The Spirit of Enquiry
A few days ago I visited the British museum in London. It is huge! Unfortunately my plans got partly obfuscated because of some engineering work going on the railways. I planned to be in the museum by 2 pm but couldnt get there till 4. I litterally had to whiz through the egyptian section of the museum and the Asian and South Asian section. I felt guilty about it. Well the good part is that it didnt have any entry fee so I shall go again when I am in London.
The museum closes at 5:30 but even those 90 mins left me enthralled. I spent much of the time in Egyptian section. The artefacts have been so well preserved. There have been 30 dynasties starting from 3000 B.C. in Egypt. I mean that in itself is overwhelming. It was like opening doors to a parallel universe or something. If this experience was so awe inspiring then I cant imagine how the British explorers might have felt when they came upon such ancient works when very little of this was known to the entire world. It is one quality I like about the British. They are inquisitive. They are adventurous. They have this spirit of enquiry.
I went on to the Asian and South Asian section. That was equally wonderful. Ofcourse I had seen some of the items on display back home in India but there were many things that I had not seen. Like coins used in the early medieval times. The map showing the ancient world stretching from Patliputra (Patna) through Taxila (Takshashila; now in Pakistan) to Istanbul and beyond into Europe. What a great time it must have been to be alive that time. Full of adventure. If I were alive that time, I would definitely have been ostracized for crossing the Indus. Then people would read about me like Marco Polo, Huen Tsang :)
It was a warehouse of information. All the items were well displayed and well described. On the way out, I came across the Rosetta stone. I had seen it in the school text book. In that i had seen it as a chunk of black stone thats it. Well it is a chunk of black stone alright. But it has a text which is printed in Egyptian heiroglyphics, greek and latin at the same time. Its like a Ancient Egyptian - Greek dictionary.
Overall it was a good experience. Kind of time travel into the past.
The museum closes at 5:30 but even those 90 mins left me enthralled. I spent much of the time in Egyptian section. The artefacts have been so well preserved. There have been 30 dynasties starting from 3000 B.C. in Egypt. I mean that in itself is overwhelming. It was like opening doors to a parallel universe or something. If this experience was so awe inspiring then I cant imagine how the British explorers might have felt when they came upon such ancient works when very little of this was known to the entire world. It is one quality I like about the British. They are inquisitive. They are adventurous. They have this spirit of enquiry.
I went on to the Asian and South Asian section. That was equally wonderful. Ofcourse I had seen some of the items on display back home in India but there were many things that I had not seen. Like coins used in the early medieval times. The map showing the ancient world stretching from Patliputra (Patna) through Taxila (Takshashila; now in Pakistan) to Istanbul and beyond into Europe. What a great time it must have been to be alive that time. Full of adventure. If I were alive that time, I would definitely have been ostracized for crossing the Indus. Then people would read about me like Marco Polo, Huen Tsang :)
It was a warehouse of information. All the items were well displayed and well described. On the way out, I came across the Rosetta stone. I had seen it in the school text book. In that i had seen it as a chunk of black stone thats it. Well it is a chunk of black stone alright. But it has a text which is printed in Egyptian heiroglyphics, greek and latin at the same time. Its like a Ancient Egyptian - Greek dictionary.
Overall it was a good experience. Kind of time travel into the past.
posted by Rohit Bhat at
01:51
2 Comments:
Did you get a chance to visit the Science museum? Do take the simulation ride in it ... worth 5 pounds dude
-Amey
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