The British Museum

Kevin here.  One of the highlights of our time in London was our trip to the British Museum.  Actually, we made two trips there.  In fact, we specifically chose the location of our flat in London based on it's proximity to this great museum.  It's about a 10 minute walk, located in a lovely area of London called Bloomsbury.

If you don't know, the British Museum is arguably the greatest antiquities museum in the world.  It's truly one of a kind.  This museum is so large that in the 6 hours or so we spent there, we saw maybe 10% of the artifacts.  It has over 100 "rooms" of artifacts.  And I think we spent our time in about 8-10 rooms.  And here's a mind-blowing fact:  only 1% of the artifacts that the museum owns is actually on display.

So, in order to make sure that we saw some of the foundational things that we thought the kids would most benefit from, we took two trips to concentrate on two areas:  first, Ancient Egypt and second, the Greco-Roman artifacts.

In front of the British Museum.

It was pretty crowded when we went.  Not "summer/high-season" crowded. But it was "british kids on easter holiday" crowded, which is not far off apparently. But one positive outcome of that was the availability of child-friendly materials that our kids found deeply engaging.  They spent the bulk of their time on essentially a scavenger hunt through the antiquities of the British Museum, locating and learning all kinds of things.  It was really encouraging to see the kids so deeply invested in their time there.  And it's a testament to the work of the museum to create high quality materials for kids.  It can be done.  And it's cool to see it happen.  Well done.

The kids on a scavenger hunt for antiquities.

More scavenging.

Working together on their assignments.

The ancient Egyptian rooms were a marvel.  Room after room of the oldest things we've ever seen:  tools, pots, burial accompaniments, death masks, monuments, sculpture, mummies.  Some of these things were 6,000 - 8,000 years old.  Think about that for a second.  When's the last time you saw something that old?  It reminds me of a scene from an old Steve Martin movie called "L.A. Story." While showing a British woman (played by Victoria Tennant) around L.A., Martin's character points towards some houses and says "Some of these homes here are more than twenty. years. old!"  A visit to a museum like this puts American history in perspective.  I mean, there are some artifacts in the museum whose civilizations I had never even heard of.

One of my favorites: ancient statues of people preparing beer!  Believe it!

And of course the capper:  The Rosetta Stone!

Anna & Justin with the Rosetta Stone.

But the Ancient Greece and Rome exhibits were just as fascinating.  Probably the highlight was seeing the controversial Elgin Marbles from the Parthenon.

Homeschooling never ends:  Kelly and the kids investigate the marbles from the Parthenon.

More really old stuff.

Kelly spent a good deal of time with the kids helping them to appreciate and understand what they were seeing.  The kids were very engaged.

Studying treasures from the Parthenon together.

Kelly helps Justin find certain pictures hidden throughout the Elgin Marbles.

Justin reads through some of the information about the Parthenon and the Acropolis.

It's a truly remarkable place.  The British Museum does indeed have an embarrassment of riches.  I failed to get a picture of this... but on the way to the restroom (the toilet, as they say) I saw a 500-year old tapestry on the wall.  That's the kind of place this is:  500-year old tapestries get shoved into out-of-the-way spots near the bathrooms.

The kids loved it and were very engaged by it all.  Kelly and I were mesmerized.  But... we were also frustrated.  There is so much here to see, so much to learn.  And we only saw a fraction of it.  It's an amazing place that everyone ought to see.

The British Museum is now at the top of the list of things to see again during our next trip to London.  True that.

The kids loved the British Museum.  No, really!