MISS ELAINEOUS VISITS THE BRITISH MUSEUM (AGAIN!)

You have to hone in on certain things when you visit here as the place is so vast.  On this occasion we made a point of seeking out the Rosetta Stone and the Elgin Marbles.  On my previous visit I ventured into the Egyptology section alone, and here's my blog link to that:

https://elainerockett.blogspot.com/2018/05/miss-elaineous-visits-british-museum.html

The queueing system here nowadays is horrendous.  There is one queue for pre-booked (free) tickets and another- around the corner from the main entrance- for those who haven't booked.  What's that all about?  Either make it pre-booked only, or unbooked only; not both.  Also, the way the security guard conducting bag searches spoke to the SuperDean was truly horrendous.  I know that anyone can have a bad day, and that dealing with the general public can be stressful, but he was just obnoxious (hence the two star review I put on Tripadvisor- one point each for the Stone and the Marbles).

Back to the job at hand, and here is the Rosetta Stone, with an explanation next to it.

The Rosetta Stone is a stone of black granodiorite (coarse grained igneous rock) bearing three inscriptions which are key to deciphering the Egyptian scripts.  The stone itself is known as a stele (a stone or wooden slab generally longer than it is wide) and the top and middle texts are in Ancient Egyptian using hieroglyphic and Demotic scripts.  Hieroglyphics were the formal writing system used in Ancient Egypt, and consist of syllabic and alphabetic elements, and contain more than 1,000 distinct characters.  Demotic is derived from northern types of heiratic (abridged heiroglyphics adhering to early methods as laid down by religious tradition) used in the Nile Delta.  The bottom section is written in Ancient Greek, which was used from 1500 BC to 300 BC.

The stone was carved during the Hellenistic period (this period in history is after Classic Greece, and sits between the death of Alexander the Great, in 323 BC and before the death of Cleopatra VII in 30 BC.

The three versions of text are called the Rosetta Stone decree, or the Decree of Memphis.  The decree was issued in 196 BC during the Ptolemaic dynasty (the longest and last dynasty of ancient Egypt).

It was found in the town of Rashid (Rosetta) by the French in 1799.  When the British defeated the French, in 1801, they took possession of the stone and, since 1802, it has been on display in the British Museum.  It is the most visited object here.

We then headed a couple of galleries further in to view the Elgin Marbles.  They are a collection of Ancient Greek sculptures from the Parthenon and other stuctures in the Acropolis of Athens.

Heres a view of the friezes- high relief Pentelic (fine grained calcitic marble from the quarries at Penteli, north of Athens) marble sculptures- down the main gallery.  Metopes (carved plaques) and pediments (3D statues) sit on their own at each end. 

Agents of Thomas Bruce, the 7th Earl of Elgin, removed the marbles and placed them in the British Museum between 1801 to 1812.

There are a couple of information boards and no, the Elgin Marbles is not a game played by boys way up on the east coast of Scotland...😉 

The Parthenon is a former temple, and the marbles are held in various collections, but mostly here in the British Museum and the Acropolis Museum in Athens. 

Elgin stated that he had permission to remove the sculptures from the Ottoman officials, but the legality of his actions has since been disputed. 

Elgin sold the sculptures to the British government in 1816.  Although, that year, it was decreed that he had acquired them legally, his actions have been described as vandalism or looting. 

In 1983 the Greek government formally asked that the British government to return them to Greece...

Metopes in the end room... 

A closer view, and here's a man with...  I'm not sure if he's a satyr (half man half goat) or a centaur (half man half horse)... 

This is likely to be a satyr, as they're often represented as being lecherous, and this one appears to have an erection... 

The pediments consist of humans and beasts...

This was my favourite part of this collection...

Honing in, and there were seats where you could rest awhile.  This whole gallery is spacious and quiet, and I found the peace and subdued lighting very therapeutic.

The view from one end of the pedestal, and the dispute regarding where the Parthenon Marbles belong is ongoing.

More pediments at the other end of the main room...

The Parthenon was built on the Acropolis of Athens, from 447 BC, as a temple to the goddess Athena.

Before leaving the museum I just had to take a photo of their wonderful library; which contains between 170 and 200 million items from around the world.  It is a major research library.

Ceiling view, and the British Museum was established in 1753.

