The British Museum

It was a rainy day, so Tony and I did what we do occassionally, and headed off to a museum. This time, not just any museum. We went to The British Museum, which Rick Steve's aptly describes as The History of Western Civilization. We used his guide to take us through this massive collection.






It certainly is a tribute to the great empire that was Britain at its height in power and world influence, stretching throughout Europe and the Middle East.





One of the greatest collections of artifacts in the world. As I walked through the museum, the famous words of Indiana Jones echoed through my head, "It belongs in a museum". And that's how the loot of the world ended up here.








From the Rosetta Stone, to the heads of Egyptian statues, they've all ended up here. There's a room dedicated to all the statuary that was brought back to England from the Acropolis in Greece.




Of course to the credit of the English, they have protected and preserved a lot of the world's history that might have been lost by "lesser" cultures. nudge, nudge. Recently, half of the Acropolis's treasures have been returned to Greece, and are now on display in a museum there.




Being a fan of mummies, their collection was of interest to me. I've never seen so many amazing mummies before. Just Awesome.











I learned that the Egyptians were still mummifying people as late as the Roman empire. It makes sence, but I guess I always thought that they stopped doing that much earlier. This is evident by the roman style artwork emblazoned on the outside of the mummies.



They even had these fantastic animal mummies. I guess the Egyptians loved their pets too.















This is the finest collection of Egyptian artifacts outside of Egypt. Certainly the inspiration for many a "Mummy terrorizing London" film.




There was a section of the museum showing off some of the most amazing mosaics that the British had saved from different parts of the Mediterranean. I don't tend to be that fascinated with mosaic artwork, but these really were spectacular. I had to wonder of what greek or roman home or business these had once been part.



From Egypt, we wandered over to the Assyrian section to see the great gates that had once adorned the city of Nimrud. It was impressive to imagine that all these winged sculptures had once been part of a massive exotic city, and now they are all here in London.






It's hard not to think of it as stealing from the rest of the world in the name of God and Queen, but this collection is amazing, and fantastic to see.











From Assyria, we journeyed across the hallway to ancient Greece.


There was the most amazing collection of Grecian pottery that I have ever seen. I never thought myself to like this style of pottery that much until I saw it. Having had a father who was a ceramicist, I can really appreciate all the work that went into painting these vessels. Truly magnificent.





When moving individual pieces of art wouldn't do, the British moved entire buildings, or what remained of them. It was particularly impressive to see how much of the Acropolis is here in London.





It almost makes going to see the real thing unnecessary. Almost. . .







The British Museum has half of the entire frieze from the Parthenon. They did return the other half recently to Greece. It was impressive to see it one way or the other however, and it does look well preserved here.






There's obviously a fine line between theft and preservation with any museum.