I figured out something important about myself over the weekend. Or, more accurately, I figured it out again:  I’m not a camper.

This realization came to me whilst attending a sleepover at the British Museum on Saturday night with my 8 year-old son. He’s a “young friend” at the museum and as with all things, membership has its privileges. In this case, he was invited to attend an evening of workshops surrounding the current Montezuma exhibit, followed by a sleep-over and early morning access to the exhibit.

What’s not to love, right?

Well, a lot, actually. At least if you’re me.

Don’t get me wrong. I’m in awe of the quantity and quality of things that British museums – especially this one – do in the way of inspiring and educating children about art and history. It’s one of the things I love most about living over here. By way of example, in a mere four hours on Saturday night we decoded Mayan glyphs, made a Mexican headdress, chanted to some Aztec Gods and listened to a Day of the Dead Story teller. In short: brilliant.

But then there was the actual sleepover. And here I was less charmed. As I lay there around 2 a.m., wide awake on a cold, stone floor amid the Assyrian statuary…in a sleeping bag (graciously loaned by a neighbor)…with my 8 year-old son lying next to me, grinding his teeth…in a room full of snoring strangers….under the watchful eye of “A Winged Bull For Sennacherib’s Palace” I thought:  Right. This is why I hated camping all those years.

I know. I know. It’s not real wilderness-style camping. But it bears enough similarity to warrant the comparison. To wit:

*relative deprivation from creature comforts (e.g. bed, heating–those statues are cold!, shower, normal food)

*living in groups and listening to/participating in other people’s personal rituals (e.g. sleep, eating, teeth-brushing)

*that curious modern creation that is the sleeping bag

It probably would have helped if I’d had an air mattress instead of the yoga mat I brought to add an extra layer of comfort. (Not.)

It probably also would have helped if I were ten years younger and didn’t yet know the aches and pains of that pesky piriformis muscle that’s been acting up so much lately.

And – to be honest – it probably also would have helped if I were just a different person. I don’t know. Someone who really excelled at Girl Scouts, perhaps. Or didn’t find it really strange to brush my teeth in front of 20 other people.

But I’m not. And much as I love my son, I don’t think I’ll be repeating that exercise anytime soon.

But I’m happy to have learned all of this – again – about myself. Because at the end of the day, adulthood is about realizing who you are and what you enjoy in life.

I had the exact same realization the other day when looking at a friend’s vacation pictures on her computer. As I watched slide show after slide show of her recent family holidays, I realized that in every single one, she and her husband were engaged in some sort of “extreme sport” – whether it was kayaking or mountain climbing or windsurfing.

Whereas when my husband and I take a holiday,we tend to go to a lot of museums (in the daytime!), frequent cafés and catch up on The New Yorker.

Which is, I suppose, a long way of saying “to each his (or her) own.”

It’s also a long way of saying that the next time I spend a Night at The Museum, it will be on film.

Image: Night at the Museum by Frangipani via Flickr under a Creative Commons License.

Hoshino Yukinobu (1954-) e’ uno di quei mangaka il cui tratto e modo di narrare si avvicina molto a quello del fumetto d’autore europeo. Eccellente disegnatore almeno quanto raffinato narratore, nei suoi lavori si riscontrano sempre profonde tematiche legate all’uomo e al suo rapporto con i propri simili e con la natura che lo circonda. Soprattutto ama i racconti fantascientifici e del mistero con risvolti archeologici come nella magnifica serie di Munakata kyoju (Il professor Munakata) che presenta alcuni punti di contatto con il nostro Martin Mystère e che nel 2008 ha vinto il Japan Media Arts Awards nella sezione manga. Un’altra sua importante opera e’ Yamataika, fumetto storico fantascientifico che nel nel 1992 si e’ aggiudicato la ventitreesima edizione del Premio Seiun.
In Italia e’ forse maggiormente noto per la serie di 2001 Nights edita da Flashbook edizioni.
L’importanza e la qualita’ del lavoro di Hoshino e’ evidenziata dal fatto che proprio in questo periodo, dal 5 novembre 2009 al 3 gennaio 2010, lo stesso British Museum sta dedicando una mostra proprio al personaggio del professor Munakata (quasi in contemporanea con una bella esposizione di statuette dogu, le quali compaiono nelle storie del personaggio creato da Hoshino).

