with nary a thing planned today after a busy Saturday, I managed to kick myself off my bed after realizing that spending an entire day listening to Neil Young and half-heartedly reading a book might not be the most ambitious of schedules, even for a lazy Sunday-aficionado such as myself. Thus did I find myself heading to the British Museum under a typically undecisive sky, with a firm commitment to finally seeing the fabled mummies. Not that this project could be considered a sign of self-motivation, considering I live a short 15 minute (if that) walk away and that I've already been countless times. But at least it would get me to stop listening to laments about heartbreak and southern men, and in that sense the decision to go seemed like a small moral victory over my shiftlessness.
One thing that is nice about visiting a museum several times is being able to able a personal relationship with it, establishing your own preferences, shortcuts and itineraries. I was lucky enough to frequent the Met in NYC enough to kind of feel a measure of ownership over it, and I see it as a good thing. Trying out new places is great and the definition of curiosity, a quality I always try to strive for, but for situations like today, familiarity is more than acceptable.
Once inside I quickly made my way to the Egypt wing, which for some reason I cannot recall ever having been, despite having visited the British 4 or 5 times. Unfortunately most of the rooms were thronged like all superstar museum can be on a summer day, rendering difficult any prolonged observation. Pestering about tourists is a bit easy considering we all are one at some point in our lives, so I'll simply state that if people understood how pointless it is to pose in front of a glass-encased mummy to have your picture taken with the flash on, I think the world might be a slightly better place. I did find some respite in the other Middle-East rooms, where I spent some time learning about ancient Mesopotamia and Phoenicians.
Most of the exhibits in this wing are well done, but the explanations given are a bit dry. It seems to me that the notecards in the fantastic Asia room, which I never fail to call on during my visits to the museum, contain a more personal description of the artefacts and thus give one a sense of how people lived in these times. Or perhaps it's that I feel personally more engaged by that region than the Middle-East, that's a definite possibility. Either way I was glad to finally have stepped into the realm of mummies and scrolls, and have no doubt in my mind that future visits will include these rooms in my customized walk through the museum.
a few more pictures:
One thing that is nice about visiting a museum several times is being able to able a personal relationship with it, establishing your own preferences, shortcuts and itineraries. I was lucky enough to frequent the Met in NYC enough to kind of feel a measure of ownership over it, and I see it as a good thing. Trying out new places is great and the definition of curiosity, a quality I always try to strive for, but for situations like today, familiarity is more than acceptable.
Once inside I quickly made my way to the Egypt wing, which for some reason I cannot recall ever having been, despite having visited the British 4 or 5 times. Unfortunately most of the rooms were thronged like all superstar museum can be on a summer day, rendering difficult any prolonged observation. Pestering about tourists is a bit easy considering we all are one at some point in our lives, so I'll simply state that if people understood how pointless it is to pose in front of a glass-encased mummy to have your picture taken with the flash on, I think the world might be a slightly better place. I did find some respite in the other Middle-East rooms, where I spent some time learning about ancient Mesopotamia and Phoenicians.
Most of the exhibits in this wing are well done, but the explanations given are a bit dry. It seems to me that the notecards in the fantastic Asia room, which I never fail to call on during my visits to the museum, contain a more personal description of the artefacts and thus give one a sense of how people lived in these times. Or perhaps it's that I feel personally more engaged by that region than the Middle-East, that's a definite possibility. Either way I was glad to finally have stepped into the realm of mummies and scrolls, and have no doubt in my mind that future visits will include these rooms in my customized walk through the museum.
a few more pictures:
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