Overwhelming, awe-inspiring, amazing and just a bit entitled, the
British Museum houses artifacts from around the world. The museum was my top priority to visit in London. It's open from 10 am - 5:30 pm daily; and, with so many things to see, we tried to start out with a plan of action. But, seven and a half hours really isn't enough!
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| Rosetta Stone! |
First stop: the Rosetta Stone. Before this stone was discovered, the Europeans who visited Egyptian pyramids and brought back many artifacts, including papyrus writings, could not translate any of the hieroglyphics. The Rosetta Stone was carved in three languages, including Greek and hieroglyphics. It has been the basis for our understanding of hieroglyphics since the early 1800s.
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| Amenhotep III: head and arm |
Next, we walked through the amazing assortment of
Egyptian statues located on the first floor (Room 4). These take up three immense galleries along one side of the museum. The sculptures are large, in good shape and cover Old, Middle and New Kingdoms. Plus, there are several bas-relief wall sculptures, some even with vivid colors still painted on them. The head and arm in the photo belonged to what was originally a complete statue of Amenhotep III (New Kingdom).
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| Letters for Roman soldiers occupying Britain in he 1st century AD |
We took advantage of the
Roman Britain eye opener tour at 11:15 am (Room 49). Throughout this visit to Britain, I've been educated about Roman invasion and occupation (43-410 AD). During this tour, we saw Roman artifacts both Christian (a 4th century floor mosaic of Christ) and pre-Christian (various god and goddess statutes). Although, the most interesting part of the tour is something that wouldn't have even caught my eye walking through the gallery: letters from Roman soldiers written during the 1st century AD! The letters are faded and worn, written on tree bark. However, in the case, the letters are translated into English, bringing those soldiers occupying Britain 2000 years ago into our present.
After the tour, we wandered into the adjoining room and looked at artifacts from the Anglo-Saxon occupation of Britain (400-750 AD), the Picts ruling Scotland (400-850 AD) as well as the Viking invasions (750-1100 AD). One of the exhibits that I should have spent more time exploring were the artifacts of the
Anglo Saxon ship unearthed at Sutton Hoo. The ship was used as a burial in the 600s AD and was unearthed in 1939. The treasures inside are exquisite. I was distracted by information on my own ancestors, the Vikings. The British Museum has many more of the
Lewis chessmen on exhibit, as well as gold rings.
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| Bas relief of Assyrian lion hunt |
After a quick bite to eat, we walked back to the first floor and started the Rick Steves audio tour on the
Assyrian section of the museum (Rooms 6-10). The
winged, human headed lions guarding the entrance are impressive! They are originally from the palace of Nimrud (800s BC). In the next room, there panel after panel of
bas reliefs taken from the Nimrud palace. The detail is exquisite. The scenes are not all that palatable, as they show war and conquest. In the room of
bas reliefs taken from the palace of Ninevah (600s BC), there are panel after panel showing the king lion hunting. It was the king's duty to protect his people from such problems; and, he had the lions captured and brought to his arena for "hunting".
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| Nereid Monument |
We continued along the Rick Steves audio tour until we came to the
Nereid Monument, an entire tomb from Turkey, and then a
Parthenon sized room (Room 18) holding all of the friezes from the Parthenon itself (400s BC), including the pediments. The Greeks were masters of showing movement in the way that they carved their figures. The figures are also very lifelike, with human musculature and form. It is worth it to spend the time here to walk around all of the friezes and see the activities depicted.
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| Ginger, naturally mummified man from 3400 BC |
By now, it was time to head up for our 2:30 pm tour of
Ancient Egypt (Room 64). By now, the museum was packed! We were all wedged as close as we could be around the docent providing us the highlights of the room while simultaneously tourists flowed around and through our group to see what we were all staring at. The oldest Egyptian mummy at the British museum is called
Ginger (3400 BC). He was accidentally mummified and still has some ginger colored hair, hence his name. Another tomb was excavated during this same time frame. This was of a woman (not mummified); and, there was a simple yet striking
necklace found in it. The form struck me as so modern for being 5500 years old.
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| Book of the Dead |
After recharging with some tea and scones, we braved the crowds to meander among the
Egyptian mummies. It was very interesting to see all the different types, especially as the Greek began influencing; and, people's portraits began to be in the Greek style instead of the stylized Egyptian. The museum also had pages from the Egyptian
Book of the Dead. In a less crowded room were the painted murals from a tomb in
Nebamun.
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| Easter Island statue |
Running out of time, we breezed through the remaining rooms on our way back to the main hall. Just as we were exiting, an
Easter Island statue rose above us like a vanguard. A very fitting way to end our day in this museum of the world's artifacts.
Visiting notes:
The British Museum is
free and open to the public daily from 10-17:30 every day of the year except January 1, Good Friday and December 24-26. Plus open late on Fridays. Docents provide
free eye-opener tours, spotlight tours and gallery talks. Minimum highlights to visit are included in the British Museum's
1 hour highlights.
