The British Museum

24 August 2018, Friday

From the British Library, we met up with Dad and took a quick bus ride to the British Museum.  We had just a few hours to spend, but we made the most of it.  C took a well-timed snooze in the stroller, and we enjoyed the Egyptian gallery.  A was fascinated by the hieroglyphic texts.

We had seen Roman artifacts at many other museums in England (Cirencester, Bath, York, etc.), but the sheer volume of the British Museum's intact Roman artifacts was impressive.  For instance, we had seen massive works of Roman tiles elsewhere, but the number and size of the mosaics here was amazing!

We enjoyed galleries of clocks and watches, naval artifacts, and some Greek items.  We were sure to look at the giant Easter Island statue, and spent time marveling at the Rosetta Stone.  Then we were tired out from our day in London!

Checking out an Egyptian tomb that

a medieval family used as a bathtub

Large Roman mosaics line a stairwell

C loved these Roman food preparation artifacts

Easter Island statue

The Rosetta Stone

The British Library

24 August 2018, Friday

The British Library was one of my favourite places to visit.  It is huge, housing a copy of all books published in the U.K.  It’s like the U.S. Library of Congress, but there are many volumes and documents here that are much older!

The highlight for me was the Sir John Ritblat Gallery, where selected ancient and/or historic books and documents are on display.  I wasn’t allowed to take pictures in the gallery, but I did take copious notes on what we saw.

My absolute favorite part was the music display.  I was blown away to see original manuscripts from Bach, Mozart, Haydn… seeing each composer’s unique “handwriting” was very interesting!  And following along with the composers’ original musical notes that I’ve played myself many times was amazing.  These are some of the musical manuscripts they had on display:

• Bach “Wo soll ich fliehen hin” from 1724
• Mozart - a vocal work he wrote at age nine, along with his marriage contract
• Handel - “Royal Fireworks,” 1749
• Haydn’s Symphony No. 103, 1795
• Beethoven’s sketches for the final movement of the Pastoral Symphony (no. 6), 1808
• Elgar’s “Nimrod” from his Enigma Variations
• And other works from Chopin, Debussy, Britten, Mahler, and Vaughn Williams

We also saw… 

• Letters written by Michelangelo (1550), Queen Elizabeth I (1603), Queen Victoria (1870), Gandhi (1930), and suffragettes (early 20th century).
• The Forest Charter from 1225, signed by King Henry III, which regulated hunting and other woodland activities.
• A jousting challenge issued and signed by King Henry VIII in 1511, celebrating the birth of a son (who died in infancy).
• A 13th century plan book for the proposed Waltham Abbey, opened to a page for the waterworks.
• The St. Cuthbert Gospel from the early 8th century - it is the earliest intact European book.  It spent 400 years in St. Cuthbert’s coffin.
• 3rd century pages from a Gospel of John, discovered in Egypt.
• The mid-4th century Codex Sinaiticus, a handwritten copy of the Greek Bible.

Here are the pictures I was allowed to take!

Old printing press

The King's Library Tower

St. Pancras Station

24 August 2018, Friday

From Baker Street, we rode the Underground to King's Cross St. Pancras Station to get to the British Library.  We decided to poke around St. Pancras Station.  The station is beautiful, and the Eurostar trains were exciting!  A really wants to take a ride to France now.  We also did some shopping at the station's shops.