wasn't Egypt, but no matter. The day was fun and educational.

The famous painting,
"Gertrude Stein" by
Pablo Picasso,
is worth millions.

Earlier in the day we had passed Gertrude Stein Way, a label on one of the street corners. So when we entered the modern art wing, I immediately noticed the 1905-1906 Picasso of Gertrude Stein.  Famous for its masklike face, the portrait is valued in the millions now.  Stein, the famous writer and expatriate, responded enthusiastically to European avant-garde art.  She had held weekly salons in her Paris apartment that was populated by European and American artists and writers.  For Picasso, the early patronage and friendship was critical to his success.  He painted the portrait of her at the end of his so-called "Rose Period." The painting reduces her body to simple masses, a foreshadowing of his adoption of Cubism, and portrays her face like a mask with heavy-lidded eyes.  This reflects his encounter with Iberian sculpture.

From the balcony, the Hall of Knights
transports visitors to the Middle Ages.

Life-size models of mounted knights dominate the hall.

Other exhibits that attracted our attention included a huge hall of armaments with protective suits for knights of different countries.  Early knights were clad in tough leather or chain mail shirts called hauberks (French) or byrnies (English), much like their earlier Roman counterparts.  But in later days of the Middle Ages, knights wore suits of metal armor. There were two main kinds of armor: chain mail and plate armor.  Chain mail was made from thousands of metal rings, often hooked together in a long cloak called a hauberk.  Knights wore a padded cloak underneath the armor to help them carry the weight of the armor.  A hauberk could weigh as much as 30 pounds.  Although chain mail was flexible and offered good protection, it could be pierced by an arrow or thin sword.  Some knights began to put plates of metal over vital parts of their bodies for added protection.  Soon they were completely covered in plate armor and they stopped wearing the chain mail.

An unexpected snow squall painted the outdoor scenery
glistening white as we toured the museum.

Even the horses were covered in metal plates that were hooked together with tiny rings of metal. The weight must have been tremendous, with an average of 60 pounds, and as much as 70 or 80 pounds for just the knight's armor.

But the sun warmed Central Park
within an hour or two, so our hike back
to the hotel was a "springtime" stroll.

A snow squall while we toured the museum covered Central Park in white, but relatively mild  winter weather made being outside bearable.  And being inside was even more enjoyable with gorgeous views and frosty window artistry.  It was a day of beauty and mystery in every respect.