The British Museum

Artefact Museum

Great Russell St, Bloomsbury, WC1B 3DG

Free

The British Museum is somewhere I remember fondly from childhood. Cruising its galleries with old artefacts, rich history, and best of all – mummified bodies. It was a school trip here whilst studying Ancient Egypt that really fuelled my curiosity and admiration for this particular subject, leading to many Christmases of detailed books, and peaking in a trip to the Pyramids in Cairo when I was 14.

Sat in the fancy pants Bloomsbury area, The British Museum has an astounding array of global antiquities. With over eight millions works, its permanent collection is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence – however, the ownership over many of these treasures has been called into question this year. The pieces seen in the museum were mostly collected during the British Empire – dating from the 1600s to the mid-90’s. A time when Britain had undeniable power and gumption. No less than 90% of African cultural property today resides in Europe, and this year (2020) there was a demand for countries to return their stolen treasures to their rightful owners. The British Museum specifically was called out for refusing to return the half of the Parthenon marbles, stolen by Lord Elgin.

Back on one cold October Sunday, I decided that we should go and see these stolen treasures whilst they remained in our country. It was in one of the short sprints that museums and galleries remained open in 2020, and I hadn’t been back to the British Museum since about the age of 8 or 9. I forgot the grandeur of the outside, as well as the beautiful foyer with its glass roof and white marble. We had to book a slot, due to covid, but the museum remains free: one of the things I love the most about so many cultural institutions in London.

We started with some Ancient Egyptian sculptures, before making our way through Ancient Greece and downstairs to Africa. There was a one-way system in place for obvious reasons, which made it a little disjointed – suddenly we were back in Egypt for a room before carrying on with Greece. The sheer scale of artefacts they have, as well as the access we have to them, is one of the things which makes the British Museum so great. The variety of jewellery, sculpture, pottery and clothing between the different eras and countries keeps you interested, even though there is a lot of the same stuff in places (we ended up glazing over the Greek vase’s after a while). It took us almost 2 hours to get through the ground floor alone, by which time we were starving and unsure if there was any more to see (the upstairs being dominated by a separate exhibition). I was upset to not see the mummies again, thinking they must not have them anymore, turns out I didn’t look hard enough…

The British Museum is a must-see. If you live in London and haven’t spent a morning or afternoon here, then make sure that it is first on your list when we are out of Tier 4 (sigh). You will leave the British Museum with inspiration, insight and impression. It is worth stepping inside to see that beautiful ceiling alone!

OVERALL RATING: ****

https://www.britishmuseum.org/