La mostra al British Museum e quella all’Accademia di Belle Arti di Torino (14 gennaio-14 febbraio 2010, con opere esposte rappresentanti un percorso storico che va dalla fine del XVII secolo fino al 2009 e che eccezionalmente presentera’ i lavori di ben sette illustratori e fumettisti giapponesi contemporanei noti internazionalmente), sono le punte d’eccellenza di un riconoscimento europeo dell’illustrazione e del manga giapponese contemporaneo come forma d’arte a tutti gli effetti.

Immagine: copertina del primo volume della raccolta Munakata kyoju denkiko, Hoshino Yukinobu, edito da Ushio Shuppansha, 1996

I just came across an excellent website called Untold London. The website explores the histories that relate to all the people of London  as they are told in museums, galleries, archives and community heritage organisations.  The information that is left out or often ignored adds a layer of reality to the stories of the past that, if known, would help us to better relate to and understand the present.

The website is run in collaboration between a number of organisations with experience in the London history and heritage sector, and managed by the London Museums Hub.

Thursday night, Untold London in association with the British Museum launched a downloadable tour of Gay London. You can download this tour here: www.britishmuseum.org/explore/themes/same-sex_desire_and_gender/introduction.aspx

At the launch, Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, Ben Bradshaw praised the initiative calling it “an excellent marker for the rest of the Museum sector.”

Sara Wajid, Manager of UntoldLondon said, “Richard Parkinson, curator at the British Museum told me a story about the bisexual writer Marguerite Yourcenar. She had been walking amongst the imposing displays of the Emperor Hadrian and his lover Antinous at the British museum, but she found nothing there about their passionate relationship. It was the silences in the museum version of their life that sparked her imagination to fill in the gaps about one of the greatest untold love stories. The result was the modern classic Mémoires d’Hadrien a fictionalised account of Hadrian’s life and love for Antinous published in 1951 to great critical acclaim. This was the inspiration for the competition.”

The website does not only cover LGBT history and issues, however. This website collates information from all under-represented groups. The lead news article is about London’s new Jewish Museum, set to bring together an impressive collection held at two locations into one new museum opening in Spring 2010 in Camden Town. Related articles cover the history of Yemen and British Yemenis and the Austrian Cultural Forum.

On a related note, a gay tourist office has recently opened in Soho.  The Gay Tourist Board, located at 30 Lisle Street, London WC2H 7BA (above Ku Bar), will serve as a hub for both LGBT residents of London as well as for the large number of gay and lesbian tourists to the capital.

Centre director Shaun Newport said, “‘We want to show that London’s exciting LGBT life is the best in the world. We will show off what our city has to offer to local, national and international visitors, as well as to Londoners old and new.”

Follow the Gay Tourist Office on Twitter and be a fan on Facebook or visit the website at www.gaytouristoffice.co.uk.

this monumental pillar from the insides of the british museum represents the high sense of sophistication, intellect, and power of a succesful collection of knowledge; which in different ways, it is what we as individuals are all trying to achieve. it is within the reflection of different experiences and historical happenings in which we learn to share the joys and tragedies in life. i just briefly wanted to show my reason to be: to experience and to share.

this is post #200.

The British Museum has never been a stuffy sort of place. It views history as part of the human continuum, not some dusty subject to be stuffed in a dim corner but a vital element in the makeup of ourselves and our cultures. Right now the Museum is living its principles by pairing its astonishing exhibition of dogu - archaic Japanese clay figures – with an exhibition and activities devoted to a high-profile segment of Japan’s modern mass culture: manga. This weekend, on Saturday 21 November, the Museum hosts a free talk on the manga of Yukinobu Hoshino and screenings of several Astro Boy episodes.

