HOME > VACATIONS > 2003 > CRUISE > BRITISH MUSEUM
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British Museum

Being museum nuts we were really looking forward to visiting the British Museum and we were definitely not disappointed. The British Museum contains one of the best collections of antiquities anywhere in the world. Since this museum is so big and I took so many pictures I had to split it up into sections.

You will find the descriptions for many of these items blanks because I have since forgotten what they were. I probably should have kept better track of what I was taking pictures of. Oh well, next time.

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The main entrance to the British Museum.
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View of the impressive middle courtyard.
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Another panoramic view from above.
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Egyptian Antiquities

The collection here is amazing, rivaling and possibly surpassing the collection we saw in Berlin. Here you will see the Rosetta Stone. This is the stone that was used as a basis to decipher Egyptian Hieroglyphics. The stone is about 3' high with very tiny print. Impressive. Not only that but there were several other very large and important items, including quite a collection of mummies.
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A very well preserved mummy.
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Lid of outer coffin from the late 21st Dynasty.
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Chapter 100 of the Book of the Dead.
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Wood statues of King Ramesses IX and King Ramesses I.
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Various shabtis from the 21st and 22nd Dynasties.
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The coffin style changed in the 25th Dynasty to 4th century BC.
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This is chapter 162 of the Book of the Dead.
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Statue of a cat with a nose ring.
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Rosetta Stone.
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Stone kudurru documenting gift of land, 1186-1172 BC.
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Fragment of the Sphinx's beard excavated in 1817.
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Monumental granite scarab, Ptolemaic Period around 200 BC.
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Black schist sarcophagus of Ankhnesneferibre, 26th Dynasty, about 530 BC.
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Limestone figure of a Horus-falcon, after 600 BC.
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Red granite figure of Sobkemasaf I, about 1630 BC.
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Big granite statue on Ramses II.
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This arm used to be a part of the big statue to the left.
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Greek/Roman Antiquities

There was also a large impressive collection of Greco-Roman Antiquities. The most impressive of which were large pieces of the Parthenon known as Elgin's Marbles. I'm glad we saw them when we did because that night in the hotel we saw a story on the BBC about Greece really wanting them back in time for the 2004 Olympics.

I ran across this nice page that discusses some of the history behind a few of these objects here.

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Lots of solid gold jewelry.
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The fine detail on this piece was amazing.
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The A G Leventis Gallery of Cypriot Antiquities.
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Bronze head of Augustus around 27-25 BC.
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Marble portrait statue of the emperor Septimius Severus (AD 193-211)
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Nereid Monument, a tomb built for Arbinas and his family.
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Parthenon Room containing Elgin's Marbles..
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Head of a horse from the chariot of the moon-goddess Selene.
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The Metopes, the East Pediment.
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More Metopes.
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Marble statue of crouching Aphrodite, Roman 2nd century BC.
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This is a panoramic shot of one piece I stitched together from several pictures.
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Other

We definitely just scratched the surface of this museum. I know for sure we missed some sections, others were closed and those we saw we didn't have time to stick around to get a better look. The rest are some of the other interesting artifacts we saw.
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Native American ceremonial dress.
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This outfit is covered in deer teeth.
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Gold noble of Edward II (1327-77), King of England.
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Winged human-headed bull, Assyrian, about 865-860 BC.
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Sculptures from Khorsabad, the Palace of Sargon (721-705 BC)
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Lily thought this statue showed it was ok for men to carry a purse.
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Game piece for the Royal Game of Ur about 2600 BC.
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This Ur stone helmet was probably not very comfortable.
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Clay tablet of a letter complaining about the delivery of the wrong grade of copper. About 1750 BC from Ur.
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Reconstruction of the Balawat Gates from the palace of Shalmaneser III (858-824 BC)
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