March 15 kicked off the first day of Crossroads of Civilization: Ancient Worlds of the Near East and Mediterranean, which is the Milwaukee Public Museum’s latest permanent exhibit. It has been more than a decade since there was an add-on of this kind, and many Milwaukeeans can finally see what happened to some of the Egyptian artifacts that were once displayed in Temples, Tells and Tombs.
This dynamic, interactive exhibit occupies key space on the third floor, right across from the Guatemalan village market. Once inside the new view, you will quickly meet 4,000 years of Greek, Roman and Egyptian history on a digital timeline that offers layers of facts with the touch of the finger.
The next room opens up the genius of the construction of cities and buildings. Here, you’ll find out how they believe structures were made and how they may have once looked. There is also a vivid look into the Temple of Ramesses III through another touch screen. Following, is the communion section, which covers religious and belief systems. Much can be learned about divinity and afterlife here.
Turn a corner, and you are in the communication portion, which is all about language and writing. How interesting is it to learn the history of words taken from pictures to letter forms? Very. How nice it must have been to be able to communicate and barter in the next area, which is Wall Street-ready with trade and commerce. In this section, they have many ancient coins and noted commodities.
All of that wealth no doubt brought about the next category, conflict. Learn how the wars were started, who headed the orders, and who won. See a life-sized display of none other than the great King Tut himself, blazing his glorious reign through Egyptian sands on an elegant chariot.
The whole exhibit has been brought together by Carter Lupton, MPM curator of ancient history. His team was able to put more than 200 artifacts inside this free-with-admission addition. There is so much to see and do that adults and children can be captivated for hours.