From Ancient to Modern: 26 Bizarre and Cool Masks (27 photos)

Masks have been an integral part of human culture for thousands of years. As early as 9,000 years ago, our ancestors, having moved from a hunting and gathering lifestyle to a sedentary one, began to create the first religious rituals, an integral element of which were masks. And then - more.





Today we invite you to look at 26 different masks, cool and unusual, used for utilitarian purposes or for decoration. And each of them keeps a piece of its time, its era.

1. Turkish officer wearing gas mask during aerial training. World War II, Istanbul, Turkey, 1939



2. Kennedy with daughter Caroline wearing Kennedy mask, 1962



3. Koskimo Indian wearing fur suit, large gloves and Hami mask during traditional ceremony. USA, 1910



4. "The Twilight Zone", episode "Masks", 1964



5. Protective mask of British tankers during the First World War, 1918. It was designed to protect the gunner's face from shrapnel



6. During World War II, Disney produced children's gas masks in the shape of Mickey Mouse's head



7. An Arab woman wearing a traditional face mask in Muscat, Oman, 1905 year



8. Anthony Hopkins tries on a mask for The Silence of the Lambs, 1991



9. Hollywood makeup artist Max Factor Jr. created this bizarre ice mask in the 1940s. It was designed to reduce facial swelling



10. 9,000-year-old Neolithic spirit masks are the oldest masks in the world



11. The Isolator mask, designed to help a person concentrate. 1925



12. At a wildlife center, staff don a fox mask to care for an orphaned fox cub



13. The death mask of William Shakespeare. Found in 1842 by a junk dealer in Darmstadt, Germany. Dating back to 1616



14. A policeman wearing a protective mask during the smog in London, 1952



15. Tsam mask dance in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, 1925 year



16. Belgian iron "mask of shame" (Scold's bridle). Such constructions were used for public humiliation and punishment of nagging wives and women who were rude to someone. 1500s



17. Mask worn by sex predator Edward Paisnel, aka the "Beast of Jersey"



Paisnel terrorized the island of Jersey in the English Channel from 1957 to 1971. He entered houses at night, wearing a rubber mask and bracelets with nails, and attacked women and children.

18. Anna Coleman Ladd created prosthetic masks for men with disfigured faces after World War I



19. Navajo man wearing ceremonial mask and Nayenegani dress, 1904



20. Radiation masks designed to protect children with cancer undergoing chemotherapy



21. Italian soldiers in gas masks, 1916



22. Faceless schoolchildren masks from the Pink Floyd film "The Wall"



23. Champagne Inspector and Her Protective Mask, 1916



24. Asaro Mudmen wearing ceremonial clay masks, Papua New Guinea



25. "Paper Mask". Work by the famous glossy magazine photographer Irving Penn



26. Mask from the Chinese Qing Dynasty