Other Sights From The British Museum

Other Sights From The British Museum

Photographed: May 20th, 2013

Besides seeing some of the Acropolis at the British Museum here are a few of my favorite artifacts we saw during our visit.

In the Great Court of the Museum you can find some of the largest pieces on display.  Two of my favorites are these totem polls which were made by the Haida people who are native to Canada. As you would expect their age is a little bit of a mystery but they are thought to date back to the 1850s.

This view from the second floor give you a better idea of how huge these poles are and how impressive it is that they were somehow transported from the Pacific Northwest to London and are still in one piece.

My favorite single piece from the British Museum was an Easter Island statue called a moai. I did my best moai impression while a crowd was gathered around the statue.  

Another group of famous pieces that any former member of a high school chess club would appreciate are the Lewis Chessmen.  These were discovered on the Isle of Lewis in the northwest part of Scotland.

They are thought to have been made in Norway somewhere between 1150-1200 AD and they are made of walrus ivory.  From one tusk the artist could make about four full size pieces and two smaller pieces.  And after visiting the gift shop I was even able to take home a replica version of the knight piece.  

Seeing Pieces Of The Parthenon Across Three Countries

While visiting The Parthenon and its companion, The Acropolis Museum, we saw many of the marble sculptures that once adorned the inside of the temple to Athena.  

But famously many of the sculptures that were in the best condition were taken from Greece by the Earl of Elgin and transported back to England.  The sculptures eventually made their way in the British Museum collection and are on display in London.  

The Acropolis Museum did not allow photographs to be taken of the exhibits so this was the first chance that I had to take some snaps of theses great works.

Not surprisingly the pieces that were taken from Athens were the most complete and in the best condition of the sculptures that were remaining.

You might be able to notice by the tiny numbering under the pieces there is a gap in the pieces between #53 and #67.  Those pieces can be found at the Acropolis Museum as well as in France [more on that in a minute.]

The Greek government has for years attempted to get all the taken pieces returned home to Ahtens and I can't help but feel the same way after seeing them in London.  

I'll have a more complete post on our visit to the the British Museum at a later date but it's clear that the very existence of the collection is based on an abusive mercantile system that plundered many of their "conquered lands."    

To complete our Parthenon sculptures odyssey our next step was France.  While visiting The Louvre we tracked down the single Parthenon marble that is on display there.  

The museum has posted an information sheet next to the sculpture explaining that their claim on the piece occurred after the British pieces were taken from Greece.  They also argue that their claim on the piece is more legitimate than the British Museum's claim.  Who really knows for sure?  My opinion is that they should all be returned to Greece.