Chapter 467: The Shadow of Death (Part 1)

Except for a few months in 1972, the British Museum has been open to the public for free, and the reason for charging during that period is because of the exhibition with Tutankhamun and his amazing treasures, which is the largest audience in the history of the British Museum. exhibition.

After the return of Hong Kong, Sino-British relations tended to ease, and cultural exchanges between China and Britain increased. At present, the British Museum and the Shaanxi Museum are planning the exhibition of Terracotta Warriors and Horses of Qin Shihuang.

When entering the museum, there are volunteers doing surveys, how much interest do you have in the exhibition under preparation.

Compared with stones, ordinary people are more interested in gold. The reason why Tutankhamun is attractive is that it is the most complete Egyptian pharaoh's tomb discovered so far, and the tomb robber has never visited it. In the tomb, there are not only luxurious gems, golden statues, but also daily necessities such as chariots, pens and inks, and plant seeds, which fully present the pharaoh’s court life in front of the audience.

In addition to the gold that dazzles people's eyes, the curse of Tutankhamun and his golden mask also attracted many people.

Europeans have always been very curious about oriental civilization, among which the plunder of Egypt is the most unprecedented. The largest exhibition hall in the British Museum is the Egyptian Museum.

In 1922, British archaeologists finally found the entrance to Tutankhamun's tomb. The next year they found the tomb passage and entered the tomb chamber, where they discovered Tutankhamun's extremely luxurious coffin.

It was also here that Carnarvon, the scholar who presided over this "archeology", discovered a clay plaque, and the words on the plaque were translated a few days later: "Whoever disturbs the peace of this Pharaoh, the 'Death Wing' will Let it fall on his head." Since then, the curse of Tutankhamun seems to have spread from the ancient shadows, and almost all those who dared to enter the pharaoh's tomb have responded to the curse for decades, and died one after another in strange ways.

The first victim was Carnarvon. When he entered the pharaoh’s tomb, he was stung by something on the left cheek. The wound swelled and the pain was unbearable. A few days later, Carnarvon was admitted to a hospital in Cairo, but His condition continued to deteriorate. One morning, the nurse on duty suddenly heard him shouting loudly: "I'm done! I'm done! I've heard the call..."

At this moment, the power suddenly cut off. Five minutes later, when the lights came back on, people rushed to Carnarvon's bed, only to see his eyes widened in horror, his mouth half-opened, and he had already passed away.

X-rays later revealed that Tutankhamun also had a scar on his left cheek that was exactly the same shape, size and location as the lump on Carnarvon's left cheek. And the strange deaths also began from then on. At the beginning, the nurse in Cairo who had nursed Carnarvon died suddenly, and the cause of death was unknown. Then it was Professor Reed who performed X-ray vision on Tutankhamun. After finishing the photo, he suddenly developed a high fever and died soon after he fled back to London.

Carnarvon's assistants, as well as scholars and experts who participated in the excavation and investigation died mysteriously. Even an American who accompanied Carnarvon to visit Tutankhamun's tomb died of a high fever the next day after the visit. .

A rich man in South Africa fell from his yacht into the calm Nile River halfway after visiting the mausoleum and drowned. In just 6 years, more than 20 people died inexplicably. People call this series of tragedies "the curse of Tutankhamun". .

The excitement of gold, pharaoh, curse, and death made Muggles line up to visit the exhibition regardless of life and death, as if they wanted to test their luck and see if they would be cursed by the pharaoh.

Pomona and the Evans family did not join in the fun. Lily is a witch. Although she is not an adult, the fireplace in her house can be temporarily connected to the Floo network. The communal hearth back to Cokeworth would have been Pomona's best summer vacation if Severus hadn't suddenly come home from the Slughorn's house.

The British Museum has encountered serious financial problems. People are only in the mood to travel in peacetime. After the 9/11 incident, the British tourism industry has experienced a decline. European and American governments are generally reducing financial support for museums. Many museums have to lay off staff and cut costs.

Government subsidies have been reduced, and the British Museum's policy of continuing to waive tickets has become difficult to maintain, and some showcases are not even equipped with anti-theft systems.

A 2,500-year-old Greek sculpture was stolen in 2002 because security staff were cut short and thieves took advantage of it. The original director of the museum took the blame and resigned. The new director spent 135 million pounds to restore the central exhibition area, added a glass roof, and transformed the original open-air inner courtyard into a public space in the world. The middle building has restaurants, The exhibition hall for temporary exhibitions and the staircase leading to the original building are full of modern style.