Professor Munakata’s Museum Adventure, an exhibit devoted to Hoshino’s star creation, runs until 3 January 2010. I’m speaking about Hoshino’s work on Saturday as part of a lively programme of manga-related talks and activities running into the New Year. This talk is followed by a screening of three Astro Boy episodes from the 1980 colour series, which is free, although booking is advised to ensure access. Full details here.

On 2 December Chie Kutsuwada will ask “What makes manga ‘manga’?” and on 18 December ILYA gives a comic strip artist’s perspective on “how and why manga work.”

If you want to see the dogu, you have to go this week – the exhibition closes on Sunday 22 November and this amazing assembly of early Japanese art will once again be scattered.  Drawn from many public and private collections, it features three of Japan’s National Treasures and many Important Cultural Objects. Some of the figures come  from collections which are not on public view, and to see all the others would involve travelling all over Japan. It makes sense to go and enjoy them in this tranquil, beautifully lit gallery, displayed in spacious cases, with photographs of back views where it isn’t possible to walk around the case and see the whole object.

This is great art – moving, exciting, dynamic and inventive in its use of basic techniques and materials to create and distort form. I’ll be heading back for another look after the screenings, and I urge you to see it for yourself while you still have the opportunity.

Una de las figuras de toros alados con cabeza humana, figuras mágicas que custodiaban la entrada del castillo del rey asirio Sargón II (721 – 705 a.C.)

Bajo relieve Sumerio

Bajo relieve Asirio

Bajo relieve Mesopotámico

The British Museum has been running a free exhibition from 10 September to 22 November 2009 on dogu. As the blurb on the exhibition fliers state:

“This exhibition highlights the beauty and power of remarkable ceramic figures known as dōgu, mysterious masterpieces that were produced in great numbers in prehistoric Japan.”

I went along to this exhibition today (in the pouring rain – thanks British weather system) and saw these charming little gingerbread men like neolithic figures.

Dōgu are from the earliest-dated tradition of pottery manufacture in the world, dating to the prehistoric Jōmon period, which began 16,000 years ago. Most of the figures in the exhibition are from about 2500 BC to 1000 BC (the Middle and Late Jōmon periods) and show the development of the sculptural form over time (British Museum website accessed Nov 14 2009).

Given their age it’s understandable why no-one is entirely clear why the Jōmon people created these figures in the first place. Some think they were totems or emblems used to aid communication between people and spirits. It’s not even always clear if they are men or women, human or animal, or something new and distinct.

The first figure was found in Kamikuroiwa in Shikoku but they have been found all over Northern Japan; from Honshu to Hokkaido. There’s a clear progression in style from the Early to the Final Jōmon periods. As time passed relatively simple designs made by pressing twisted cords of plant fibres into the clay body prior to firing, were embellished by carving, arabesques, relief patterns and rows of dots. Earlier stiff and stationary dōgu were later shown dancing or holding pots. Some dōgu are integrated into vessels that could be lamps, drums or cooking utensils.

The style seems to have reached a pinnacle in the form of the masked dōgu found in Nakappara in Nagano-ken and in the “google-eyed dōgu” which is shown above.

Gallery

Click the thumbnails below for a larger picture.

External links

• Wikipaedia entry on the Jomon period
• Wikipaedia entry on Jomon pottery

We now present the second portion of Amrita’s first visit to the UK.

So, where was I? Ah yes, one more museum.

#6: The British Museum. I’m a huge fan of the atrium Foster did at the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, DC, so of course I wanted to see the “original,” so to speak.  Foster’s first attempt at the technique was actually at the British Museum, and on our last day in London, the Brit and I decided to check it out.  Well, we made it over to that part of town around lunch time and were both really hungry.  I was determined to eat fish ‘n’ chips before I left England. We walked up and down three streets, apparently the only streets in London that don’t have a fish ‘n’ chips place or a pub, spent over an hour looking for a place and finally gave up.  We grabbed a quick lunch of baked potato and wandered back to the museum.  Guess what we found on the street right beside Foster’s masterpiece? Yes, a handful of pubs and fish ‘n’ chip joints.  Go figure.

