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Two men chanced upon a trap door in a back room of a historic church near
San Francisco. They discovered 23 religious murals painted by Native Americans
more than 200 years ago. The murals record scenes from the Bible. Arthur
Anderson, an artist, and Eric Bush, a painter, had been to the church many times
before. But they were not aware of any trap doors in the building.
The only reason they discovered it was that Arthur dropped a coin onto the
floor while pulling a small knife out of his pants pocket. He heard the coin hit
the floor and roll. He started searching. A minute later, he found his dime.
“Gotcha!” he said proudly. But then he saw what looked like an unusual gap in
the floor board. With his knife, he began digging around the gap.
The floor board suddenly loosened. Arthur felt that he was onto something.
He removed the floor board and saw a rope handle attached to what looked like a
trap door. Eric helped Arthur remove four more floor boards. Then Arthur slid
open the trap door.
Beneath it was a hole in the ground about 15 feet long, 10 feet wide, and 2
feet deep. They shined a flashlight into the hole and saw the murals. They were
not wrapped, covered, or otherwise protected. Yet they were in wonderful
condition, according to Eric.
“God truly does work in mysterious ways,” said Arthur. The murals use only
the colors black, red, and yellow. The smallest are about 12 by 12 inches, and
the biggest are about 24 by 24 inches. Digital photographs were taken of all the
murals before they were loaded onto a truck.
All 23 murals, created about 1791, are now at the Museum of Native American
Art. They will be inspected, cleaned, archived, and examined by experts. They
will not be put on public display until early next year. Museum officials expect
a huge turnout when that day occurs. “This is truly rare,” said one official. “I
wonder how many more treasures are out there waiting for someone to drop a dime
on them.” |
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发表于 2016-7-10 09:21:07