Earth Civilization Museum
Names: Earth Civilization MuseumtombstoneEARTH CIVILIZATIONTomb complex on Plutocavernunderground tombstonegrand tombblack monoliththe museum
First appears in Book 3: Death's End, chapter 69 (Bunker Era, Year 68 Pluto)
Appearances
B1
B2
B3
What you know
Book 3: Death's End
- Ch 69It is really a tombstone for humankind, buried under Pluto's surface, built to last geologic eons, with human-unfriendly wheel-operated doors and wordless instructions.
- Ch 69Artifacts are stored in halls at the far end of the cavern; Luo Ji considers them less important than the structure itself.
- Ch 69Officially called a museum so as not to look pessimistic, it was begun alongside the Bunker Project.
- Ch 69Its walls are covered with dense carved text and reliefs, with each character about a square centimeter, to maximize longevity; storage capacity is under one-ten-thousandth of what was planned.
- Ch 69Its torch-shaped lamps glow for a hundred thousand years, and its doors should stay operable for five hundred thousand years.
- Ch 69Carvings begin with a man and woman, then hieroglyphs, cuneiform, the Classic of Poetry, Greek philosophy, and historical scenes such as Alexander's conquests; there is no Rosetta Stone.
- Ch 69Its three halls hold artifacts in labeled metal boxes; most last under fifty thousand years, and the builders see it as a tombstone, not a museum.
Connections
Key moments
- Book 3 · Ch 69Meeting Luo Ji in the museum
Halo lands on Pluto; Cheng Xin and AA enter the monolith and meet Luo Ji, who explains the museum is humanity's tombstone and its history.
- Book 3 · Ch 69Luo Ji reveals the stone-carving tomb
Luo Ji tells Cheng Xin and AA that experts found carving words in stone the only way to preserve information for a hundred million years, and shows them the carved walls and lamps.
- Book 3 · Ch 69Choosing artifacts
In the artifact hall, Cheng Xin and AA remove frames from oil paintings to carry more, including Starry Night. Luo Ji keeps the Mona Lisa for himself.