The British Museum

On our second day in London we headed to the British Museum. The range of stuff in the museum was amazing. There was Egyptian things, Assyrian, Greek, Asian and various Clocks.

We started by looking at the Assyrian (near Iraq) statues that were 'taken under permit' in the 1800's (as were most items in the museum). In the Assyrian section there were big statues that were mounted on the sides of gates and statues and columns telling stories of Assyrian victories. Often biblical figures popped up and there were even one or two stories that feature in the bible. This made Dad quite excited because he liked the ancient proof of events in the bible.

We also saw some Egyptian and Greek statues and buildings that were, once again, taken by British 'explorers' and 'archaeologists'. There was a room with a lot of the reliefs and carvings from the Parthenon.

In another section of the museum there was a display of clocks from the 16th century to modern day times. The standout of these was a clock in the shape of a ship that, at 6:00, or dinnertime, it would move up and down the table, while a bell rang, before firing a cannon at the front of the ship, setting off a fuse that would fire 10 or-so other cannons around the ship.

There were other curiosities at the museum like North American and Mayan statues and clothes as well as Chinese artifacts.

We were all amazed by the British Museum and the collection that it has gathered from around the world. We were also amused by the 'justification' of Lord Elgin's actions of taking reliefs and other objects from the Parthenon and other sites in Greece.

Posted at 6:48pm