A Priceless Encyclopaedia in London (British Museum)

Member Name: kahloong313

Product:	British Museum
Date:	14/07/00 (64 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: educational, free of charge

Disadvantages: none

British museum is one of the best museums that I have been to so far. The items and material that it has to offer is so extensive and comprehensive. Best of all, you do not need to pay a single penny for the entrance. However, the museum does encourage the visitors to donate 2 pound after the visit. It is parallel to the world’s biggest museum –Du Louvre Museum in Paris.

The British museum is situated at Great Russell Street, London. There are three tube stations near the museum, Holborn, Tottenham Court and Russell Square. The museum has three exhibition floors. The Basement floor contains artifacts and material pertaining to ancient Greece, Rome and Ancient Near East. The Ground floor encompasses materials, sculptures and cultural artifacts from Greece, Rome, Ancient Near East, Egypt, Asia and Americas. The Upper floors house some temporary exhibitions, monuments and materials of prehistoric times, ancient money, prints and drawings.

Here are some highlights of the museum:
1. Artifacts of some of the seven wonders of the ancient world : Hanging gardens of Babylon, the Statue of Zeus in Olympia, the Temple of Artemis in Ephesus, the Mausoleum of Halicarnassos and the Colossus of Rhodes.

2 Several mummies of ancient Egypt Kingdoms. The mummies are so well preserved and you could still possibly see the dry skin of theirs adhered closely to the bones after thousands of years. I have never seen such many mummies being housed in a museum before. These are the spots that you need to scramble in and out in order to cast a glance on these mummies.

3 Personally, I think British museum contains much more material from Parthenon compared to the real one on top of Acropolis in Athens. Almost all the frescoes and monuments on Parthenon have been ‘transported’ here. One of the famous Caryatids in Acropolis is in the museum.

4 The structural remnants of the Mausoleum of Halikarnassos.


5 Rosetta stone – the stone which contains the hieroglyphic characters and helps the world to understand the character since its discovery.

These are just a tiny fraction of what the museum does have to offer to the visitors. There is much more to see. One needs to spend at least one full day to properly savour the best of the museums.

However, during my time of the visit, the Great Court was under heavy renovation. It claims that after the renovation, the museum shall be turned into a majestic one.

Personally I would rather think that by visiting the museum, you get to see more materials and artifacts from the ancient Greece and Egypt compared with a visit to those places. It is because most of the materials are no more available on site in those places, but they have already been preserved and transported to this museum.

The opening hours of the museum:
Monday to Saturday 10.00am - 5pm
Sunday 12.pm – 6 pm

For more information, please visit the following site:
www.british-museum.ac.uk

Summary: