I've been a fan of the Egypt exhibition at the Field Museum in Chicago since it opened in the late 1980s. I was especially drawn to the tiny dioramas that depict the elaborate mummification shops of Egypt's Middle Kingdom. In four sides of the display, you can peer into small, highly detailed scenes. There are memorable tableaus like the extraction of guts, the salting and draining of corpses, the carving of coffins, and the wrapping of bodies in linen strips. The human figures are barely a few inches tall, but the viewing experience is highly immersive nonetheless. I visited recently, and these mummies in miniature still prove that compelling theatrical immersion need not be large scale to be engaging. Guests are certainly drawn-in and are very captivated.

The popularity of this display, and other mini-immersive exhibitions like it I've seen, prove to me that the fine art of the miniature diorama is one that should not be wrapped up and laid to rest.