Yesterday I took some friends for a 2 hour tour of the British Museum. With so many artefacts and exhibits on display it's sometimes difficult to choose what to focus on, so I did a kind of Highlights Tour visiting various galleries and exploring different periods, cultures and beliefs. Here's an overview:
We met up outside the South entrance to the Museum, which is in Great Russell Street, where I did a short history of the building and focussed on the statues in the pediment above the main door. The statues represent The Progress of Civilisation with man emerging from a rock as an ignorant being and developing into educated man by expanding knowledge and understanding.
Having entered we gathered in the Great Court, the largest covered space in Europe I'm told, for an introduction to the collection, how it came about and developed into one of the largest and most comprehensive in the world; then we were off:
The Rosetta Stone was the first item - arguably the most well known and, judging by the numbers of visitors that gather around it daily, one of the most popular. Well justified given its role in finally being able to decipher Egyptian Hieroglyphs after 1400 years!
Next we visited Mesopotamia in the 8th & 7th C BC and the 2nd Assyrian Empire. Taking in the gigantic Winged Bulls of Khorsabad, which are amongst the largest and heaviest exhibits in the collection, we arrive at the stunning Lion Hunt Reliefs from the palace at Nineveh. Such fine detail and realism - imagine what they would have looked like when new and brightly painted.
The Parthanon Sculptures followed - so Ancient Greece and the Acropolis. The Parthanon, or Temple to the Goddess Athena Parthanos, was built in just 15 years (447-432 BC) and still sets the standard.
There are three kinds of sculpture: a low relief frieze depicting scenes from a great procession; the metopes with high relief sculptures of a mythical battle (picture); and full statues from the pediments at each end of the building. Even though these marble sculptures are damaged and/or defaced all agreed they are nonetheless dignified and beautiful.
We then travelled to another Continent - the Indus Valley and the discovery of an ancient civilisation of the 3rd Millennium BC about which nothing was known until some tiny seals, probably used for trade, were found. Subsequent archaeological exploration uncovered the remains of entire cities capable of sustaining populations of 30,000 to 35,000 people!
Why these cities were abandoned isn't clear, a shift in the course of the river, climatic change or perhaps a natural disaster, but large numbers of people appear to have been on the move. There seems to have followed a cultural merging and mixing of language and beliefs that perhaps gave birth to Hinduism. We looked at artefacts and exhibits representing some of the Hindu Gods, e.g. Shiva, Parvati & Vishnu, and the stories and legends associated with them.
Ancient Egypt - Land of the Pharohs, the Pyramids, Tombs and Mummies - was next. A brief look at pre-dynastic burials, the belief in an After-Life and the need to preserve the body; leading to a description of the process of mummification before we looked around the many fascinating items in these galleries.
Finally we looked at some Treasure; three Treasures actually, beginning with the unique Mold Gold Cape. Discovered by chance and painstakingly reconstructed, this superbly decorated, breathtakingly thin solid gold adornment which dates from the Bronze Age is witness to the skills and craftsmanship of the people of that age.
The Mildenhall Treasure - 56lbs (25kgs) of solid silver tableware dating back to Roman occupied Britain of 4th C AD with a mix of Pagan and Christian symbolism reflecting the changes in belief occurring at the time.
We ended the tour at the exhibition of the Treasures from The Sutton Hoo Burial Ship - one of the most important finds in British archaeology. Stunning! Gold & Garnet fittings from a sword belt, a shield, belt buckle, shoulder clasps and purse lid; silver bowls, spoons & platter; weapons, drinking horns, even a musical instrument. Then there's the warrior helmet ... wow!
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