Museo Egizio (Torino, Italy)

許多義大利朋友在聽到我頂著博物館學碩士的‘光環’之際，總喜歡跟我提上幾座在義大利響有盛名的博物館，而位於杜林市（Torino）的埃及博物館（Museo Egizio）便名列其中。
When some Italian friends get to know that I've got a MA in museum studies, they always like to mention some famous museums in Italy. The Museo Egizio is very often mentioned.

知道這座博物館的存在，其實是從老公口中得知。這座博物館在十七世紀埃及文化考古挖掘盛行以來，便在考古學界享有盛名，因此義大利人如此地引以為傲，也就不足為奇。既然這麼有名，而我又因為從小看著日本漫畫長大，對埃及文化莫名地著迷，因此便在2003年到杜林市的時候，將這座博物館排入行程之中。
Michele is the first one to let me know the existence of this museum. It has been well-known since the 17th century, when activities of archaeological excavation were poular. So it doesn't surprise me that Italians are quite proud of it. For its fame and my own interests in Egytian culture, I made it a must-go when I visited Turin for the first time in 2003.

一進入博物館，便被其裝潢之老舊嚇了一跳，也許是我的既有的刻板印象，常常把名氣跟經費劃上等號，又習慣了英國幾座國立博物館的氣勢與規模，因此在初入館之際，心中便已經打了個很大的問號。
When I entered the museum, I was surprised by its out-dated and fusty atmosphere. Probably due to my stereotypic idea, I always put an equal sign on fame and operational expense. Also, I was probably too used to the scale of several national museums in UK. Therefore, when I stepped into the museum, there's a big question mark in my mind.

進入第一個展區，最先穿過的是一個由兩個弧形玻璃櫥窗圍成的區域，中央擺著整個展區的焦點展示 – 木乃伊。還記得小時後第一次到大英博物館的時候，應是擠進人潮之中，就是想要一賭木乃伊的‘丰采’；長大以後，幾經思考所謂生與死的議題，加上在博物館界對於展示人體的爭論不斷，我的態度也逐漸向反對一方移動；該日在博物館內再次看到木乃伊，實際上是一種震驚的感覺…人體被物化，毫無尊嚴可言地被展示在博物館中，頓時間一陣窒息感湧上心頭，讓我只能快速穿過，往同展區的其他部分走去，希望能藉此轉移注意力。概念上而言，這個展區的設計手法可以是整個博物館的引介，而館方也確實做到了這一點，以編年史的方式配合文物，讓參觀者能夠對博物館內涵括的年代有點概念，然而，展示的老舊卻顯露在零散的解說牌上，紙張因為維護不佳或年代久遠而起了皺折，或者整個解說版根本就掉到展示櫃下方，加上肉眼清晰可見的灰塵，只能說，也許館方真是人力不足，連基本的清潔維護都做不到。
Entering the first exhibition area, I immediately passed through an area surrounded by two semicircular exhibition cases. At the center of the area lies the focus of the whole exhibition area - a mummy. I still remember when I went to the British Museum for the first time, I tried so hard to get into the crowd, just to see the mummy that has been keeping me curious for very long time. Years passed by. When I got older, I started to think about issues related to life and death. Getting to know the dispute of exhibiting human remains in the museum context, my attitude changed from positive to negative, for respect of individual life. The visit to the Museo Egizio was the second time to see a mummy exhibited in the museum. My feeling? Well, honestly, it's quite a shocking feeling. Human body is materialized and exhibited in a museum without respect. I felt suffocated. I walked through with a fast pace, hoping to turn my attention to other exhibits in the same room. Concept wise, the first area acts as an introduction to the whole museum, and the exhibition actually achieves its purpose. The exhibition continues with a chronological order and gives visitors some idea about the time span that will be covered. However, the exhibtion is ill-maintained. Some exhibition panels scattered or fallen. Uneven paper due to humidity with faded color. Dust all around. It seems that they don't have enough staff and can not even keep the basic maintenance.

接下來的參觀簡直是一場災難。路線標示不明，找不到可供休憩的坐椅，照明設備損壞卻不更換，有時我們甚至走到了看起來像是緊急逃生門的地方，完全不知道應該如何繼續參觀，整個負面的觀感一再再地降低了我對這個館的評價。其中最讓我印象深刻的一點，大概是某一個擺滿了各種大理石石像的展區；我在入館之初購買了一本導覽手冊，上面在介紹該館歷史之際，附上了一張十九世紀時期的展場圖片，我拿起來比對了一番，幾乎並無兩樣。整個館可說是新舊並列，不過以我所熟悉的博物館實踐而言，新的展示也說不上什麼水準可言，而且整個館瀰漫著一種久未修繕的氣味，讓我只想拖著老公趕快走出去。
The following visit was like a disaster. The orientation inside the museum is pretty terrible, no place to sit down and take a rest, and no maintenance of illumination facility. There's one time that we arrived an area that looked like emergency exit and did not know how to continue our visit. All these things kept lowering my mood and impression. The thing that impressed me the most should be the exhibition hall dedicated to marble statues. I bought a museum guide when I entered. There're some basic and historical information about the museum, with a sketch of the exhibition hall in the 19th century. I took it for comparison... it's basically identical!! There're new exhibitions standing along side with old ones, though I don't think that the new ones were done with a basic standard. I couldn't really stand the atmosphere and I just wanted to leave.

以該館的狀況來看，其實簡單的語音導覽就可以明顯地提升觀眾的參觀品質。只是在詢問之後，館員表示目前並沒有這樣的計畫，甚至還建議我購買博物館的藏品目錄，認為我可以在目錄裡找到充分的資訊…博物館等於教科書？這個狀況，在義大利已經不是第一次遇到了…我承認我在去之前沒有做好功課，不過也是因為之前到其他博物館的參觀經驗，讓我以為總是能夠找到進入博物館內容的方式，我想，這次我大概真是錯了…
With the condition of the museum, a simple audioguide can largely improve the quality of the visitor experience. After I inquired the staff, I was told that there wasn't such plan in the near future, and she even recommended me to buy the catalogue of the museum, thinking that I'd be able to get the information I need inside the 8cm thick book. Is museum exhibition equal to textbook? It's not the first time that I had to face such situation. I admitted that I didn't do my "homework" before I went for the visit. But it's because all my visit experiences told me that I could alwats find a thread to enjoy my visit. However, I was totally wrong this time.

義大利有許多讓義大利人引以為傲的博物館，其中絕大部分都是因為館藏之精美，而非在展示上有什麼特出之處。然而，即使館藏再怎麼豐富，物件再怎麼珍貴，倘若參觀者無法透過展示而感受到其中的精隨奧義，或是在參觀以後並無法留下些什麼印象，也是枉然。
There're many museums in Italy that Italian are proud of. In many cases, it's due to the quality of the collection, but not the outstanding exhibition. However, no matter how high the quality of the collection is, how prescious the artefacrs are, if visitors can not feel and experience the beauty and essence within, or don't even leave any impression after the visit, somehow it still can not justify itself.

PS1.這是從前明日報的舊文轉貼。
PS2.年初到杜林市參加博物館會議時聽說，市政府砸了大把銀子改善該館展示，在2006年將以全新面貌呈現，說實在我還蠻期待的，畢竟以該館展品的重要性，還是要優良的展示才能襯托出其價值。拭目以待囉！