This weekend, I took a trip to NYC and spent some time in the beautiful Metropolitan Museum of Art. One of the highlights of the museum is undoubtedly the Egyptian Temple room of the Temple of Dendur, which was a gift from Egypt to the Museum and installed permanently. The room struck me as being extremely interesting in its design. The side was was all glass and gave a modern, spacious feeling. The surrounding pool was serene and majestic. The original temple in Egypt obviously would not have been surrounded by water and would have been accompanied by other stone structures. I think the Met created an interesting space to interact with though. People sit at the edge of the water and look upon the temple. The glass and outside is reflected in the water. They have taken a room and given it a feeling of expansion and grandeur. It is a fusion of the modern and the ancient, and definitely instills a feeling of importance on the viewer.
