The British Museum

I had to get out of the hotel room Saturday afternoon while Linnea was doing her online assessment. Luckily our hotel was situated not very far from the British Museum!
I really enjoyed spotting this plaque in the neighbourhood, as I do talk about Sir Hans Sloane every now and then during my tours, when I talk about the creation of museums. He was the one who, upon his death in back in 1753, bequeathed his collection of over 71,000 objects to the nation. This became the founding collection of the British Museum.

The British Museum of course is HUGE, and I only had a few hours to myself. So I chose carefully which artworks to go and have a closer look at; and then I speed-walked through the rest of the space to see it "all", ha ha!

The architecture of the British Museum is (almost!) as beautiful as at the Louvre Abu Dhabi. That covered indoor court is really something else, indeed the largest covered indoor court in Europe. It is designed by Normal Foster & Partners, the same architect firm that has created the Sheikh Zayed National Museum in Abu Dhabi.

I have to admit, I spent quite a lot of my allocated time in the souvenir shop, always do when visiting museums. Here they had an incredibly huge and impressive selection of books and beautiful items... aaahh!

The British Museum was the first national public museum in the world. It was first housed in a 17th century mansion, but the building has expanded vastly over time. Now, there are over 70 galleries to visit!

The museum's holdings now comprise over eight million objects, oaw!

First things first, the Rosetta stone of course, maybe the most well-known and popular artefact in the museum. The importance of this stone to Egyptology is immense, as it holds the key to the decipherment of hieroglyphs.
The inscription, a decree passed by a council of priests, is inscribed on the stone three times. First in hieroglyphic, suitable for a priestly decree; then in Demotic, an Egyptian script used for non-religious texts; finally in Greek, the language of administration.

I also prioritised to scurry downstairs to the Africa Galleries, where I got met at the entrance by an artist I now know very well - El Anatsui. How cool! Here he opens the exhibition, and at the Louvre Abu Dhabi at the moment he closes our Kings & Queens of Africa exhibition.

Lots of artworks here that similar to the ones we present in our museum. Got inspired and fueled with more information to use during my tours of the Kings & Queens.

The British Museum has free entrance, and this was on a weekend, during school holidays... so it was crowded. We are not used to crowds like this in our museum, only on certain days of the year, as Museum Day, or Free Entrance Day..!
So much walking, so many people, so much to see, I quickly got completely overwhelmed.

Having visited Athens 5 years ago, and the Parthenon Museum, I was keen to see the Parthenon friezes.

The very famous Moai Hava statue:

Look at that happy face! Happy face in happy place!

I decided to get the smaller guide book and follow their quickest itinerary. I think they called it "Must see"- or "Highlight"-objects. I am hoping I will be back many more times, but for now, I wanted to get just an overview.

The Holy Thorn Reliquary, France, before 1397. This was made to house a relic of the Crown of Thorns, placed on the head of Jesus at his crucifixion:

The Rosetta Vase, Grayson Perry, 2011. This contemporary piece was made to show the museum as a place of pilgrimage where cultures and ideas meet.

The Lewis Chessmen, probably made in Norway, 1150-1200 but named after the place in Scotland where they were found. They provide a fascinating insight to the international connections of Scotland at this time, and also the growing popularity of the game of chess in medieval times.

I also spent quite a bit of time in the Middle East galleries:

The oldest known sculpture of a couple making love!

This small sculpture is about 11000 years old, probably from Palestine.

The Meroë head, head of Augustus, Sudan, about 27-25 BCE.

The Portland Vase, Italy, 5-25. One of the most famous cameo-glass vessels from Antiquity.

I have hundreds of more photos, but I think this is enough for this post. Even though my visit was short, I really enjoyed this space, and am hoping to come back again next time I'm in London to explore more!