The British Museum is open everyday - yes, including Sundays. Another good-to-know info - admission is free. :)
British Museum
Inside the British Museum
The museum does have special exhibitions that require fees like this ongoing South African Art exhibit during our visit last October.
South African-inspired art
But even if you just visit the free galleries, there's more than enough to see. There are galleries on Ancient Egypt, Ancient Greece and Rome, Asia, Middle East, Medieval Europe, etc.
Here are some interesting artifacts in the free galleries - most of which are objects from the BC era and a handful from the AD era. They are in random order -
From Nebuchadnezzar II's Babylon palace (dates back to 605-562 BC)
Who's Nebuchadnezzar II? He built Babylon and ruled for 45 years out of Babylon's 70 years' existence. So imagine that piece of wall is from the Babylon Palace. Wow.
Mummy of a young bull (30 BC)
Why mummify a bull? In Ancient Egypt, bulls were sacred to several gods. And they weren't just mummified but were buried the same way as wealthy Egyptians. Sometimes, calves are dedicated to gods as a token of devotion (like the calf mummy above).
There are mummies of other animals too - cats, dogs, etc. - animals who are associated with deities and thus, are considered sacred. There are human mummies as well but I decided not to take any photos.
Decorated end of a roof tile (490 BC)
Ends of roof tiles are usually decorated with heads or masks of certain creatures to serve as guardians to ward off evil spirits. I've seen scary heads before but this one looks really adorable. :)
Can you guess what the foot sculpture below is?
Oil bottle from Sicily (550 BC)
Don't these look like helmets from GOT?
Bronze helmet (510 BC)
Bronze helmet (510 BC)
I thought this one was just a decorative sculpture but it has a functional purpose. It's a flask. Sneaky.
Flask (330-300 BC)
One of the reasons why I like to visit museums is to find out more about how people lived in the past and usually, they are depicted through artworks. Like the sculpture below gives us a glimpse on what girls probably played in the 300 BC period. At first glance, I actually thought they were playing rock, paper, scissors! Haha... Then I read the caption -
Terracota of 2 women playing knucklebones (340-330 BC)
How is knucklebones played? The mechanics are similar to jackstones but without a bouncing ball.
Urn of a Rich Etruscan (700 BC)
Burial tomb of a rich Etruscan (700 BC)
The urns and burial tombs are so ornate considering it's during the BC era. BTW, who are Etruscans? They occupied central Italy which is Tuscany today.
Gold bars from the Roman Empire (250-400 AD)
Silver coin (405 BC)
Bronze currency from the Roman Republic (300 BC)
The gold bar, currency bar and coins look really, really heavy. They are big and solid. Aren't we glad we have paper bills and credit cards these days? Whew!
Bronze statue believed to be Cupid (10-100AD)
African acrobat on a crocodile (1st century BC or 1st century AD)
What's the story behind this unusual sculpture? So there was this tribe in Egypt whose members were famous for diving on the backs of crocodiles in the Nile. It is believed that such performances were done in the arena in Rome and thus, someone thought of immortalizing an exhibition in stone.
African boxers (1st or 2nd century BC)
The caption says the boxers were wearing gloves equipped with balls of lead to give a brutal blow. Deadly sports. Yikes!
Tiffany Cash Register 1901
The outside case of the special cash register was specially designed by Tiffany & Co in 1901. No wonder it's so pretty. :)
Milkmaid and Cow Clock made in Poland (1600)
The clock up close
What makes the clock special? At designated time, the milkmaid milks the cow and there's really some kind of liquid that comes out of the udder.
Check out the wristwatch below. It looks hi-tech. Can you guess when it was made?
LED watch by Longines-Witthauer (1974!)
I could have never guessed it was made in 1974!
The Lewis Chessmen made from walrus ivory found in 1831.
Earliest medieval chess sets like the Lewis Chessmen appear to be
red and plain ivory rather than black & white as we know today.
Do you know what other new info I learned about chess? - Chess was used to sharpen the tactical abilities of knights and was included in the seven knightly accomplishments.
- At some point, the Church forbade the playing of chess by members of the clergy but relaxed its stand around 1200.
- Chess was played by men and women and it became associated with flirtation and the battle of the sexes in medieval love poetry.
I wonder when couples flirted by playing chess then, did men play so lousy so women could win? :)
Inside the British Museum
If you love Greek sculptures and artifacts, there's a big section on them too. Check these out -
Parthenon sculptures
Gallery of more Parthenon sculptures
Aphrodite
A boy pulling a thorn from his feet (200-100 BC)
See the 2 holes at the base of the sculpture? This signifies it's meant to be installed in a fountain pipe. But I wonder - why a boy pulling out a thorn of all fountain subjects? Too bad, we'll never know.
Anyway, if you plan to visit the British Museum while in London, here's the link to the official website - http://www.britishmuseum.org/.
