Week 1: The British Museum

Week 1: The British Museum

The British Museum was one of the most beautiful buildings I had ever seen. When I walked into the room, I was completely in awe of the ceiling. Really I think it was the ceiling I liked so much about the building. Huge, curved glass with a nice geometric pattern. 

After entering the building we, of course, proceeded to the Manga exhibit. I enjoyed the exhibit quite a bit. Manga and anime was something I took interest in when I was in middle school and seeing so much of it, some I even recognized, on display was a lot of fun. They even had a display for Pokemon, which I love. 

After the manga display, we had afternoon tea. Tea was nice. I'm not a big tea drinker, and my stomach hadn't really been up to the snacks, but I had fun anyway. After tea, I proceeded to view other exhibits in the museum.

My favorite part of the museum was definitely the Egyptian artifacts. Ancient Egyptian culture and myth have always been something I've enjoyed learning about. However, I felt conflicted seeing it in this setting. Many of the Greek and Egyptian artifacts in the British Museum were stolen by Great Britain in the colonial era. These countries are constantly campaigning to have their culture returned to them, only to be met with the British sentiment that an English museum is more important than another country's history. 

I was excited to see the artifacts in the British Museum, but the weight of the ethical dilemma of them remaining there weighs heavily on me. I would rather never see them and have them be where they belong than have seen them that day.