The atrium at the British Museum. We checked out the actual exhibits, too. The English stole a lot of really nice ancient artifacts.

#7: Hyde Park. I did mention that it was surprisingly sunny and warm for late September when I visited London, right? The Brit and I went for a leisurely walk through Hyde Park, and as we both have incredibly sweet tooths (sweet teeth?), and it was such a gorgeous day, we nibbled on some ice cream as we made our way around the Serpentine.  Deliciously romantic.  When I told Roomie about it, she proposed a Flight of the Conchords analogy, though I’m not sure who is Bret and who is Jermaine…

Not my photo, but that's the park! Thoughts on Hyde vs. Central?

#8: Friends. I was definitely excited about visiting London, because as a design student visiting a new city is a fun way to add to your visual vocabulary. And, of course, I was excited about seeing the Brit after a five-month separation.  One thing I was slightly nervous about was meeting his friends, as anyone in a budding relationship will know. Especially when he told me I’d be meeting two of his oldest friends! But it all went well, no awkward conversations, a lot of joshing around and, as they say, taking the piss.  I think our two groups would mesh rather nicely, though the opportunity for that is a bit slim, since they’re separated by an ocean (or the Equator, in the case of Queen of the Lab).  There’s more to be said on this subject in the post about the next UK visit, as that was the primary goal of the trip.

#9: Slang. Of course, when you’re friends with or dating someone who speaks another language (yes, American English and UK English are different languages) or is from a different culture, you spend a bit of time discussing the socio-linguistic differences. I spent one incredibly funny evening in London hanging out with the Brit and one of his old friends discussing the actual definition of “douche” and the appropriate time to use the word.  Then I learned all kinds of terrible British slang, some of which should never be repeated (um, “wank tank”?), and some of which might come in handy one day.  For example, who knows what “chuffed” means?  Urban dictionary has it kind of right: to be surprised and happy, as in, “I can’t believe I won the lottery, I’m so chuffed!”

#10: Food. And if you know me well enough, you know I can’t visit a place without talking about their food.  The highlights of cheap London dining are as follows. Sandwich places are delicious, the English have mastered the salad sandwich, i.e. chicken salad, egg salad, tuna salad.  They even have chicken tandoori sandwiches, which just sounds wrong, but tastes sooooo good.  The Brit’s mom made us dinner most nights, and it was nice to have some home-cooking (delicious at that) to break up the daily eating out; she made a variety of things, from this Asian-inspired chicken dish to a casserole-esque dish. I don’t know what they were called, I just know they were yummy.  Oh, and at one point we ate out at this South American restaurant, where for £12 we got the largest meal in the world: a steak with an egg on top, lots of rice, salad, beans.  It was iHop sized. The steak was cooked just right.

Well that’s the round-up of the first London trip.  It was quite whirlwind, we covered a bit of ground (physically and topically) in only 4 days. I was sad to leave, but as soon as I saw the Eiffel tower on my way to the apartment, things started to pick back up.

Next time, on Jumping over the lazy dog: Amrita has her first full week of teaching. Dun dun dun.

On a recent visit to the British Museum with my Italian interpreter, a temporary exhibition caught my eye. I share it below:

The Tree of Life

The four artists who created the Tree of Life are Adelino Serafim Mate, Fiel dos Santos, Hilario Nhatugueja and Christavao Canhavato (Kester).

The Tree of Life is meant to symbolize the dynamic creativity of Africa. Mozambique suffered extensively from war and natural disasters in the later 20th century. After the armed struggle for independence from colonial rule ended, Mozambique experienced a civil war from 1976 to 1992 in which the country was used as a pawn in a struggle between opposing world powers. Many millions of weapons poured into the country during the war, most of which remain hidden or buried in the bush. Mozambicans have been encouraged to hand over weapons in exchange for items like plows, bicycles, sewing machines – in one case a whole village gave up its weapons in exchange for a tractor. Some of the weapons are then cut up and turned into sculptures by a group of artists.

