Glimpses of the British Museum

Lion British Museum

After lunch last Saturday afternoon, Greg, Mela, Jen, Melissa and I went through to the British Museum.  It feels almost criminal to admit this but I think it has been over three years since I last visited the British Museum!!

The British Museum

We entered the museum through the Montague Place entrance and I got to see the beautiful lion sculptures for the first time.  The problem with coming through that entrance is it is not immediately as impressive as the main entrance.  Suffice to say, we quickly made our way through to the Great Court to see the exquisite glass ceiling.

Ceiling in British Museum

Room 40: Medieval Europe

When I suggested to the expats and bloggers that I wanted to visit the British Museum, my main interest was to see their collection on the Byzantine Empire (in part due to its influence on Orthodox Christianity but also compounded by The Borgias!).  I duly dragged everyone along with me to room 40 to see what we could find.  I was a tiny bit disappointed to see such a small collection but I guess that just means I will have to make a pilgrimage to Istanbul one day to see the Hagia Sofia.

The Royal Gold Cup

Byzantine art

Room 70: Roman Empire

Ancient Rome

It is strange to think that five years ago, I knew next to nothing about the Roman Empire and would have waltzed through this room without paying attention. 

Since then, I have visited Ephesus in Turkey, seen glimpses of Hadrian’s Wall in Scotland, visited Anglesey in Wales where the Romans brutally supressed the Druids, and just last week discovered that I have worked on what was once Watling Street for the past four years. It is really interesting to see history come alive through my travels.

Hadrian and Antinous

This is Hadrian and his one true love, Antinous… 

Letter from Hadrian to Ephesus

… and this is a letter from Hadrian to the council of Ephesus endorsing the services of Lucius Erastus, a boat owner.

It seems fitting that under this ancient letter and communication, we gathered around to discuss the various blogging platforms and the superiority of Wordpress over Blogger. 

Room 72: Ancient Cyprus

Ancient Cyprus

This is the upper part of a colossal limestone statue of a bearded man.  It dates back to ancient Cyprus in about 500-480BC.  I just loved his beard detail and marvelled that it had survived intact for 2,500 years!

Rooms 62-63: Egyptian death and afterlife: mummies

Ancient Egypt

The sections on Ancient Egypt are my favourites which usually means that I head straight for them on arrival and only emerge several hours later.  It was good to see some other sections for a change.

We only spent an hour in the museum on this visit.  It was nice to leave without feeling completely exhausted but it did leave me with a desire to return as soon as possible! Perhaps I’ll go after work one Friday evening.


I have booked a place on the Camera Settings Workshop with the London Photo School & Club on the 25th February. This is a great workshop that teaches you about those complicated settings on your camera and I actually attended one back two years ago (see my post: Weekend Snapshots ~ 2: London).

Now that I have a new camera with completely different settings (and being that I did not practice what I learned at the last workshop and therefore forgot it), I have decided to attend again. I'm hoping to get some photos of the ruins of the bombed-out church of St Dunstan-in-the-East so please join me if you're interested in that type of thing! The workshop is £45 and includes tuition, practice and feedback.


British Museum
Great Russell Street
London
WC1B 3DG

13 comments on "Glimpses of the British Museum"
  1. Ancient art is defitely my world! Thanks for sharing!

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  2. this is such an impressive museum, i love all that magnificent ancient art...i could spend all day at that museum.


    fantastic shots as usual, emm.
    thanks so much for sharing.:)

    xx

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  3. What a wonderful museum...you really should go more often!

    (Shameless plug: have you seen my BM photos? http://kathyamen.net/dream/london/museum/bm.htm)

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  4. I remember spending a whole day at the museum back in 2000... and how my feet hurt at the end of the day ;) I remember the Egyptian rooms and its mummies, they were truly fascinating.

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  5. Your post is reminding me that it's been over a year since I've been to the British Museum, and I should return soon. I love the Ancient Greek artifacts, but I also just love being in the main hall. It's so airy and light, which is rare in London!

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  6. I have only been to the British Museum once in the three years I have been in London. I guess I'm just not that into museums. However for those that are into history and museums, I can imagine it is a great place to visit.

    The Egyptian section was quite probably my favourite part...

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  7. I am convinced we learn more through our travel experiences than from history or geography books. The design of the museum ceiling is amazing. It seems to bring in lots of natural light. Have fun in your camera workshop.

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  8. hahahahahahaaha our bloggin discussion. That's so funny how you've connected that. We are geeks!

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  9. what a fascinating museum and the glass ceiling is amazingly beautiful. great collection of artwork. i love ancient history like the stuff about Greece, Rome and Egypt too.

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  10. Wowzers. You're a busy bee Emm. Great blog by-the-way. Watling Street in the city of London or part of the much larger expanse of Watling-ness? Anyway ... good blog. Will check back.

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  11. @ Ola: Hmmm, you make me think. I should try figure out what I actually like and don't like one day!

    @ Betty: it is so big, though, isn't it? You could spend all day and barely cover a floor!

    @ Kathy: I certainly intend to go to more museums this year. Thank you for the link!

    @ Giselle: I know - you can definitely cover too much ground there! best to keep it reasonable.

    @ Karen: Absolutely! It is light on even the cloudiest London days! I definitely want to return again soon.

    @ William: Yes, I do love museums, art galleries and exhibitions and the London Museum is one of the best.

    @ AVCr8teur: I absolutely agree. There is nothing like seeing, feeling, smelling and touching culture, history and language for yourself.

    @ Within Ireland: We are indeed!

    @ Pierre: Thank you!

    @ Life Ramblings: It is really lovely. I recommend it..

    @ Bowl of Chalk: Ha! I need to keep busy to stave off the winter blues. But I am a lot less busy than this blog seems to imply!

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  12. wonderful captures! takes me back to my trip there.

    thanks for stopping by and commenting on my blog! :o)

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