Musty Odors and Ancient Objects

"Lady, you need to get you son out of there!" the docent said to my mother. When I was a young boy

California Automotive Museum

(about five-years-old) my mom took me to the oldest museum in the United States, the Charleston Museum. Although only the classical Greek columns of the building remain today, I can still remember that musty smell of antiquity. I also remember being apprehended by museum personnel that day.  It seems I had managed to get inside some ancient piece of armor. Was this a detriment to my quest of old stuff? Not a bit!

Museums are of all kinds, and many specialize.  As an artist I find art museums extremely interesting. The Mona Lisa, Sunflowers, Guernica, or The Third of May.  Just to be so close to the genius of da Vinci, Van Gogh, Picasso or Goya is inspiring. The  photographs in art books don't do them justice.

The Tate Modern, London.

Reproductions of art somehow always miss something. Perhaps it's the dimensional aspect of the art. With oil paintings you can see the dimensional quality of brushstrokes better and just maybe smell the hint of oil in the air. There is something awe inspiring about seeing the actual works.

Aviation museums are no doubt my favorite.  There is something about these machines that break the bounds of gravity and join the realm of birds that have always fascinated me.  In our travels I
have seen many types of aircraft, some famous and some infamous. Of course the most common historic aircraft is the Wright Flyer, or rather a replica.  The original first American airplane to make controlled powered flight was destroyed. The Spirit of St. Louis, which first was flown solo across the Atlantic, and the huge NC4 flying boat of the U.S. Navy, which was the first to fly across the Atlantic, claim aviation fame. The Messerschmitt Me-262 was the first jet aircraft flown in combat and was a marvel of German technology.  The Glamorous Glynnis was the X-15 rocket plane which Chuck Yeager flew faster than the speed of sound. Actually, Gen. Yeager named all the planes he flew after his wife. The Enola Gay dropped the first atomic bomb, which ushered in the nuclear age, and the fastest airplane to ever fly was the SR-71, Blackbird. I've been fortunate enough to see these famous aircraft and many more.

The Chicago Museum of Science and Industry

To me, the British Museum is the creme de la creme of museums.  There you will find the Rosetta Stone. Discovered in 1801, this seventeen hundred pound piece of black granite has inscriptions in three languages.  These inscriptions in three languages allow linguists to translate the hieroglyphics of the ancient Egyptians. Also in this museum are many Egyptian mummies and the mummified remains of one of the first humans.  There are the ruins from Greek temples on display as well as Roman artifacts.  It was said that the sun never set on British soil.  During this period treasures of many civilizations were collected by the British Museum.

The Museum of Anatolian Civilizations, Ankara, Turkey

Once upon a time I was an enlisted man in the U. S. Navy and therefore have an affinity for things naval other than oranges. I must say that the Spanish Naval Museum in Madrid is another favorite of mine, although I've been aboard a number of the American warships which are now museums. The Spanish National Naval Museum houses a map produced by the cartographer who sailed with Christopher Columbus to the Americas. A map shows some of the coastline of the new world. The museum follows Spanish naval history from early colonial days through World War One.  It was interesting to see a scale model of the battleship U.S.S. Maine, the ship whose sinking started the Spanish-American War and whose capstan is in White Point Gardens in Charleston, South Carolina. Another Spanish museum I favor is the museum at the Spanish Artillery School in Segovia. Spanish weaponry is traced from the crossbow and spear to the rifled and breech loading cannon. Chicago's Museum of Science and Industry, The British Museum of Science, and the Museo della Scienza e della Tecnologia Leonardo da Vinci in Milan are great science and technology museums as well. One of the most popular exhibits in Chicago is the German submarine captured during WWII. The Milan museum does a great job tracing technology from Leonardo da Vinci's machines to modern computers. The mammoth steam engines are unforgettable in the British Science museum.

The National WWII Museum, New Orleans, 

As a childhood fan of B-Western movies, I would be remiss not to mention my fondness for cowboys. The one museum that depicts cowboy life well is the Buffalo Bill Historical Center in Cody, Wyoming. There is a reason your ticket will allow you entrance for two days.  It's that big! And, to appease the artist in me, it has Frederic Remington's studio reproduced. Remington is one of my all-time favorite painters and sculptors. Throughout this country museums abound on almost any subject.  Whether it is a museum about teapots or Winchester rifles I'm sure everyone can find one that suits their fancy. That includes the Crawford W. Long Museum in Jefferson, GA, which commemorates the birthplace of anesthesia.

Perhaps one of the greatest advantages of visiting museums is the opportunity to learn. Sometimes just to see an object as opposed to reading about it or seeing pictures of it can offer a completely

The Heard Museum, Phoenix, AZ

different explanation to its operation.  Nowhere is this more evident than in  science and industry museums. They show how stuff works. And musical instruments, which are machines of a different nature, are better understood when held in your hand. The Musical Instrument Museum in Phoenix, AZ, is great for this.  How do you play a gong anyway?

I will continue to immerse myself in the next museum I find, but I don't think I can get my torso into a piece of Greek armor anymore.

The Spanish Naval Museum, Madrid