The British Museum is a unique place where one can go and see an enormous collection of manmade artifacts from around the world. In its 250 years of existence, it has collected, one way or another, a plethora of mind-boggling art and archeological treasures. The British Museum presents an incredible opportunity for people to see these marvelous, multicultural works of art at one location.

I have visited the British Museum several times in the past but have had to cut my visits short in consideration of my various traveling companions’ own interests. These previously unsatisfying visits to the museum are what inspired my recent holiday in London. I realized that if I went to London alone, I could indulge myself and spend as much time as I wanted in the British Museum. I thought that I would be able to see the entire British Museum in three days. I was wrong. I spent six days there, arriving at 9:00 a.m. and staying until 5:30 p.m., with a break for lunch in the museum, and still I did not see all there was to see.

Today, the British Museum is located on Great Russel Square in the Bloomsbury area of London. It was established in 1753 and was opened to the public in 1759. The goal of the museum is to document the course of human culture from prehistoric times to the present and to be an educational resource for the visiting public. It was the first national public museum in the world and, thank you, Britain, it is free to all visitors.

I recognize that everyone has different interests and backgrounds and different amounts of time while in London to devote to this one place. With that in mind, I have drafted some tips for visiting the Museum and selected a group of objects that are my recommendations for “must see” artifacts in the British Museum. I think a visitor can whip around and see all seven of these five-star items in half a day, if you don’t get sidetracked by other, also fascinating exhibits.

Early Visiting Tips

The British Museum’s exhibit halls open at 10:00 a.m., but the Great Court opens at 9:00. Coming early is beneficial because you can get in front of the bus tours and the visiting school children. You can be first in line to pick up an audio guide, which I recommend since it will give you more information on selected artifacts. Audio guide rental currently costs £7.

Before the exhibit halls open you can browse the book and collections shops. If you do not want to carry your purchases while you visit the museum, you can store them in the cloakroom for a modest fee. Another advantage to arriving early is that you can pick up a lightweight, collapsible stool located on holders in the Great Court. I highly recommend this because, as you tire, you can sit down and enjoy examining the relics in a surprisingly comfortable seat.

In addition, while waiting for the exhibit halls to open, you can visit the cafes, admire some artifacts located in the court, or do some preliminary reading.

Hoa Hakananai’a

While waiting, I recommend that you visit Hoa Hakananai’a, a Polynesian ancestor figure from the island of Rapa Nui. It is located just outside of the Great Court near the back entrance on Montague Place.

Hoa Hakananai’a is dated to about 1000 AD and is made out of dark gray basalt. It is about eight feet tall and is carved using the traditional proportions found on other moai, with the head measuring one-third of the total height of the statue. The figure has projecting brow ridges, deep-set eyes, and prominent nose and lips. Its arms hang along the sides of the statue with the hands barely modeled. Most moai are made out of tuff, a softer volcanic rock, but Hoa Hakananai’a is one of fourteen statues made from the much harder basalt. When one considers that the Rapa Nui people had only stone tools, it is amazing to think of the time and resources they expended in order to carve almost nine hundred moai on their small island.

The moai on Rapa Nui are thought to represent a clan’s ancestral spirit. The moai’s clan presented it with offerings, and in return the ancestor was expected to watch over its living descendants. When the Rapa Nui people first came to the island around 700 AD, the island had lots of trees and food resources. Over time, it is thought that the people over-exploited their limited resources, which triggered violent warfare between the clans and the partial collapse of their religious beliefs.

Around 1400 AD, the Tangata cult, or the Birdman religion, developed to fill this void. In order to find a leader in a nonviolent way, each clan chose a champion to enter an athletic competition. The participants had to dive off a cliff and swim through the ocean to an inlet where sooty terns nested. The champions had to secure an egg and swim back across the water. The winner of this contest was the first to return with an undamaged egg. This competition determined the leadership of the island for the next year.

An exciting feature of Hoa Hakananai’a is that on the back of the moai are additional carvings based on the Birdman cult. In 1868, the people of Rapa Nui told the English crew of the HMS Topaze that the moai’s name was “stolen or hidden friend.” The moai was purchased by the captain and transported to England.

Benin Plaques

Next, I suggest that you go down the stairs located on either side of Hoa Hakananai’a to Level –2 (minus 2). Visit Room 25 and discover the collection from Africa. There are several remarkable artifacts, but the most extraordinary to me are the Benin plaques, which are made of brass and show several high-relief figures cast on top of a metal rectangle.

