The Room of Enlightenment

The day ended, both literally and figuratively, with a bang.

As the 5^th of November approaches, anxious Britons have begun practicing with small-scale fireworks displays. You know...the 5^th of November?? Guy Fawkes? “Remember, remember the 5^th of November,”? Anyone? Blowing up the Houses of Parliament? Anyone at all? No? No worries. It's like the British equivalent to the 4^th of July. Except not really at all because the 4^th of July is purely ANTI-British. Either way, I'm lucky enough to be able to partake in hooligan tomfoolery, simply by proxy. Tons of kids live in this neighborhood and just as I was returning home from a long day I was startled clear out of my wits by a lighted, sparkling firework shooting straight over my head. If I'd been a mere 20 feet taller those boys would've taken my head off! Thankfully, it hit someone's car tire and wheel well instead.

How appropriate, then, that I should conclude my day with a figurative bang as well; MEANING, people, that I visited The Room of Enlightenment.

As much as it sounds like I went on some mythological quest for Ultimate Knowing and found it!, I, in fact, did not. However, it was by complete chance that I ended up outside The Room of Enlightenment. I was on a type of quest, I guess you could say, after I visited Flat White. I wanted to do SOMETHING today other than go into Central, turn around and come home. So, as usual, my solution is to walk the streets until something interesting finds ME. And, as usual, it did. 

Astrological orbit spinny thinger

Frankly, I'm beginning to think I'm in a city where essentially anything can happen. After all, I've found The Museum of Everything AND The Room of Enlightenment, all in one week.

Bust of Hercules

The Room of Enlightenment

Jokes aside, the truth is that The Room of Enlightenment is inside The British Museum, which I stumbled into while expanding my territory east of Covent Garden which is directly east of Soho. “The origins of the British Museum lie in the will of the physician, naturalist and collector, Sir Hans Sloane (1660–1753). Over his lifetime, Sloane collected more than 71,000 objects which he wanted to be preserved intact after his death. So he bequeathed the whole collection to King George II for the nation in return for a payment of £20,000 to his heirs... The founding collections largely consisted of books, manuscripts and natural specimens with some antiquities (including coins and medals, prints and drawings).”

Main atrium, galleries branch off the sides.

Fun Facts:

1. With the exception of two World Wars, the Museum has remained open ever since, gradually increasing its opening hours and moving from an attendance of 5,000 per year to today's 6 million. 

2. In the early part of the nineteenth century there were a number of high profile acquisitions including the Rosetta Stone (1802). Which I made sure to see!!!

There it is. The REAL Rosetta Stone, inches from my face!

3. To make more room for the increasing collections held by the Museum, the natural history collections were moved to a new building in South Kensington in the 1880s. This became the Natural History Museum.

4. The Museum was involved in much excavation abroad. Its Assyrian collections formed the basis for the understanding of cuneiform (an ancient Middle Eastern script). 

 

5. The Museum celebrated its 250th anniversary in 2003 with the restoration of the King's Library, the Museum's oldest room and the launch of a new permanent exhibition Enlightenment: Discovering the world in the eighteenth century.

A REAL mummified scull in a bell jar. No big deal.

“The Enlightenment was an age of reason and learning that flourished across Europe and America from about 1680 to 1820. This rich and diverse permanent exhibition uses thousands of objects to demonstrate how people in Britain understood their world during this period. It is housed in the King’s Library, the former home of the library of King George III.”

It reminded me of Dumbledor's office. Ok, who HASN'T seen HP?

The displays provide an introduction to the Museum and its collections, showing how our understanding of the world of nature and human achievement has changed over time.

The Enlightenment Gallery is divided into seven sections that explore the seven major new disciplines of the age: Religion and ritual, Trade and discovery, the birth of archeology, Art history, Classification, the decipherment of ancient scripts and Natural history.

Ancient coins and manuscripts alllllll over the place.

I think I spent an hour in this room alone, photographing and circling the perimeter at least 3 times. I wanted to stay longer but I figured security might think I was planning a heist. In fact, I spent so long in this room I hadn't the energy to explore the rest of the museum thoroughly, at all. Again, I’ll need to revisit. Even in my limited viewing of it though I give this place a solid 5-star rating.