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A recent ITV poll for Britain's 20 Greatest National Treasures named The British Museum in London as the 17th most popular place to visit in the U.K, although technically it is officially unchallenged as Britain's most popular place to visit in all of the U.K with over 6 million visitors each year. It is the world's oldest national public museum which was founded in 1753, first opening it's doors to the public in 1759, 17 years before the American Declaration of Independence. Having not been there for quite some time I was keen to see the rather grand new entrance called The Queen Elizabeth II Great Court which first opened in 2000. It certainly is impressive looking as you walk in. And in 2015 the Museum was mapped out and presented digitally and became the world's largest indoor space on Google Street View. Take a digital tour yourself and see HERE. Once inside I was keen to see various artifacts on display including the large Egyptian statues along with The Rosetta Stone. And of course there was the Elgin Marbles which can be a touchy subject for the museum, as the Greek Government would be more than happy for them to be returned. There was also a Rembrandt Exhibition on that I was just lucky enough to catch as it only ran until the 4th of August. It featured many of his Archive Sketches. But one of the displays that really surprised me was in The Korea Foundation Gallery as it featured a fully constructed Sarangbang which is a room located in a traditional Korean house, known as a Hanok. Those pictures are at the bottom of this post. Of course being August with all the Schools still on their Summer break, I was surprised to see so many enthusiastic young people enjoying the exhibits. But after observing some of them, I couldn't help thinking that most of them were instagraming. And so perhaps social media is playing a part in the high number of visitors to this iconic Museum. THE BRITISH MUSEUM LONDON WEBSITE |
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Above: An archive photo image of the Museum taken in 1852. Photo by Roger Fenton. BRITAIN'S GREATEST NATIONAL TREASURES ( ITV POLL) 1. Stonehenge. 2. Tower Bridge. 3. The Lake District. 4. The Tower of London. 5. Cheddar Gorge, Somerset. 6. Edinburgh Castle. 7. Jurrasic Coast, Dorset. 8. Loch Ness. 9. St Paul's Cathedral. 10. The White Cliffs of Dover. 11. Hadrian's Wall. 12. Mount Snowden, Wales. 13. Giant's Causway, N. Ireland. 14. The Roman Baths in Bath. 15. Westminster Abbey. 16. St Michael's Mount, Cornwall. 17. The British Museum. 18. Big Ben/Palace of Westminster. 19. Buckingham Palace. 20. Kew Gardens. |
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| Above and below: The grand entrance known as The Queen Elizabeth II Great Court, which first opened in 2000. |
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| Above and below: The colossal statue of King Ramesses II. One of the largest artifacts in the Egyptian collection. |
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| Above: An Egyptian Mummy with amulets on a frame. From the Roman era, after 30 B.C. Below: The historic Rosetta Stone. |
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| Above: Hercules - A Roman copy of an original by the Greek sculptor Lysippos of about 325 - 300 B.C. Said to have been found at the foot of Mount Vesuvius and presented to The British Museum by Sir William Hamilton in 1776. |
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Below: Statue of a dancing Faun with the infant Bacchus, the God of Wine. ( Roman, 2nd century ) |
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| Below Left: Discobolus - Roman, 2nd century A.D. Right: Apollo - Roman, 2nd century. |
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| Above and below: One of my favourite exhibits, The Sarangbang, a traditional Korean room located in a Hanok. Oh to have just had a little walk around inside of it would have been wonderful, but alas it was all sealed off to the public. It was a case of just look but don't touch. |