Your dashing editor standing next to the Tree of Life to provide some scale:

A closeup on the tree:

And some of the critters on and around the tree:

Throne of Weapons

Made by Cristovao Canhavato (Kester)
in Maputo, Mozambique, 2001

This Throne is made from decommissioned weapons collected since the end of Mozambique’s civil war in 1992. During the war, seven million guns alone poured into the country.

The Mozambican people were encouraged to swap their weapons for agricultural, domestic and construction tools. Artists then turned the decommissioned weapons into sculptures.

This is a contemporary artwork, but thrones and stools are traditionally symbols of powers and prestige in Africa. They are also symbols of discussion and debate.

“The most powerful thing you can do is pick up a book not a gun.”

- Pentonville prisoner

Welcome back. This’ll be the last post of this sort until I take another long trip that is worthy of a daily journal. I sincerely hope you you’ve enjoyed the journey through a handful of locations around England and Scotland. I know I’ve thoroughly enjoyed revisiting these locations in my memories and pictures, as well as my journal. It’s been a blast, but, all good things must come to an end, and this marks the end of my trip. But not the end of my blog. From here on out, I’ll likely take the cheap and easy exit of posting snippets from my NaNoWriMo novel. We’ll see where things go from there. If you have requests or suggestions, I’d love to hear them in the commentary. Onto the last couple entries from my journal.

Oh, and if you’re new to the blog, Welcome! This series of posts actually starts at my old blog that you can find over on Blogspot here. I would recommend you visit it first. If you couldn’t tell, my original journal entries are in grey/white and my commentary is in orange.

Sunday July 5^th 21:11 (London)

I learned how to navigate around closed sections of the underground system today. While it added about 30 minutes to my trip to and from central London I think it taught me a very valuable skill. I’m still thinking I’ll stay out at the Gatwick airport tomorrow night. Today I went down to the Victoria & Albert  Museum and took plenty of pictures of everything from swords and armor to a plaster recreation of the Trajan Column from Rome. I then wandered over to the Science Museum and enjoyed myself in the interactive exhibits, especially the locks and alarms. I successfully navigated the burglar tunnel without setting the alarm off. I grabbed dinner from a noodle bar, but was disappointed in the quality of the noodles. Tomorrow I’m definitely going to the British Museum and the Tower of London, though I’m not sure what else.

Monday July 6^th 0:53 (Gatwick Airport)

Okay, I know technically it’s the 7^th, but I didn’t feel like writing an entry for the 7^th and missing a day. Yesterday was interesting. I woke up feeling utterly horrid. I was certain I had caught a bug. After a hot shower, however, I felt better and went down to Central London. My first stop: The British Museum. The place was huge, and weirdly laid out. But I managed not to get too lost and headed over to the National Gallery for a few minutes, maybe an hour at most. I had a pleasant talk with my Dad and then followed street signs toward Buckingham Palace. Unfortunately the sign for Buckingham Palace disappeared at Parliament Square. Combine that with rain and I decided it was time to hop a train to Tower Hill and visit the Tower of London. The Tower of London is actually (for those not in the know) a fortress. Within are a lot of exhibits, including the English Crown Jewels. I stood in an outside queue to stand in a queue. (really… really annoying.) After 30 minutes (I timed it) of waiting, I got a brief glimpse (yay conveyor belts) of the crown jewels. They were very shiny, shining, pretty, and sparkly. But not worth the wait (while I’m glad I saw them, I still hold to the statement of ‘not worth the wait!’) (a lot of the time was wasted milling in front of ‘movies’ that either showed the Crown Jewels or spit out tidbits about them. I preferred my experience at Edinburgh and seeing the Scottish Crown Jewels my primary like about my experience in Edinburgh was the ability to walk around the jewels and take my time studying them. The English Crown Jewels were on display with two conveyor belts on either side that moved you past them. No, you couldn’t get off the belt and go back to view the other side.). That took me near closing time and I got into the queue to see “Torture in the Tower.” After 10 minutes of waiting in the rain, the door was closed when I was #11 in line with the fellow making up some shit about putting out a ‘closed’ sign earlier, but it getting moved and how he couldn’t admit anyone after 17:30 (my watch read 17:32). My voice joined several others (most ruder than my own words) and I left. I got a burger and an Oreo shake (no fries) from the Gourmet Burger K-something, kitchen maybe, before heading back to the flat with a headache. I took some Ibuprofen and watched the tube while waiting for Roy. I finally got hold of Elaine again and talked with her for a little bit. At 21:10 or so, Roy arrived and drove me to the Victoria Station. We talked about tennis and waiting and he showed me Buckingham Palace. I caught a train (after buying two books) to Gatwick and am now waiting for 05:30 to roll around so I can check in. Delta doesn’t have someone on staff 24/7.

