Day at the museum

Our family celebrated Mother's Day on Sunday with a trip to one of the best cultural attractions in the metro area.

The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art was hoppin'. A lot of people had the same idea. It was a bit gloomy outside on a cool and breezy day, but not too bad to go out and enjoy a nice walk though the Nelsen's sculpture park.

But the art and attractions in the museum were shining. We arrived around 2 p.m. and it was already busy with crowds of people showing up to view the amazing modern art in the new Bloch Building. One of my favorite pieces was Mark Rothko's Untitled No. 11, 1963, a piece (as most Rothkos are) that must be seen in person to fully appreciate.

One of the proudest moments for me was when we were browsing through the European art galleries when my 7-year-old daughter, an aspiring artist herself, recognized and named the Claude Monet painting.

Undoubtedly, most patrons came to museum on Sunday for the opening of the newly renovated Egyptian Galleries.

Kansas City welcomes Meretites! Exciting new Egyptian galleries will feature an elaborate and complete funerary assemblage from the tomb of a 2,300-year-old noblewoman, Meretites, which translated means Beloved by her Father.

Visitors will have the rare opportunity to view a spectacular inner coffin and outer coffin from middle Egypt, both decorated with hieroglyphics and images of gods and goddesses. The collection includes a gilded mask and protective body plates, plus intricately carved blue and green figurines called shabtis, which were intended as workers in the afterlife.

Their website says there was a fee to view the new gallery, but they didn't charge us anything. We gladly mad a donation since, again, this is an incredibly worthy local attraction.

I didn't get a picture of the mummy in the new display. Too dark, and I didn't want to use my flash.

But I did get a shot of this 2200-year-old Assyrian relief...It's a image of a winged genie fertilizing a date tree and is inscribed with cuneiform markings telling about the conquests of Assyrian monarch Ashurnasirpal II of Nimrud.

With the weather going into a cloudy/rainy pattern, I highly recommend you make a trip to the Nelson and reacquaint yourself with the great collections. Maybe even buy yourself a membership...

tagged: art, museum, Nelson-Atkins, Egyptian, Assyrian, Mark Rothko, Claude Monet, Mother's Day, Kansas City