More on the British Museum

We went to the British Museum today. The whole front of it is carved to look like a temple, and it contains collections representing many different ancient cultures. I made it to the exhibits for Greece, Rome, Egypt, and Sutton Hoo (a burial ground for lungs). To start with, Professor Coughlin (art history professor at Bryant) showed a small group of us around.
The first thing we saw was the Rosetta Stone. It was weird standing that close to something that everyone knows about but only from textbooks for most of them. It was difficult at first to comprehend that it was the real one and not a replica, because I'm so used to seeing pictures, or at best, replicas of famous objects. It should be interesting to see the Mona Lisa in Paris. The Rosetta Sont was much larger than I thought it would be. I've been warned, however, that the Mona Lisa will be a lot smaller than people realize.
We then went to the first of the two Ancient Egypt exhibits and saw statues, pyramid guardians, false doors and the like, most of which came from the pyramids. Professor Coughlin gave us some history on a lot of them. My favorites were these two gigantic pyramid guardian statues, which were 4- legged beast and at least 10 feet height. The sculptor carved the legs as a relief, not separate from the rock, most of which was left under the statue. From the front, you could see two legs, and four from the side. But, those were the only two angles it was meant to be viewed from. From a diagonal angle, you could see five legs.
Professor Coughlin then took us through the Greece and Rom exhibits where we saw a lot of statues and temple pieces. We learned that the major difference between Greek and Egyptian art is that Greek art is meant to be realistic and celebrate the body, whereas Egyptian art is meant to be "functional" for the pharoahs' afterlife and more symbolic and decorative than realistically representative. Greek art is also a lot less linear and more 3-dimensional by comparison.
We then went off individually for the remaining time. i saw the second Egypt exhibit, which had a lot of mummies and sarcophoguses (I don't know if that's the right spelling), and even a few mummified animals.
I toured Sutton Hoo briefly before lunch with the result that I don't remember many specifics. On my way out, I saw an exhibit on clockworks that was really interesting. To make a long story short, there are cogs and weights, and its' complicated.
On my way to lunch, a lady who spoke halting but decent English stopped me to get directions to the Greece and Rom exhibit. I was surprised that she picked me out of everyone else to ask directions from until I realized that I was wearing a suit because we were going to Lloyd's of London later. I must have looked like I worked there.
Lunch was pretty good too. i was surprised that museum food would be decent; if nothing else, it was better than Salmo. After lunch the whole group gathered again and we departed for Lloyd's of London.
Matt Ciaffone