Archeologists date the plaques to 1530–1570 AD. These four-sided panels were created using the “lost wax” method of casting. For that technique, the artist made wax images and attached them to a rectangular wax base. Then the waxwork had sprues or thick wax wires attached to different areas of the sculpture to provide a pathway for the molten metal and to allow the mold’s air to escape when casting took place. Next, the wax model was encased in a fire-resistant material which was heated up to remove the wax. This mold was then heated to a temperature that insured the rapid flow of the molten metal into all the cavities of the mold. Once cool, the mold was removed, the sprues were cut off, and the irregularities were filed smooth.

Displayed are a few of the approximately nine hundred plaques used to decorate the many pillars that supported the roof of the Benin palace complex. The oba (king) lived in this palace and was venerated as the absolute ruler of the Edo people. The plaques show life in the court of the oba in the 16^th century.

In 1897, the Benin people killed the envoys that had been sent to them by the British government. In retaliation, the British responded with a military invasion. That military expedition captured the oba, destroyed his palace complex, and confiscated his possessions. Upon the expedition’s return to Europe, these sensational art pieces amazed the western world. Europe had not realized that African cultures outside of the influence of Egypt were able to create such magnificent works of art. These plaques educated and opened up the western world to new ideas about Africa’s indigenous cultures.

Rosetta Stone

Ptolemy V was the fifth ruler in the Ptolemaic Dynasty of Egypt from 210–181 BC. He was five years old when he became pharaoh. The governing of Egypt was undertaken by a series of regents acting in his name until he came of age in 196 BC. Ptolemy was in a weak leadership position, and he needed the priesthood to support his rule. He came to an agreement with them, and their pact was codified by the Memphis Decree in 196 BC. It was recorded on the Rosetta Stone, as well as on other stelae. The texts on the stele were written in three languages: Egyptian hieroglyphics, Egyptian demotic, and ancient Greek. This stele was displayed publically, most likely in a temple near Sais, Egypt.

At an unknown date, the Rosetta Stone was moved from its original location and used as building material for a fort near Rashid, Egypt. It was discovered by the French army during Napoleon’s Egyptian campaign in 1799. The 3’8” tall stele fragment was named the Rosetta Stone after the place in which it was discovered. It was recognized as a linguistic treasure, and casts were made and shared across Europe. In 1801, the French lost their Egyptian campaign to the British, who then acquired the stone and transported it to London. The ancient Greek text was quickly translated, but the ancient Egyptian texts needed further study. The Rosetta Stone was displayed in the British Museum for twenty years before the ancient Egyptian texts were deciphered by Jean-Francois Champollion in 1822.

Statue of Rameses II

Look to the right past the Rosetta Stone and meet Rameses II, also known as Rameses the Great. He ruled Egypt from 1279 to 1213 BC, a period of sixty-six years. Many regard him as the greatest pharaoh of Egypt. His name means “Ra is the one who bore him.” Ra was the sun god and the most powerful deity of ancient Egypt. It is thought that Rameses was 91 years old when he died. He was buried in a tomb in his mortuary temple in the Valley of the Kings. After rampant looting of several royal burial sites, his mummy and others were hidden in an ancient tomb near Thebes. In 1881, this royal cache of fifty mummies was discovered and moved to the Museum of Egyptian Antiquities in Cairo.

This almost nine-foot fragment of a colossal statue of Rameses II is from his mortuary temple complex, called the Rameseum, which was built near Qurna. Today, the complex is in ruins. The statue is carved from granite rock. If you look carefully, the head and neck appear to be pinker in color than the rest of the grayish statue. This color difference is a naturally occurring color change in this igneous rock. The hole on the right breast is reported to have been made by the French army in 1798 when they tried to remove it to France during Napoleon’s Egyptian campaign.

The pharaoh Rameses II was the most successful military leader, diplomat, administrator, and self-propagandist in the history of Egypt. He expanded Egypt’s borders, put down rebellions, fought pirates, and made treaties with traditional enemies. No matter the true results of his pharaonic efforts, he always declared victory and put up a statue or stele to celebrate his triumph. Rameses is best known for his numerous buildings and the statues he caused to be built across Egypt and Nubia; Rameses II erected more statues and buildings than any other pharaoh in the history of Egypt. He is also known to have appropriated existing statues by having his own name cartouche carved on them.

The Birth of Athena

The Parthenon is the jewel of the Acropolis and was built as a temple to Athena, goddess of wisdom and justice. It was constructed between 447–432 BC under the direction of Phidias, a famous Greek architect and sculptor. Multiple unknown sculptors worked on the temple decorations. Today, over half of the currently surviving marble sculptures and bas reliefs are in the British Museum. This includes twenty-one statues from the east and west pediments of the temple, ninety-two metopes (panels) depicting the battle between the Lapiths and the centaurs, and 246 feet of the frieze showing the Panathenaic procession to the temple.

