I’ve now made two trips to the British Museum since my arrival here, and I think I’m about halfway through the exhibits. It’s a truly spectacular place.
I always chuckle to myself when the card describing the object uses the phrase “came to the British Museum.” Such language seems to indicate that these statues from a Indian sultan’s palace mysteriously appeared in London during the peak of Britian’s colonial power. Seems feasible, right?
On my first trip, I thought it was most important to see the Parthenon Marbles, which coincidentally are a spectacular example of items that “came to the British Museum.” Lord Elgin, ambassador to the Ottoman Empire, was originally interested in documenting the sculptures, but was eventually able to obtain a permit from the Sultan to remove the sculptures. At his own expense, he shipped them back to the British Museum, where they now reside in a purpose-built gallery.
The Museum also has plenty of Egyptian artifacts, including a half-dozen mummies currently on display amid throngs of tourists. The sculpture galleries were much quieter.
They also have a room solely dedicated to coins. I took a brief look around, but I’m saving that for its own trip.
