A Short Visit to the British Museum

 I can't believe we are now in London! Even I have to admit that we move around a lot. Its already been a month and we are fairly settled and trying to explore the city at a slow pace. With two kids (and no car yet), it is always a bit tricky to take them out anywhere.

Of course we moved just in time for rainy season which means we started most of our sightseeing with museums. And the first one I visited was the British Museum, a public museum which has pretty much everything.

The museum was set up in 1753, and opened 6 years later. It continued to expand its collection following British colonisation so as you can imagine, you will see artifacts from all over the world. Of course, it is no surprise that a lot of countries have started to demand that these artifacts be repatriated back to their home countries.

The main entrance of the museum looks Greek-like, and usually there is a line up to go in. However, the line moves fast and if you have a buggy, usually they let you go through a fast-track lane.

Given the scale and size of the museum, I was only able to explore two sections with the kids, that is the Egyption, Greek and part of the Assyrian section. These were all on the first floor. However, these themselves were massive sections. Other departments in the museum looked at British and European history, history of Asia, history of Africa, Oceania, and the Americas as well as a department of coins and medals.

Even though the number of artifacts and the scale were truly impressive, the way the artifacts were presented was not particularly interesting. In fact, I was somewhat dismayed at the amount of information presented for the artifacts. Usually, modern museums present ample writing and narrative to provide a story to the artifact, but in this case, there wasnt much information presentation on the walls or otherwise, nor were the artifacts presented in a manner that they would invoke any story telling. As a result of the lack of information or stories, my daughter found it particularly boring.

Still, I am assuming that the purpose of this museum is to conserve and research artifacts and not necessarily excel in science communication. Given the very little interest expressed by my daughter, I grazed through parts of the exhibits and then ended up at the museum cafe, where the food was well... decent. 

I'm planning another visit, but this time without the kids and can probably give another adult review.