The photograph above shows the left side of the east pediment. The theme of the entire sculptural group is the birth of Athena, which is witnessed by the gods and goddesses to her left and right. On the left, reclining on a leopard skin as dawn is approaching, is Dionysus, the god of wine. The seated figures to his right are Demeter, goddess of the harvest and fertility, and her daughter Persephone, goddess of vegetation. The standing female figure to their right is Artemis, goddess of the hunt. The figures are arranged so that they will fit into the triangular space of the temple pediment. The deities show limited interaction with each other. Each statue is exquisitely detailed, especially the draperies, which are sensually and deeply carved. The sculptures, surprisingly, are carved in the round even though their backs would have originally been against the pediment wall of the temple.

In 1798, when Lord Elgin was sent as an ambassador to the Ottoman Empire, Greece was under Turkish control. Elgin stated that his original intent was to make casts and drawings of the Greek art on the Acropolis. In 1801, Lord Elgin said he feared that the marble art would be removed and burned for lime. This was when he decided to remove the sculptures in order to save them from further destruction. He completed his removal in 1812. Upon returning to England, he fell into financial difficulties and sold the sculptures to the British government. Thanks to Lord Elgin, visitors to the British Museum can view the world famous “Elgin Marbles.”

Palace Guardian

The palace guardian in the photo was originally located at the entrance to the throne room in the Nimrud (also called Kalhu) palace of King Ashurnairpal II. He ruled from 883–859 BC in Assyria, which is today located in modern Iraq. Ashurnairpal II was a brutal ruler as well as an able administer. He replaced local leaders with Assyrian governors to ensure that the tribute he demanded would be fully paid. His name means “Ashur is guardian of the heir.” Ashur was the head god in the Assyrian pantheon.

Ashurnairpal II finished building his palace in 879 BC. The building was a testament to his enormous wealth and was embellished with incredible art that used the best of materials. The walls of the palace were covered in alabaster bas reliefs showing the king hunting or fighting his enemies. Each relief had inscribed on it Ashurnairpal II’s lineage, victories, and building accomplishments.

The winged, human-headed palace guardian, also called a lamassu, was viewed as a protective divine being. It was typically placed on both sides of a door or gateway and faced the person who was entering. This figure is made to be viewed from both the front and the side. From the front, the lamassu’s two front legs are firmly placed straight below the body. From the side, the guardian’s right front leg appears in a walking position. This multi-sided viewing aspect results in the curious consequence of the figure having five legs. Behind the guardian is a hero figure holding its tail.

Sutton Hoo Helmet

Before World War II, the common view of English history was that, after the Romans left around 400 AD, England descended into a dark age for several hundred years. The excavation in 1939 of a large burial mound dated to 600–650 AD in Suffolk changed this perception. This Anglo-Saxon burial revealed a culture more complex, sophisticated, and artistically advanced than was previously considered possible.

The identity of the person who was buried at Sutton Hoo is not known. All organic clues were lost when the acid soil in this area left only traces of bones, cloth, leather, furs, and wood. When excavating the mound, the archeologists found iron rivets and a peculiar black sand that took the shape of an 88-foot long ship. Inside this burial ship was found a helmet, weapons, shields, coins, musical instruments, buckets, pots, drinking horns, gold and silver hoards, and incredibly beautiful jewelry made of gold inlaid with garnets. These objects came from all over Europe, which indicated that the Anglo-Saxons had access to trade routes well beyond England. Before this excavation, the Anglo-Saxon poem Beowulf with its lavish feasts and warrior heroes was considered to be a fantasy. With the poem’s descriptions of Anglo-Saxon life seemingly confirmed by the burial objects, the Sutton Hoo findings have pushed the accounts in Beowulf into the realm of 650 AD reality.

The Magnificent Seven

Have I told you about every extraordinary thing found in the British Museum? No, it cannot be done, even in a much longer guide book. All I have done in this column is to highlight seven of my favorite masterpieces. The life experiences that drew my attention to these objects are not yours. Your favorite list might well be quite different. All one can do while in the British Museum, or indeed any museum, is to reflect on the history, the artistic endeavors, and the cultural connections that these objects give us. My advice, even if you can only devote half a day, is not to pass up an opportunity to visit and enjoy the wealth of masterpieces found inside the British Museum.

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