Henry and I Enter the Mouseion

“We sh-sh-should’a brought a l-ladder!” Henry murmured.

“Wow.” This was awe, pure and simple.

Henry and I had decided to spend a day touring the famous center of learning in the City of Ladies, but we had not been prepared for the reality that stood before us. Our first glimpse as we’d turned the corner from Avenue Palazio to Museum Way seemed to indicate it was very close and yet we’d walked at least three or four blocks before arriving at the sweeping stone steps fronting the enormous sandstone building that was the entrance to a whole series of museums, courtyards, gardens and libraries.

The arched and sculpted bronze doors to the Lemurian Mouseion soared nearly twenty feet high. My first thought was disbelief at what we were seeing. Who could have had the artistic and engineering know-how to produce such massive metal doors? How could they have been hung?

“Legend says the doors grow in size as new knowledge and art are accumulated,” I said. Henry’s remark about the ladder was apt, but I was wishing for a bench where we could sit and study the intricate panels. I gauged the majority to be two feet square and, these, like pages in a book, hinted at the art exhibits inside. Architectural panels were tall and narrow and honored buildings easily recognized from around the world: churches like Chartre and Notre Dame, landmarks like the Empire State Building and the Eiffel Tower, even a replica of the Mouseion itself. Others were unknown to me. Every six feet or so long landscape panels divided the doors horizontally. Stepping back in order to see above my head, I saw the New York skyline and on the opposite door, Sidney Harbor and its sailing ship Opera House.

I probably would have stayed there for an hour or more trying to identify all the sculpted scenes when Henry asked, “H-h-h-how do we get inside?”

Too engrossed to have even pondered this obvious question, I blinked stupidly and admitted, “I have no idea.” I couldn’t imagine doors of this size and obvious weight swinging either in or out.

To my surprise Henry began laughing. “G-g-g-got it,” he said as his fingers searched the Mouseion in miniature. With barely a sound, the heavy doors eased inward as gently as a curtain blowing in the breeze.

There before us loomed a city within a city, with tree-lined streets, stone and wooden buildings and charming little shops.

To be continued.