The British Museum
Bloomsbury - London, UK
We spent most of the day at the museum and I feel like I just scratched the surface. You could probably come here every day for a month and still only get to experience a fraction of the treasures and history here.
Here are some photos of things that I found especially interesting.
Sir Robert Cotton (left) and Martin Folkes (right) sculptures by Louis-François Roubiliac. Folkes looks a lot like Jim, our security guard at my job.
Sculpture casts of Osiris and other Egyptian gods and goddesses (by Ephraim Gerrish Stannus).
This is the Bust of Clytie from the Charles Townley collection. Clytie is a character from Greek mythology who was once the lover of the god Helios. Later after she had been spurned, she protested by sitting naked on the rocks and starting at the sun without food or water for nine days. The bust was said to have been created around 40 to 50 A.D. and was found near Naples.
This bust of Zeus was donated to The British Museum by J.T. Barber Beaumont in 1836. It's from the villa of the Roman Emperor Hadrian at Tivoli and was sculpted in the 2nd century A.D.
Campo Iemini Venus
This statue of Venus is from the second century and was found at Campo Iemini in 1794. It was eventually part of the collection of King George IV and was donated to The British Museum in 1834 by King William IV.
Another statue from the Charles Townley collection. Minerva is the Roman goddess of wisdom and strategic warfare. She was the Roman equivalent of Athena in Greek mythology. The white marble head of this piece is from the 2nd century AD and was found on the Esquiline Hill in Rome. The helmet and bust were added by Carlo Albacini in 1783.
