Monday, July 27, 2009

Trip Report Part 3-The British Museum

On the holidays I went to the British Museum and I saw a Stone chopper from Tanzania and the Rosetta Stone and a Colossal bust of Ramesses the Great and the Assyrian Lion Hunt reliefs and the Parthenon sculptures and an Easter Island statue Hoa Hakananai’a and a turquoise serpent from South America and a Cloisonné jar with dragons and a Jade Terrapin from Allahabad and the Lewis Chessmen and the Sutton Hoo ship burial and a Mosaic of Christ and the Basse Yutz flagons and the Flood tablet and the Royal Game of Ur and the Mummy of Katebet and Samurai armour and loads of other stuff.
This may give a slight sense of me in the British Museum. I’d barely have time to appreciate one thing when the next would catch my eye and I was off. All ethical conflicts I felt prior to my visit melted away as my sense of wonder slipped into overdrive. I could have spent a week there rather than just the three hours I had.
If I ever return to London this museum will be the reason why.