September 9th, 2011 - The British Museum

Today was amazing! 

Sarah (our tour guide) met us at the door to the British Museum and gave us an hour tour of the building. The architecture of the museum is amazing and it has - either 7 or 9 miles of corridors (and exhibits) to explore. Sarah took our group to the more well known exhibits. 

We saw the Rosetta Stone (which they keep behind glass and which is hard to read). This stone was responsible for much of the knowledge people know about Egypt and Ptolemy (if I remember correctly).

My FAVORITE!!! part of the tour was seeing the frescoes, statuary, and friezes that were taken from the Acropolis in Greece (a place I visited in 2008 while my sister L.D. was studying abroad during college) and it was interesting seeing the missing pieces of temple I got to see up close. Most of the artifacts that are in the British Museum were brought there by a Duke- who after his travels and harrowing divorce from his wife- ended up broke. If it weren't for him all the artifacts in the museum would have been broken down into powder for use in other building goals. 

The other highlights of the tour were the Petebog Man - who was found completely in tact and is believed to have lived before (or during) the Roman times. Archiologists believe he was murdered, evidenced by the contusion on the back of his skull, and disposed of in the peat bog. He was so well preserved because the peat kept oxygen and other corrosive properties from reaching his body. 

There was also a preserved chess set from the early days. The pieces of which would have been painted green and red (not white and black). Each of the pieces were extremely detailed in their carvings. Around that exhibit was jewelry and other implements used at the time - including ornate crucifixes and other ornamental church objects. 

All the exhibits in the museum have to do with England (Britain) and it's associations with foreign cultures. There are Roman artifacts, Egyptian Artifacts, and even ancient English artifacts. There is actually a law in England stating that any treasure that is uncovered by citizens must be turned into the government for use in the museum - a law that helps England and Britain - London especially- grab hold of it's ancient roots. 

Cheers

~ H.C,