[fusion_text]By Sierra Rosenzweig

The next stop on our ONE-MA³ Journey through Italy was Turin! On our first day in Turin, we didn’t focus on Italian architecture or scanning mosaics, rather we focused on a different culture – Egyptian. We traveled to the Museo Egizo, an archaeological museum that specializes in Egyptian art and culture, and had the opportunity to meet and hear a lecture on restoration processes from the museum’s director before heading into the museum.

The ONE-MA³ group listening to a lecture about the restoration process at the Museo Egizo

In the Museo Egizo, we had virtual tour guides that led us through the museum and reported various facts to us. We spent hours walking through the halls, looking at every sarcophagus and scroll. We got to see mummies, hieroglyphics, and even massive statues that the Egyptians had once created.

Chad, Diana, and Alicia listening to their virtual narrator on the tour of the museum

We noticed a lot of differences between the Egyptian figures and the ones that we had seen in Rome. As a group, we discussed the different techniques and pigments the Egyptians used in their art and architecture.

The Museo Egizo was a refreshing change in style that revealed new methods of creation for all of us!

Me lying down next to a mummy to reference of how tall the person once was – not far from 5’2″

This summer, Professor Admir Masic is leading a program on Materials in Art, Archaeology and Architecture (ONE-MA³), in which MIT undergraduates are conducting three weeks of fieldwork in Privernum, Pompeii and Turin as a prerequisite for the Fall 2017 MIT course, 1.057 Heritage Science and Technology.  The program involves real-world analysis of ancient infrastructures and materials and focus on teaching ways to improve sustainability of the future through the study of ancient successes. [/fusion_text]