The British Museum - Of Mummies and Rosetta Stones

Pretty much every great city in the world has an equally great museum. And in all my travels, I have been fortunate enough to have seen a few REALLY awesome ones; Paris, New York, Chicago, Jerusalem and Rome come to mind.

So when I realized that I had a few hours to kill, I knew that I HAD to check out the British Museum, one of the largest and most comprehensive museums in the world!

I am happy to rank this as my UNDISPUTED FAVORITE museum ever; with collections originating from practically every continent.

Best of all, admission is FREE; with the rationale being that all objects found therein belong to all of humanity. God bless them Brits!

* Accessed via the Holborn or Tottenham Court Road Tube Station, the British Museum was established in 1753 and has a neo-classical exterior. Originally, the collections found therein were all originally owned and thereafter donated by the physician and scientist Sir Hans Sloane. 

* The inside, on the other hand, is a mixture of antique and modern architecture! The Museum paralleled the rise of the British Empire, expanding to add more exhibits as the Empire established more colonies.

* Due to all items being collected (legally or with great coercion) from every continent on earth, there is great controversy with some of the objects on display; particularly with the Elgin Marbles from the Parthenon of Greece. Literally everything you see in this grand hallway was taken from the interior of the Parthenon, leaving only the famous columns and ruins in Athens. The Greeks have long demanded that these priceless artifacts be returned to their homeland.

* One of the more impressive objects in the museum is the Nereid Monument, a sculptured tomb resembling a temple, originally located in Xanthos, Lycia. The whole thing (it's HUGE!) was shipped to Britain from Turkey.

* Also found here are works of art from one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, the Mausoleum at Halicarnassus. The lion (left) is one of the few-standing sculptures remaining from the Mausoleum having survived since 353 BC.

* The Crouching Venus (upper left) hails from the Antonine period and was once referred to by the English as the "finest statue of all" back in 1631. The cult statue of Apollo of Cyrene (upper right) was found in the ancient city of Cyrene, Libya and was crafted in the 2nd Century AD.

* With a collection numbering a staggering 330,000 works, the Department of Middle East contains by far the world's largest and most important collection of Mesopotamian (Assyrian, Babylonian, Sumerian), Persian, Arabian, Syrian, Anatolian, Palestinian and Phoenician artifacts in the world.

* The Lamassu was an Assyrian protective deity depicted with a bull/lion body, eagle's wings and human head. Found at the entrance of every Assyrian city's main gate, its purpose was to convey the Empire's power and prominence.

* From the ruins of Persepolis come these relics from the Ancient Persian Empire: A Persian Soldier (upper left), Subjects, delegates and dignitaries offering tokens to the Persian King (upper right), the lion feasting on the bull (lower left) and Persian armor and weaponry.

* Outside the Egyptian Museum in Cairo, the British Museum has the largest and most comprehensive collection of ancient Egyptian artifacts in the world! Due to its immense size, the exhibition space currently only displays 4% of its Egyptian holdings!

* The Rosetta Stone is one of the British Museum's most prized possessions. Discovered by Napoleon Bonaparte's forces in Egypt back in 1799, the Stone is the reason why we now have a modern understanding of Egyptian hieroglyphs, a question that had stumped scientists and archaeologists for centuries beforehand. Announcing the ascension of King Ptolemy V, the Stone contains the same message in Hieroglyphs, Demotic script and Ancient Greek.

* This COLOSSAL bust of Ramsses II, fondly known as the Younger Memnon, was created in 1270 BC and discovered in Thebes. Celebrated as the greatest and most powerful pharaoh of the Egyptian Empire, Ramsses II was also the pharaoh depicted in the biblical story of Moses!

* Among the other artifacts in the Egyptian exhibit include a sarcophagus (top), Black granite statues of Sekhmet (lower left, 1400 BC), the goddess of healing, and three black granite statues of Sesotris III (lower right, 1850 BC), the pharaoh who built the "Canal of the Pharaohs."

* One of the more featured pharaohs in the museum is Amenhotep III, also known as Amenhotep the Magnificent. It was during his reign that Egypt reached the peak of her artistic and international power. His sculptures here include a limestone bust (left), seated (middle), and colossal red granite (right).

* The Museum also has a collection of 140 mummies and coffins, the largest outside of Cairo. Obviously, this collection is the most popular exhibit among visitors here!

* Coffins in all shapes, colors, and sizes.. literally. They even have coffins for babies and animals!

* The Department of Africa, Oceania and the Americas contains some real trippy statues including the Hoa Hakananai'a (right), the Easter Island statue.

* More creepy than trippy, the Aztec exhibit showcases such items as the Mosaic Mask of Tezcatlipoca (left) and the Aztec Serpent, Quetzalcoatl (bottom).

* The King's Library houses the donated personal library of King George III, containing over 65,000 volumes, maps, charts and drawings. Now THIS is how a home library should look like!

* Not to be outdone, the Department of Asia contains over 75,000 artifacts covering all the cultures of the Asian continent! Very impressive considering that apart from the Indian subcontinent, huge parts of Asia were never colonized by the British.

* Some epic looking statues include The Judgement Figure (top left, Ming Dynasty), and the Seated Luohan from Yixian (bottom).

* More Tibetan/Chinese figures on display! Them Ancient Asians sure had wild imaginations!

* This looks like that crazy, flying, dagger from that Alec Baldwin movie, The Shadow!!

* Not limited to ancient, prehistoric items, the Museum also offers a vast collection of Medieval artifacts, most of which are Christian themed.

* These two troubled-looking fellas are part of the Lewis Chess-set, a group of 12th Century chess pieces made out of walrus ivory.

* A special exhibit features actual items relating to the famous Gladiators of Ancient Rome. Along with helmets, armors and personal property (Right) are actual advertisements promoting the Gladiator games! (Left)

* Those sure are a lot of detailed, sculpted, heads! The craftsmanship and level of quality exhibited by people who lived two thousand years ago never fails to astound!

* Some other cool stuff include: Etruscan Burial Tombs (Top left and Middle left) and a Column from yet another member of Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, The Temple of Artemis in Ephesus (Bottom right).

* Finally, here's a shot of an ancient chap who just happens to look like the Writer. They even got the hand-clasping and "bang-bang" pose right!