I've seen more American than British people

Just got back from the British Library...talk about complicated!! We got there, went in, had to get a reader's pass using two forms of ID, something with our address and signature on it, took a picture and got a plastic card. After that we had to check our backpacks in and what we needed we had to put in a plastic bag and carry it with us. This process took about a half hour...then we finally got to go look at the rare books and manuscripts rooms...first, you had to look up on the computer what book you wanted...submit a request...find a chair...and wait...they bring you the books. the wait time for the rare books was about 70 minutes and the manuscripts was about 30. Yeah...fun. But the manuscript I looked at was a book with letters between Karl Marx and some of his cronies...Most of the letters were in French, some were in English and a few were in German. I would have been able to read the German if it had been in the writing style they use now...they taught a writing style called Sütterling writing from 1915-1941. It included hachecks (haček) and umlauts (grün) so it would look something like this:

But anyway...the trip to the British Museum was pretty cool yesterday...I've got pictures and descriptions below!

me and Assyrian Bull

Close-up of the Assyrian Bull

Elgin Marbles. These sculptures are in the middle of a bitter custody battle between England and Greece. The Parthenon in Athens was built about 2500 years ago as a temple dedicated to the Greek goddess, Athena. After that it was the church or the Virgin Mary of the Athenians for a thousand years, a mosque, a gunpowder store and then an archaeological ruin. In 1687 when the Parthenon was used as a gunpowder store, there was a huge explosion and it blew the roof off and destroyed a large portion of the remaining sculptures and had been an archaeological ruin ever since. A lot of archaeologists agreed that the sculptures could never be attached, and by 1800 only 50% of the original sculptural decoration remained. Between 1801 and 1805, Lord Elgin (British ambassador to the Ottoman Empire, which Athens had belonged to for some 350 years) removed about half of the remaining sculptures from the fallen ruins and from the building itself and took them back to Britain to preserve them from future weathering. The Ottoman authorities had full knowledge and gave him full permission to do so. In 1816, the British Museum acquired the sculptures. Greece believes they should have them back, England says they shouldn’t. You can learn more about the debate at: www.thebritishmuseum.ac.uk/gr/grparth.html

There are pieces of the Parthenon in the Louvre, Vatican, Copenhagen, Vienna, Wuerzburg, Palermo, Heidelberg and Munich.

Forepart of a horse from the chariot group surmounting the mausoleum…made in 350 BC. As you can see, not in the best of shape…

The Rosetta Stone, 196 BC. The Rosetta Stone basically helped other people translate Hieroglyphics...the top language is Hieroglyphic, the second is Demotic and the third is classical Greek.

This was made in 2500 BC and it was found at the temple-tower of Ninhursag at Tell al-‘Ubaid. I don’t know how well you can see the picture, but the lion-headed eagle, Imdugud, is holding two deer.

Mummies from 1st century BC/1st century AD

Typical Egyptian grave with grave-items. Yes, the body is real…it was preserved so well because the sand caused rapid natural drying. This is from 3400 BC from around the Nile Valley.

Look at his mouth…I don’t think he died a painless death…

This is from 3000 BC when they started using coffins…you can see that the body wasn’t preserved as well by using coffins. Their early coffins were made from baskets, wood or pottery.

Mummy

Limestone stele, from the grave of Amathus, Cyprus, 5th century BC. It says: Here having met his doom Idagygos of Halicarnassus lies, son of Aristokles servant of Ares. That’s right, I speak Greek now!

Made in Cyprus, 4th century BC. It says: Theudaisios of Euesperides. (Euesperides is a settlement in modern day Libya)

Gravestone of Aurelius Hermia and his wife Aurelia Philematium in Rome.

Crocodile skin suit of Roman parade armour from 3rd or 4th century

American cash register from 1901

Items found in the Sutton Hoo. The Sutton Hoo is a group of burial mounds from the 6th and 7th centuries. Included in these mounds was a ship burial, which means a ship was used as a coffin type holder for the bodies and grave goods.

written by

flaminko on May 25, 2007 from London, United Kingdom

from the travel blog: 'Ello Guvnah

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