The Mummy

The Mummy

Here, it’s always crowded. (Sully, room 322). People gather around. The passageway is so narrow between the large glass display-case and the close walls on three sides. One after another, the people press their nose against the glass. They fall silent.  Sometimes, explanations are given to the children. Yes, it’s the mummy of a man from the Ptolemaic Period (the first-to-third centuries BCE). Beneath the cerements and casing, there is a man—a man who lived so long ago. The visitors congregate, stand still for a long time in the tight corridor. This corner of the Salle des Sarcophages retains a sense of the sacred. The Louvre is also a graveyard.