We chilled out for a while in nearby Russell Square.  It's such a shame that this traffic cone is marring my photograph, but I've no one to blame but myself!

This precarious-looking sculpture is called Echo, and is by Joe Duggan.  It is recent-2024- and, according to the accompanying plaque "invites us to contemplate the fleeing nature of idealogies and the unseen forces shaping our world."

I do hope the British Museum manages to sort out it's ticketing system by the time I next care to visit.  I also hope they teach their security guards how to deal with the general public properly- that particular guy is lucky he did not end up with a punch on the snout.

Anyway, I'm sure I'll return.

Until then...

TTFN

Miss Elaineous

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MISS ELAINEOUS VISITS THE MUSEUM OF THE HOME...

 The Museum of the Home used to be called the Geffrye Museum and is in Hoxton, London.  It sits inside former almshouses- charitable housing provided to a particular community; especially representing the poor.

Refurbishment took place between 2019-2021, and the change of name occured with its relaunch.  It's meant to represent homes and home life from the 1600s to the present day.

We started with a look at their gardens; part of Gardens Through Time.  These sit to the back of the property, and there are six sections to traverse.

Cottage style garden, inspired by the Edwardian age...

Greenhouse in the Victorian garden...

 This elevated area houses a beautiful inside corridor and mural...

 These basement galleries are new, and are called the Home Galleries.  They describe the concept of home through people's lived experiences.

This John Evelyn cabinet dates from 1652, and is made from ebony with engraved ivory doors.

 I did find these galleries a bit of a mish-mash, with not much in the way of order to the rooms, which jumped from old to new and back again.  Even so, they were pleasant to wander through.

There were some nice individual items, such as this 1876 Royal Worcester tea service.

 ...And this gorgeous little owl lamp.😀

Selection of vacuum cleaners...

This room houses Endurance & Joy in the East End- the photography of David Hoffman.  The photos were taken from 1971-1987.

Chairs, and I love the poppy-coloured 1973 Terence Conran delight to the left!

Lighting explored, from candlelight to gas then electricity...

The SuperDean just had to strike a pose.  How very louche!

Some form of Nintendo game (I am clueless about such things!) and the SuperDean had to have a go...😁 

Audio visual communications devices...

Games, and this wall down the length of the corridor was mostly given to personal experiences. Love and loss, faith, housework, comfort and entertainment were all touched upon.

A modern mural, and this part questions whether you had to take your shoes off inside your house or were allowed to keep them on.  Both me and the SuperDean fell into the latter category.

This section is about 1700s codes and manners...

This section is about keeping clean, as bathrooms were not a regular feature inside houses until the early 1900s.

Sewing box and tea service, both from the 1700s.

Front room, Islington High Street, 1968 painting by Frank Stanton.

Eric Slater for Shelley Potteries 1930 tea service.

The second part of the garden- taken through the window...

We couldn't just stroll straight through due to maintenance work taking place, so we nipped out of the end door to see the rest of the garden.

This is the knot garden.

These were popular in Tudor times, and were designed to be seen from above.  Here you can see an Elizabethan-style maze.

Functional and practical garden, which includes vegetables and herbs.  Herbs are used for fragrance, for flavouring food and in medicines and healing remedies.

Compost heaps at the back...

Georgian garden...

The Rooms Through Time section is very much as I remembered (I've been here once, if not twice, before).  We had a red telephone just like that when I was a kid- British Telecom's standard supply!

 The interiors are designed to reveal rich and unique stories, rather than be about the artefacts themselves...

A hall in 1630.   The whole household, including the servants, would eat here.

Windsor armchair c.1760.  There are about 30,000 items in the museum's collection, most of which are in storage.

A parlour in 1695.  A parlour was a space for entertaining and showing off status and wealth though furnishings.  Servants would join the family once they had finished their tasks.  I especially like the c.1685 lightweight cane chair, with its cough candy twists. 

1745 parlour, and by the fire you can see the cleaning implements used by the servants.  They would have risen before sunrise, to get the room spick-and-span before the family awoke.

 This gorgeous mural gallery sits behind the Chapel, and used to be called the Garden Reading Room, with benches by the windows.  I think they need to reinstall the benches!  It's my favourite part of the museum.

 The view from this gallery.  This is on the Kingsland Road side.

