The Egyptian Building

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My notes for you:

Once upon a time, the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts had a mummy on display in their Egyptian collection. It really was so murky and dark you couldn't see the mummy. At least I could never see the mummy, though part of the problem may have been my extreme myopia, which wasn't corrected until I was 13. I'm not sure when they removed the mummy from display. My school field trips took place back in the seventies and it wasn't till the nineties when I dragged a visiting friend to the VMFA to see the mummy you couldn't see and we were told by a docent that the mummy had been returned to its sarcophagus in the interest of good taste (and to the dismay of all the little schoolchildren in the greater metropolitan area, I'm sure). My description of the Egyptian exhibit is based on my childhood memories of school field trips.

The Egyptian collection at the VMFA is not called the Price Collection. This whole thing is pure fiction and any resemblance to actual people is completely coincidental and unintentional.

You can see the real Egyptian Building right up there in the banner graphic. The view from Jefferson Park has changed since I took that photograph and the Egyptian Building is now hidden behind the Massey Cancer Center. My description of the interior of the Egyptian Building is completely fictitious. The building is actually much smaller and less fancy inside. (Too bad, my version is pretty cool.) My imaginary interior is an Egypt-ified riff on the lobby of Old City Hall, just a few blocks to the west.