“I viewed the morning, with much alarm/The British Museum, had lost its charm”
I don’t think it’s possible for the British Museum to lose its charm, but this song goes through my head every time I walk by. I visited there on my very first visit to London in 2006 and was simply mesmerized. I went back again last week and had a similar experience. The sheer volume of artifacts from all over the world and throughout history in one place is overwhelming. And it’s free to visit. Enjoy the following images from my latest visit.
The exterior of the British MuseumThe Great Court
This rather awful picture shows the Rosetta Stone, perhaps the most famous in the Museum’s collection. Its discovery in 1799 allowed scholars to map hieroglyphs to Greek and understand their meaning for the first time
One of the Easter Island statues, Hoa Hakananai’a, from 1400.Assyrian statues from the city of NinevahDetail of a relief, also from Ninevah.Greek vasePhilosopher Row (L-R): Sokrates, Anisthenes, Chrysippos, & Epikouros. Roman copies of the lost Greek originals from the 300-200s BCDemeter statue, 350-330 BCSutton Hoo helmet – one of only four surviving helmets from Anglo-Saxon England. Sutton Hoo was a 7th century AD shipwreck recently uncovered that tells us a great deal about Anglo-Saxon lifeDrinking horns, also from the Sutton Hoo find. Each horn holds 2 litres.Porcelain seated figure in the Sino-Tibetan style of a Bodhisattva, Qing dynasty, late 18-19th century ADJade belt buckle from Ming dynasty between 14-17th centuriesThree of the 78 Lewis Chessmen. These medieval walrus ivory chess pieces were found in Western Scotland in 1831. Half of them were painted red instead of the black we use today.Cartier ruby and diamond necklace, 1956Page from Korean Sketches, compiled by James S. GaleEnamelled glass wine cups from the Forbidden City, Beijing, AD 1736-95
Midwest Magellan 