 It has been noted that the level of wokery throughout the museum is annoying (I loathe political correctness, and think it should be banned) and that some of the facts represented throughout are innacurate.  I didn't read all of it- and certainly haven't researched all of it- but just be aware if you visit yourselves.

The Chapel is 300 years old, and this beautiful, peaceful space sits at the heart of the museum.

Almshouse reidents were required to attend services here every week.

A 1790s parlour, which would have been kept light, bright and spotless to impress guests.  cards are on the table; in readiness for entertaining.

This 1830s drawing room was probably my favourite room in this section.  It was a female domain, used for activities such as reading or painting.

The sofa dates from around 1820.  Sofas became common in homes from the early 1800s.

At the end of this section we nipped outside to see the original "front" of the museum, facing Kingsland Road.  The building dates from 1714 when it was almshouses to house the widows of ironmongers, founded by Sir Robert Geffrye, a merchant and former Mayor of London.

Up to 56 pensioners lived here, but they were moved out in 1911 and the building became a museum in 1914.

This is the curved Branson Coates Wing, and the first room depicts a Chelsea townhouse from 1878.

Note the toys on the floor- this household contains children.

Pashmina Shawls are slung across the chair, after the family's ayah (children's nanny) brought them with her from India to sell, during the time of the British Raj, when the family who employed her returned to Britain.  She can make extra cash from them, but she will have to find work with a new family to be able to travel back. 

A tenement flat in 1913.

This depicts a Jewish family's table set for Shabbos (the Sabbath).

Clothes washing in the copper boiler...

Washing hanging outside...

This tenement is based on the Rothschild Buildings, and each flat had its own toilet.  That was a rarity in East End homes in those days.

I remember khazis like these from school, and I was always worried that the contraption was going to land on my head!

1956 terraced house bedroom...

This is depicted as belonging to Irish newleyweds who are getting ready for a night out dancing. 

I love this bathroom, and would be happy to have that nowadays!

It's clearly inspired by Art Deco style.

Barbecue area in the garden of the next installation...

A 1978 terraced house from the nearby De Beauvior Estate.  This living room depicts how the children of the Windrush generation would have fashioned their homes.

High-rise flat, 2005, and this is meant to be a LGBTQI+ household.  High-rise living has a very mixed reputation- firstly, for being undesirable after decades of lack of funding, secondly for being controversial following the 1980s Right to Buy scheme, which led to a lack of social housing. 

The poster of Margaret Thatcher as a Disco Diva is most interesting!!!!😁 

Clothes rails are an easy method of storage in a confined space, and the bed is covered in club memorabilia.

Sausage rolls on the bed, with a TV and a stereo in the room, and the occupants of the flat are looking for a LGBTQI+ flatmate to join their household.

This cute "Bizarre" Clarice Cliff Collectors Club teapot dates from 1997 and must have been an homage to her, as she died in 1972!  Apparently, a teapot like this served as a piggy bank in a 1970s Gay Liberation Front Commune.

2024 terraced house, where a Vietnamese family live.  It depicts a young woman visiting her parents for lunch and karaoke!

The parents first worked as tailors when they came to Britain.  You can see a sewing machine to the left.

The kitchen, and I love the moving picture to the right!  

I do think this museum have gone a tad overboard with the inclusivity thing, and in doing to they've made some communities exclusive- and displayed them as some kind of circus turn.  I'm of the thought that they live in the same way as everyone else, do the same- and strive for the same- things.

I love the colour of this simple sofa, with storage space underneath, in the 2049 Innovo Home of the Future.

This is supposed to represent the view from the window...

A compact living space, and in this fantasy world the Thames has burst, greenhouse gasses are decling and Kent has joined the EU and houses over 3 million climate refugees.

This chair was actually quite comfortable...

Could I live here?  Maybe.  I'm unsure!

Roots and Clouds is a 2024 animation by Isobel Mascarenhas-Whitman and Alex Tennyson.  You can float across London in some of the rooms depicted in this curve.

This is a SuperDean photo of the funky ceiling atop the entrance to the Branson Coates Wing.

 All in all, it was an interesting museum to visit, and it's certainly worth a couple of hours of your time.  What it needed, though, is an accompanying brochure- they know where I am if they wish to utilise my services with regard to putting one of those together... 

TTFN

Miss Elaineous

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