With Style
I would say I come by my fascination with art and artifacts quite naturally. Growing up in the Washington, D.C. metro area means I am very lucky to have easy access to one of the largest museum complexes in the nation, the Smithsonian. One of the greatest pleasures I afford myself is the time to visit these magnificent buildings that are filled with irreplaceable pieces of artwork and artifacts. Surprisingly, what led me down the road to writing Pharaoh’s Forgery, was only a short fifteen second segment on the evening news. What would have been hours of news coverage in South America, received only a small acknowledgement outside the museum circles here in North America.
On September 2, 2018, around seven-thirty in the evening, fire broke out at the Brazilian National Museum, in Rio de Janeiro. The museum, which opened in 1818, housed over two hundred million artifacts. The beautiful neoclassical São Cristóvão Palace, which sits upon a vast parkland in the northern part of the city, was built in 1803 for the Portuguese royal family. The building held as much important cultural significance to the city as the artifacts lost in the fire. It was a treasure-trove of human history.
