The British Museum

The British Museum basically houses the history of civilization....or most of it.  Whether or not Britain SHOULD have all this stuff is another discussion entirely----but the British Museum is huge, amazing, and free.

And now, the photos!

British museum:

1.  The Rosetta Stone.  Yup.  This is it.

2.  The Parthenon Marbles.  These were chipped and sawed away from the Parthenon in Athens by Lord Elgin and carried off to England nearly 200 years ago. Greece would like to have them back, if you please.

3.  Ramesses II....this is the Pharoah that they think was in charge when Moses was doing his thing.  

To paraphrase.....

Moses:  "Let my people go!"

Ramesses II:  "No way"

Moses:  "This won't go well for you"

Ramesse II:  "Bring it."

It did not, as predicted, go well for Ramesses II.  That is all.

4.  Cleopatra---or what's left of her.  I'm guessing that Egypt would like Ramesses and Cleopatra, along with all the other mummies back as well.

5.  The Tree of Life:  This is really powerful---it's in the Africa exhibit.  It was created by artists in Mozambique who crafted it from weapons that were turned in.  Sort of like turning swords into plowshares.  You can read more about it here:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tree_of_Life_(Kester)

6.  This is the Hinton St. Mary Mosaic---it is thought to be the earliest image of Christ.  Read about it here:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hinton_St_Mary_Mosaic