Smithsonian Institution

That's correct, Kathleen. Thanks for the info!

Hi Jeremiah. Egyptian artifacts can be found at two Smithsonian museums... Περισσότερα—the National Museum of Natural History and the Freer Gallery of Art.

There are more than 2,500 cultural artifacts on display in Natural History’s Hall of Western Cultures, including one human mummy from the Ptolemaic period of Egypt (332-30 BC), canopic jars, death masks, sarcophagi and more ancient Egyptian artifacts. You can see a panorama of the Hall at http://www.mnh.si.edu/panoramas/htmlVersion/index.html.

At the Freer Gallery of Art, there is an exhibition of Egyptian art collected by Charles Lang Freer between 1906 and 1909. Read more about the exhibition here: http://www.asia.si.edu/exhibitions/current/smallGlass.htm.

Katharena, Amanda and Clair--We apologize for the short notice. There is always so much information coming out of the Institution (with its 19 museums, research centers, and the Zoo!) as well from our business partners (the Smithsonian Channel, Magazine, etc.) that is sometimes difficult to balance keeping you informed with making sure we don't ... Περισσότεραspam your Facebook feeds. Our friends at the magazine asked us to help them on their final push for entries for the contest which was previously being promoted on other Web sites. If you are interested in receiving more frequent news about the Smithsonian and all our museums and programs, please consider following one of our dozens of Twitter accounts (http://www.si.edu/Twitter/default.htm) or other Fan pages (located in our Favorite Pages section on this page)

Hello Jill. Yes Stradivari did make violas, but only very few, compared to the hundreds of violins and nearly 80 cellos. There are only 12 or 13 violas that survive. Some, like some violins and some cellos, are probably lost, but the simple explanation is that during Stradivari... Περισσότερα’s lifetime, the viola did not play a prominent role in either solo or chamber music. (The string quartet, with 2 violins, viola, and cello, had not yet been invented as a musical form.) Our Strad viola is rather large (nearly 18” size), and was originally even larger, but was cut down at some point in its life to make it easier to handle. Its sound is very beautiful indeed!