By: Briana Muller, Spring 2020 London Correspondent
The British Museum (BM) is another museum that offers free admission. Not only is it worth the visit for its free admission, but it is also a great place to learn about human history, art and culture. Its permanent collection of about eight million artifacts is among the largest in existence, having been widely sourced during the British Empire era. The BM presents collections from all over the world including the Americas, Ancient Egypt, Asia, Ancient Greece and Rome, Africa, Middle East and Europe. To cover all of these areas, it will definitely take more than one day. I went to this museum on tour with one of my classes; we had the opportunity to visit the rooms of Egypt and the Americas.
The British Museum is well-known for their Egyptian artifacts, as there are several rooms dedicated to Egyptian culture and history. One of these rooms has a long history of textile production dating back to the fourth millennium BC. When other parts of the world textiles did not survive, due to Egypt's dry climate, textiles survived in abundance. The British Museum has around 500 textiles from the first millenium BC onwards. Another room was about Mummification, Magic and Ritual. These three factors are investigated through the objects on display in this room, including mummies, coffins, funerary masks, portraits and other items designed to be buried with the deceased. It was interesting to see that even animals were mummified, such as cats and fish. There were lots of human remains, mummified bodies and coffins which was different than most museums I am used to. The history of money was another room I visited and it was traced back to more than 4,000 years ago, which I thought was incredible. During this time, money has taken many different forms, from coins to banknotes, shells to mobile phone payments. This gallery displayed the history of money around the world. Looking at the history of money gives me a way to understand the history of the world and how important money really is.
One of the museum’s most visited artifact is the Rosetta Stone. This stone holds the key to understanding Egyptian hieroglyphics. It was amazing to see this in person and to physically see it in front of me. Another cool element I was able to observe was the lifestyle and fashion of these people. This was my favorite part of the museum. For any fashion major, this was a cherry on top to learn more about how fashion was incorporated into these peoples’ lives. For example, men and women both wore beaded jewelry. Some tombs had jewellery inside with specific materials that held significant meaning. They used combs made of wood or bone to fix their hair because hairdressing was very important to the early Egyptians. Necklaces were made of beads, strung piece by piece. Bangles were popular amongst women and children and were cut from ivory, bone or conch shells in the First Dynasty. Finger rings were rare and were generally created of bone or pretty shells. Forehead pendants were made of seashells and were found on both men and women to express their social rank. Cosmetics consisted of three minerals: red ochre (iron oxide), green malachite (copper carbonate), and black galena (lead sulphide). They were grounded to powder with a rounded pebble and then mixed with oils or fats before application. Both men and women wore makeup and the wealthy had access to perfumed oils, often imported from abroad. Sandals were a common choice for footwear and they were made of palm leaves.
A major highlight I took away from this museum was to learn more about the history between Britain and other areas of the world. It was great to have access to all of these places in one museum. It is also fun for a fashion major to see how clothing was incorporated into historical lifestyles and to compare it to how we live today.
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