On the way to Athens: the British Museum

On my way to Athens, I had a 12-hour layover in London. There were a few places in London that I really wanted to check out, and having never been there, I really wanted to see if I could visit one. I decided I would have time for a quick jaunt through the British Museum (BM). The Elgin Marbles and Rosetta Stone were there, as well as a few others that I wanted to check out.

First of all, I should let you know that there has been a huge drought in Texas this year, and last time I was in Athens I can’t even remember it raining. So needless to say, I didn’t pack a raincoat or an umbrella. Heck, outside of dress pants, I didn’t bring anything that went past my knees. So of course, when I am on the Underground going to the museum, I notice its raining outside.

Rainy London.

So I walked a mile or two in the rain to get to the museum. Upon arriving I could not check in my backpack (Thanks North Face for being waterproof, and keeping my lower back dry!) because it weighed 14 kg (books), and they do not store any bags over 8. So despite being thoroughly soaked, and having a heavy backpack, I was determined to enjoy myself.

The British Museum facade

First thing I saw was the Egyptian gallery. They had some beautiful colossal heads of some pharaohs, but I can to see the Rosetta Stone. Kind of hard to get near it, as it was like the Mona Lisa at the Louvre… but I was able to check it out. Very cool piece, from an epigraphy and historical standpoint.

Video of the Rosetta Stone

Pharoah statues

First up, the Greek and Roman galleries. The one thing that really struck me was how although not the biggest collection of antiquities, the pieces that the BM had were all of impressive and high quality/importance. They had quite a few large pieces. What I really was interested in seeing were the Elgin Marbles. I had seen the other pieces of the Parthenon at the Acropolis Museum (Athens) in 2009, and I knew that these pieces were a source of contention between Greece and England, as some would argue that these pieces were taken illegally (this can actually be argued for quite a few antiquities—cough—Heinrich Schliemann—cough!).

The pieces were laid out as follows. Almost half of the Parthenon frieze, showing the Panathenaic Procession is in one large room, and both pedimental sculptures are at each end of the long room, with metopes spread out between the 2 pediment rooms.

Video of the Elgin Marbles

Western pediment, Parthenon.

Horse from Western Pediment

This is in contrast to the Acropolis Museum, which, on the 3^rd floor tries to present the metopes/pedimental sculpture as they originally appeared on the temple. This is surely a product of being a newer museum as well.  Below are some pictures from the Acropolis Museum in Athens.

The Acropolis Museum in Athens (note the actual Acropolis in the background.
The 3rd floor of the museum is oriented to match the Parthenon.

Frieze from Acropolis Museum, Athens

Statuary in Acropolis Museum, Athens

I also got to see the one caryatid and a column taken from the Erechtheion, in a different room. 

At the BM, they always remind you that if not for Elgin,  these statues may not exist.

Caryatid form the porch of the Erechtheion.

I also saw other pieces of art, including sculpture from the Mausoleum of Halikarnassos, Persepolis, the Nereid Monument, the Temple of Apollo at Bassae, the sanctuary of Apollo at Didyma, the Tomb of Kybernis, the Temple of Artemis at Ephesus, the Sanctuary of Demeter at Knidos… amongst others. I think you can see by just the few I mentioned here, that the quality of the pieces and the locales where they were found are quite impressive.

Horse from the Mausoleum of Halikarnassos

Lion from Halikarnassos

After mulling about in the Greek/Roman galleries, I remembered I had a plane to catch, and so sped up my walking. I made a point to find work that I teach about in my AP Art History class, so went and saw the following pieces: work from the excavation of Ur by Leonard Wooley, and the Sutton Hoo burial.

Standard of Ur

Overall, I feel disappointed that I could not fully check out the museum, but I didn’t pay to go to London, so I feel lucky I had the chance to run over and see the work. The only other place I would have loved to try and visit in such a short amount of time would have been the National Gallery, but I didn’t want to shortcut a trip there, either.

Also, while one part of me feels glad to have seen the pieces I saw, I knew the history, especially of the Elgin pieces… I feel like they DO belong back in Greece, but history has never been a kind thing. So the fact that they are at least preserved gives me some solace. The British, have contributed greatly to the field of archaeology and preservation of artifacts. It’s kind of a sadness that they are not in Athens at that beautiful museum, but far away in another land.