The Great Court opened by Queen Elizabeth II in 2000
Not free, but very good value at £12, the British Museum runs 90 minute Highlight Tours of some of the most well-known of its millions of artefacts from all over the world including the Rosetta Stone, the Lewis Chessmen, the enormous Easter Island basalt statue known as Hoa Hakanai’a, the fabulous human-headed winged bulls from Assyria and much more.
Kind Ramesses II about 1279-1213 BC
For me, the British Museum has above all been about the wonderful sculptures and wall paintings from ancient Egypt – though as a child the mummies in their sarcophagi used to terrify me. The Pharaohs may have been cruel and incestuous and probably quite ugly to boot, but their statues and masks speak of a transcendent serenity.
Very interesting museum though small compared with the British Museum. It was built partly on the model of our V&A in London. I particularly liked the artefacts from Asia and the room of pianos and harpsichords. The current exhibition of tattoos left me cold. Some were plain revolting. On show was a wide variety of the tools used in the process.
The ancient Egyptian sculptors were wonderful at this sort of transcendent beauty. According to the British Museum info, the original statue was between 7.5 and 8m tall, and stood on the West Bank of the Nile at Thebes.. You can see this fabulous head in the Great Court.