The money is mainly obtained from donations. Every visitor to the British Museum has to pass through a donation box. The bulletin board says "If you can, donate even £3." A museum has actually been reduced to the streets of Kuaihe Entertainer is the same.

Inflation has caused 28 of the 100 exhibition halls to be closed frequently. The opening time is also after 10:00 in the morning and closes at 5:30 in the afternoon. Only Friday is extended to 8:30 in the evening.

There are not many adults visiting the museum on weekdays, and the main visitors to the museum are teachers and children in school uniforms.

The unrenovated parts of the exhibition hall look very old. After all, this building that houses cultural relics is about to become a cultural relic. However, after the unremitting efforts of the new curator, politicians have changed their views on the British Museum. In some places, the buildings , showcases and lighting equipment are still very modern.

The floor of the museum is covered with wooden floors, which creak a bit when walking on it. The core building area still maintains the ancient Greek-style stone walls, giving people a depressing and heavy feeling.

It made Pomona feel like a kid who was trying to be cute but was really annoying. On the surface, he is very well-behaved and obedient, but in fact he does not have the innocence of a child, which seems very uncoordinated.

Some people have a wrong understanding of multiculturalism. It is not like robbers and thieves who put cultural relics from other countries in their houses, that is civilization.

The Muggle government has always wanted to show its open, multicultural side, which is not the case. More citizens did not feel ashamed when they mentioned the history of the British Empire’s colonization, but felt proud and nostalgic, and did not realize the mistakes they had made.

In the 18th century, because of the colonial imperialism of the Muggle government, the relationship between Britain and all European countries was not good. In the 19th century, the failed foreign policy of "no permanent enemies, only permanent interests" caused "glorious isolation", etc. Glory is gone, and "isolation" remains. In order to get rid of "isolation" and move towards an alliance, Muggle politicians formed an alliance with Germany, and only made concessions with the United States of America to form an alliance after being ruthlessly rejected.

Queen Catherine II of Russia once said, "Rather than allow America to be independent like George III of England, I would shoot myself in the head."

Britain's land area is small, and its population is not large, and its overseas colonies are so scattered that it needs a huge fleet to maintain, but the fleet's expenditure is amazing. Besides, with the large amount of silver obtained by the East India Company from the East, the cotton in the Americas is not enough. Attractive.

China's demand for opium is very high, because it is a "fushou cream" that can only be used by the rich. In addition, the royal family and nobles themselves took the lead in smoking opium. When the whole people followed suit, this "luxury" began to spread. China spread.

The Qing Dynasty had always banned the import of opium, but the East India Company smuggled opium from Bangladesh to Guangzhou and other places in China through trade intermediaries. Even if the imperial court imposed the death penalty on the opium smugglers and sent the imperial envoy Lin Zexu to ban smoking, there was still no way to stop this kind of greed. In the end, Britain used this to trigger the Opium War. Before the formal Nanjing Treaty was signed, the Qing Dynasty was unwilling to legalize the opium trade, and only agreed to cede Hong Kong, which was forcibly added by Palmerston's "genius" Irish Cupid.

Wizards also have nationality. Muggle diplomacy has affected the relationship between the wizarding world. Artemisia Lufkin, the first female minister of magic in the UK, was from Hufflepuff College. lobbied, and finally succeeded in getting Britain to host a Quidditch World Cup during her tenure.

Regarding her "efforts", several wizards of the old Wizengamot chose to withdraw in protest. First, because she was a woman. Second, she was too weak and did not conform to the usual style of the British Empire. Her portrait It wasn't until the 1990s that it appeared on the chocolate frog card, and Pomona specifically asked every prefect to mention her when addressing new students.

Do the right thing because it is right, Pomona thinks a Mrs. Hufflepuff should have that spirit, and Artemisia should be remembered.

In the movie the day after tomorrow, Sam and the others went to the museum to see that a mammoth froze to death while eating. That episode gave her a very deep impression. After the security check, she did not visit the ancient treasures that were robbed, but Heading straight to the Natural History Museum, she wanted to see if the British Museum had a frozen mammoth like the one in New York.

If one day the great changes shown in the day after tomorrow come, refugees may flood into the third world countries like in the movie, and Britain and the United States continue to be so annoying, will those countries accept them?

Whether to live or die, it is time to be sober when facing the issue of life and death.

She wished she wasn't the only one sober.