British Museum

One of the really cool places we visited in London was the British Museum which is dedicated to human history, art, and culture. It originates from all continents, illustrating and documenting the story of human culture from its beginnings to the present. It is overwhelmingly huge so Connor and I knew we couldn't see everything. Thankfully, the map the museum gives you highlights about a dozen can't-miss-things so we decided to check them out, stopping at a few others along the way. 

In 196 BC King Ptolemy V created the Rosetta Stone, which issued a decree in Egypt. The decree appears in three scripts: the upper text is Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs, the middle portion Demotic script, and the lowest Ancient Greek. Because it presents essentially the same text in all three scripts, the stone provided the key to the modern understanding of Egyptian hieroglyphs.

These are statues of the goddess Sekhmet who is the daughter of the sun god Ra

Sarcophagus, which were reserved for royalty and the elite. On this one, the name has been erased to curse him

These panels depict lion hunting, which was a sport reserved for royalty

A lot of the relics missing from the Parthenon are here

Hoa Hakanai'a from Easter Island

Three out of eight structures that are a set of luohan, who are Buddhist wise men that have attained Nirvana (the end of rebirth and suffering in this world)

Bronze diety

Samurai Armor 

Kerma cultural burial from around 2050-1750 BC found in Northern Sudan

the Lewis Chessmen, one of the most famous chess board in the world

wall painting from Saint Stephen's Chapel from 1363

It felt strange walking through the museum because it almost seemed like passing through stolen history. When we had visited Greece, I remember reading that people were upset that the British Museum has so many pieces of the Acropolis and other relics. Egyptians feel the same way. I can completely understand why these countries want parts of their culture returned to them. But I can also understand the British Museum's point of view; they spent the time, effort, and money into researching, locating, and retrieving these artifacts and if they hadn't they might have been destroyed or never found at all. Either way, I really appreciated the opportunity to be see all of these amazing pieces of history first hand.