Harpy Tomb Corridor at Manchester Museum

Harpy Tomb Corridor at Manchester Museum

It is some time since I posted about the Harpy Tomb. I am now pleased to report that John and the technicians completed the installation last week. The in-fill panels representing the missing panels were placed in the sequence, and a line from Virgil about the harpies and some interpretation were put in position. Visitors can simply walk through the corridor and enjoy the plaster casts of the Harpy Tomb or they can sit and enjoy the atmosphere in the gallery. For those who want some information there is some text and a photograph of the monument as it is today (courtesy of Dr Jonathan Prag). I hasten to say that the original carved panels of the Harpy Tomb were moved to the British Museum from the site at Xanthos in the 19th century. The panels we show are plaster casts of these originals. Unfortunately we didn’t have a complete set  so we’ve made do with graphic panels. This isn’t  so much of a handicap in the corridor which connects the Coins and Medals Gallery with the third of the Ancient Worlds Galleries, where the idea is to encourage visitors to make their way through the space without necessarily lingering too long. Unfortunately the text interpretation hasn’t worked very well and we will now re-position it against the dark grey square in the middle of the panels which was the original entrance to the tomb.