My friend Glen had the day off today and suggested that we drive to nearby San Jose (yes, we know the way) and check out a museum there called the Rosicrucian Egyptian Museum and Planetarium.
I don’t know much about the Rosicrucian Order, but I love everything about Ancient Egypt. I’ve been fascinated by mummies and Egyptian artifacts since I saw the touring King Tut exhibit back in the 1970s.
Here’s what the museum’s Web site has to say:
The Egyptian Museum at Rosicrucian Park has been a fixture of San José life for so long that it is difficult to conceive of a time without it. Hundreds of thousands of residents and visitors to Northern California have experienced “history coming alive” through the exhibits, tours, lectures and other activities at the Museum. How did this landmark come to be here in the Valley first known for citrus and prunes, and now famous for silicon chips?
From the beginning of the work of the Rosicrucian Order, AMORC in the 20th century, Egypt loomed large. From 1915 to 1927, at the Order’s early headquarters in New York City, San Francisco and Tampa Dr. Lewis, the first Imperator of AMORC began to collect artifacts from “the Orient,” through the generosity of members.
In 1921, Dr. Lewis urged Order members to support the excavations of the Egypt Explorations Society of Boston in Tell el Amarna, the city of the King Akhenaten and as a result garnered significant funds for the project.
In gratitude, the Egypt Explorations Society donated several artifacts from their finds. After the Order’s headquarters settled in its present San Jose location, Dr. Lewis conceived of a public collection, “The Rosicrucian Egyptian Oriental Museum” in 1928.
It is an interesting place. There are several authentic artifacts and many reproductions of important museum pieces from around the world.
There are 78 photos in my Flickr set:
Isn't that the greatest place? Took my daughter there, years ago, for a school project, and I was so impressed....the only one better for this particular subject is in Chicago!!!
I took a class there during my student teaching. It is kind of an amazing treasure plopped down in San Jose. The Rosicrucian order is rather interesting. The numbers of members are dwindling because the reign of the order is "above" or "out" for a certain number of years. Afterward, they kind of go underground or awhile. It is all very mysterious.