British Museum

Yesterday Kjell Steinar and I took the trip to central London to visit the British Museum. What is so great about museums in London is that there is no admission fee, so if you’re on a budget and are looking for something fun, enlightening and interesting, a trip to the museum is not such a bad idea.

The closest tube station to the museum is Tottenham Court Road, which is on both the Central and Northern Line. Once you arrive here the British Museum is just a short walk away, about 10 minutes, and on the way you walk past several different book shops and for those of you interested, even a whiskey shop.

The Rosetta Stone

The British museum is one of London’s most visited attractions and is one of the world’s oldest and finest museums. Inside this gorgeous building you will find more than seven million objects that are devoted to Egypt, Western Asia, Greece, the Orient, Africa, Italy, the Etruscans, the Romans, prehistoric and Roman Britain and medieval antiquities. As the museum is huge, it could be wise to make a few focused visits to the parts that interest you the most. I am very much interested in Egyptian history, so I really enjoyed this part of the museum. They have mummies, sarcophagus, sculptures and so much more. The one thing that fascinated me the most is the Rosetta Stone. When I was in Egypt a few years ago I was so sad when our guide told us about this historical stone and that it was located in London and not in Egypt. But now I am so glad that I’ve finally seen it, as this is the stone that helped us understand and decipher Egyptian hieroglyphs. The stone is divided in three texts; the upper one is Egyptian hieroglyphs, the middle one in Egyptian demotic script, and the lower text in ancient Greek.

Kjell Steinar in the Greek and Roman life

But of course, the British Museum offers so much more than just ancient Egyptian history. A collection of old coins, Greek and Roman antiquities, old clocks and watches, Europe through history and Chinese ceramics to mention a few. You are guaranteed to find something that interest you, and you can go through the museum on your own or you can rent a multimedia guide that will guide you through the highlights of the museum, and this is available in 11 languages. They also have activities for children so that the whole family can enjoy a day here. There are also a few cafés and gift shops around where you can take in everything that you’ve seen. I really enjoyed our day here, and I would not mind going back some other time to learn more about the wonders of the world. 

Inside the museum

Kjell Steinar in the museum

A rolling ball clock from about 1820

Sarcophagus

Statue in the ancient Greece department

An old chessboard

All of the pictures are my own