The British Museum: Home of British Culture
Copyright 2005 S Wander
London is a town filled with museums of all sorts: large and
small, gaudy and elegant, historical and just fun. Of them all,
though, the British Museum, located in the Bloomsbury district
of the borough of Camden, will always stand out as the grand old
mistress. Her exhibits outshine all the rest.
The British Museum celebrated its 250th birthday in 2003. It was
established by an act of Parliament in 1753, and based on the
collections of Sir Hans Sloan; Robert Harley, 1st earl of
Oxford; and Sir Robert Cotton. Montagu house, Great Russell
Street, was its first home, though the current building was
built on the same site between 1823 and 1852. It has been the
subject of several subsequent additions and alterations. The
Reading Room, quiet study of people such as Karl Marx, Virginia
Woollf, and Thomas Carlyle, was built in the 1850s.
But the British Museum caused a sensation in the early 1800s
when it dared display the Elgin Marbles. The Marbles were
actually ancient Greek carvings and friezes cut away from the
Parthenon at Athens and from other ancient buildings; they were
shipped to England by Thomas Bruce, 7th Lord Elgin, British
ambassador to the Ottoman Empire (1799-1803). This was
controversial; Lord Byron and other public figures reviled Elgin
for the theft of the marbles, while ladies fainted at the sight
of carved genitalia (later covered up with fig leafs). But after
an investigation by Parliament, it was concluded that Lord Elgin
probably had saved the Marbles from being destroyed through
neglect and malice. Though today the controversy over who owns
the Marbles continues, there is no doubt that Lord Elgin
probably did the world a true favor when he purchased the
Marbles.
Besides the Marbles, the British Museum houses the Rosetta
Stone, key to reading ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics; the Black
Obelisk from Calah and Ninevah; gold, silver, and shell work
from Ur; Sutton Hoo ship's treasure from the famous burial site;
and Chinese ceramics from the Ming dynasty. You can find items
here from every corner of the old British Empire, and from many
archaeological sites in England herself.
But the British Museum is much more than a repository for
ancient things. It's also one of the largest libraries in
Britain. Until about 1997, half of the National Library's
holdings were stored at the museum. The Reading Room has been
recently refurbished, with a new reference collection and state
of the art computer systems. You can visit the Great Court, a
two acre glass-domed hub of culture within the museum. Another
new edition, is the Ethnographic Galleries, collections on life
in Africa, Asia, and the Americas. And at last, if you just get
tired of the history and culture, you can visit the shops and
the restaurants inside the Museum.
If you visit the British Museum while in London, arrive early;
it's as large as many malls. Spend your first hour or two just
wandering in the halls and staring at everything. Later, focus
on the Egyptian, Mesopotamian, and Greek sections; they are the
homes of the by far most fascinating collections of the British
Museum. Huge winged lions that once guarded Assyrian palaces now
guard the gateways to these collections. In the Egyptian
section, you can find the Rosetta Stone as well as mummies and a
fantastic collection of treasures from Egyptian tombs. In the
Nimrud Gallery, you'll find royal propaganda reliefs (some
things never change in Iraq!) and wounded lions.
But the best section of all is the Greek section. Starting with
the most simple and primitive Cycladian fertility figures (the
little fat women with exaggerated female features), moving to
painted vases and ultimately to the great Elgin Marbles, the
Greek section really gives you a feel for the vast history that
belongs to Greece.
To properly appreciate the Elgin Marbles, be certain to read all
the orientation material available in the intro rooms between
rooms 7 and 8.
The Museum is open most days, but is least crowded on weekday
mornings. You can get a 90-minute guided tour every day (three
on Sunday, two per day in the winter) at a good price.