British Museum
Created | Updated Jan 28, 2002
The British Museum in London is one of the most facsinating places I know of. It contains so much information about so many of the peoples of the world and the journeys they have made to get where they are today.
The most profund thought that struck me was how much people and their ancestors have in common. Better yet, how much todays people have in common with someone elses ancestors. I can site a couple of examples of this:
Entering through the 'rear' entrance, there is a display of chinese porcelain. One of the artifacts is a 'grave pass', a painted tablet describing the life of a particular inhabitant of a tomb, her life and deeds and her legal right, under chinese law, to occupy that tomb. Moving on into the egyptian display, we find examples of the egyptian 'book of the dead', documents that were placed with the deceased, describing the life & times of that person and that they were being buried in accordance with egyptian law. More than four thousand years and many thousands of mile separated these traditions of treatment of the dead, but they are so similar!
In one of the roman rooms was a display of roman army artifacts. A first century centurions boot was displayed. I examined this 2000 year old army boot, then observed my own footwear. The only actual difference was that mine had synthetic sole. The rest of the design was identical. Alongside the boots was an inscribe bronze tablet, a page from a booklet. The booklet was a record of the career of an auxililary in the roman army. It described his career, when he joined, the regiments he served in, his achivements and where and when he was discharged. By co-incidence, I had recently been looking through a similar log of the time my grandfather served in the british army.
There is an old saying that those who do not learn from the past are doomed to repeat it. However, learning from history, the history of human culture, can help us understand that our differences are fewer than we belive. It can also be a jolly good laugh to go and see the things people have put up with, or done to each other because they felt they needed to.
A few guide-type notes.
Nearest tube station is tottenham court road. Come out of the station at the new oxford street exit and walk along new oxford street until you reach museum street. Walk along museum street until you, well, reach the museum.
The museum is very big and would probably take a couple of days to see all the exhibits. However, there are so many things to see that it is well worth the time. You can pick out your favourite era, people, location or creation (religous icons, time pieces etc) and go straight to it, but you would be missing out. A far better idea is to proceed slowly, observing, being amazed, facisinated and even educated by the doings of human beings over time.
The cafe inside is bloody expensive and I would recommend taking a walk outside to one of the nearby pubs or cafes. There are loads of each around that area, and it gets you some fresh air. As the museum charges no entry fee you can wander in & out as much as you like. There are very few places to rest if you are infirm, unless you feel like wrestling a guard for his seat. Trust me, they fight back, but are quite helpfull otherwise.
Above all, if you open your mind the British Museum will give you a few things to put in and stir around.
The most profund thought that struck me was how much people and their ancestors have in common. Better yet, how much todays people have in common with someone elses ancestors. I can site a couple of examples of this:
Entering through the 'rear' entrance, there is a display of chinese porcelain. One of the artifacts is a 'grave pass', a painted tablet describing the life of a particular inhabitant of a tomb, her life and deeds and her legal right, under chinese law, to occupy that tomb. Moving on into the egyptian display, we find examples of the egyptian 'book of the dead', documents that were placed with the deceased, describing the life & times of that person and that they were being buried in accordance with egyptian law. More than four thousand years and many thousands of mile separated these traditions of treatment of the dead, but they are so similar!
In one of the roman rooms was a display of roman army artifacts. A first century centurions boot was displayed. I examined this 2000 year old army boot, then observed my own footwear. The only actual difference was that mine had synthetic sole. The rest of the design was identical. Alongside the boots was an inscribe bronze tablet, a page from a booklet. The booklet was a record of the career of an auxililary in the roman army. It described his career, when he joined, the regiments he served in, his achivements and where and when he was discharged. By co-incidence, I had recently been looking through a similar log of the time my grandfather served in the british army.
There is an old saying that those who do not learn from the past are doomed to repeat it. However, learning from history, the history of human culture, can help us understand that our differences are fewer than we belive. It can also be a jolly good laugh to go and see the things people have put up with, or done to each other because they felt they needed to.
A few guide-type notes.
Nearest tube station is tottenham court road. Come out of the station at the new oxford street exit and walk along new oxford street until you reach museum street. Walk along museum street until you, well, reach the museum.
The museum is very big and would probably take a couple of days to see all the exhibits. However, there are so many things to see that it is well worth the time. You can pick out your favourite era, people, location or creation (religous icons, time pieces etc) and go straight to it, but you would be missing out. A far better idea is to proceed slowly, observing, being amazed, facisinated and even educated by the doings of human beings over time.
The cafe inside is bloody expensive and I would recommend taking a walk outside to one of the nearby pubs or cafes. There are loads of each around that area, and it gets you some fresh air. As the museum charges no entry fee you can wander in & out as much as you like. There are very few places to rest if you are infirm, unless you feel like wrestling a guard for his seat. Trust me, they fight back, but are quite helpfull otherwise.
Above all, if you open your mind the British Museum will give you a few things to put in and stir around.
