The Metropolitan Museum of Art #metkids q&a
Supported by Bloomberg Philantrophies
Can We Talk About the "Mixed-up Files" and The Met? Abby, age 10
Inspired by From the Mixed-up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler.
Written and illustrated by E.L Konigsburg
(Abby) Claudia knew that she could never pull off the old fashion kind
of running away.
That is running away in the heat of anger with a knapsack on her back.
She didn't like discomfort, therefore, she decided that leaving
her home would not be just running from some place.
But would be running to somewhere.
(Abby) To a large place, a comfortable place, an indoor place and preferably
a beautiful place and that's why she decided upon
The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City.
Hi I'm Abby and I'm ten years old.
I'm Alice Schwarz, I'm a museum educator here at The Met.
Well, I first read the book in third or fourth grade,
(Abby) and I really liked it because there were kids my age
running away to a museum and would never imagine doing that
(Abby) and I think it's a book about bravery and how they were so brave
to run away to a place that they've never went before.
When did you first read this book?
I read the book first when I was ten years old,
(Alice) I just started fifth grade here in New York City.
And I used to come to The Met all the time as a kid
And now I've been working here for 31 years.
So it's like second home to me.
(Alice) I remember when I read this at ten, I completely got lost
in the story.
I almost felt like I was travelling through the museum
with Jamie and Claudia and that's what you can do here
at the museum live.
(Alice) You can get lost, literally walking through the galleries
and kind of learning things as you go.
(Alice) These are all the english rooms, you can see a dining room over there.
All of those sort of the flowers inside, right? All of that we made
but it's based on ancient Greek architecture.
This is all the book of the dead.
So Abby, if you ran away and came to spend a week at The Met.
Who would you bring?
I really don't know, I would probably bring my brother
because he would not be going around touching everything
like my other sisters and I feel like he could keep a secret.
I'm very organised so I can read maps and follow directions.
(Alice) He's very good at building things, so if something would break,
he would know how to put it back together.
Perfect..
Do you know some places that are true or not true in the book?
Well pretty much everything that Mrs Basil E. Frankweiler talks about
in the book, we have something here at the museum that is very similar to it.
(Abby) The bed had a tall canopy supported by an ornately carved headboard
at one end and by two gigantic post at the other.
Claudia looked as satisfied as the brown statue of the Egyptian cat,
she was standing near.
And then look at the tiny whiskers at the front.
(Abby) Woa. Yeah. There's eagles, there's a goat, I think?
Were they originally painted blue?
(Alice) Yes, it's something called faience, do you see the columns there?
Those are the columns, so everything you see here
with a fountain in the middle, that used to be one long fountain.
Do they turn off the fountains at night?
That's a very good question.
I don't know.
They do!
Once a week, for cleaning
(Abby) Claudia hid the violin case in a sarcophagus that had no lid.
It was a beautifully carved roman marble sarcophagus.
- It's just like that right? - Yeah.
So this is real.
This is a Roman sarcophagus, a couple of thousands of years old
and if you look, do you see the main guy in the centre on the back
of the back of the panther?
That is Bacchus.
And then as you look, going from the left to the right, there are other figures
holding objects that represent the four seasons.
Do you remember what a sarcophagus is?
- It's a coffin. - It's a coffin.
- At the kid, look at their little toes. - I know they're so cute.
They are cute.
If I can make a wish in the fountain, I would probably wish for good things
to happen to my family and probably to visit the museum again
because this is a very beautiful place and I really like it.
I like that wish.
(both laughs.)
what's your #metkids question?