Well, there’s a little more to the story of my return trip. I woke around 8am on the 6th, and remained awake until my arrival home in Norman at 8-10 pm (after visiting friends and dinner and the like) on the 7th. Or was it the 8th by then… I don’t remember. Most of it was a blur. What I do remember is a terrifying flight from Gatwick to Atlanta, Georgia that I didn’t sleep a wink on, and followed that with a 20 minute terror ride of turbulence (say that three times fast) we came into Atlanta. From at Atlanta, my flight was delayed a number of times and I got to know the floor pretty well, while remaining drearily conscious. By the time I got back to Norman, I was tired and a little strung out, but happy to be home and in the presence of good friends (Thank you Shay and Andrew for pickin’ me up from the airport).

I think the biggest thing I learned throughout the trip is the power of human interaction. The portions I enjoyed most from my trip weren’t the awe inspiring cathedrals or breathtaking mountains of the Scottish Highlands, (don’t get me wrong, both of those were awesome) but rather the people I met along the way. I’m eternally thankful to Elaine for opening her home for my weary bones. I’m thank for to Roy and Zalicia for helping me out in London when I didn’t have a place to stay. I’m glad to have met people to talk with all over England.

Lesson to be learned: If you act kind and respectful, you’ll usually get treated that way.

second lesson to be learned: apparently I look like a worthy tour-guide or at least like someone who knows where they’re going, especially when I don’t.

Take care, I’ll have fiction for all of you to wade through next week.

Here are some photos for all of you to enjoy of the Ho Museum in Ghana! Aba Eyifa (who was a participant on the ICTP in 2009) has provided these photos of the work they’ve carried out at the Museum. A member of staff from the British Museum’s Department of Africa, Oceania and Americas also spent some time working with Aba and her colleagues in Ghana.

You can also have a look at the Ho Museum website by clicking here.

Below is an  image of some of the staff of the Ho Museum making mounts for the new exhibition with Heidi from the British Museum.

And here is a photo taken on the Open Day when the Museum celebrated the completion of the workshop. 60 students from local schools were invited to guided tours of the Museum, with a reception, food, music, dancing and a certificate given to all those who participated in the workshop.

Aba and Terhi

Later this month Egyptian archaeologists will travel to the Louvre Museum in Paris to collect five ancient fresco fragments stolen from a tomb in the Valley of the Kings in the 1980s, but there are many other “stolen” antiquities which they also want back, reports the BBC’s Yolande Knell in Cairo.
One of the first artefacts that visitors see on entering the pink neoclassical facade of the Egyptian Museum in Cairo is a fake.
“This is a replica of the Rosetta Stone. It is the only object in the museum that is not real,” announces a tour guide, his voice echoing through the high-domed hall.
“The original is kept in the British Museum.” Before leading his group on to the lines of old-fashioned cabinets filled with ancient treasures, he explains the significance of the basalt slab, which dates back to 196BC and was key to the modern decipherment of hieroglyphics.
The actual stone, discovered by French soldiers in 1799 and given to the English under the terms of the Treaty of Alexandria two years later, is one of the most high-profile items that Egypt’s chief archaeologist would like returned.
“I’m not asking for all the artefacts of the British Museum to come to Egypt,” says Zahi Hawass, the secretary general of the Egyptian Supreme Council of Antiquities.
“I’m only asking for the unique cultural objects,” he added, referring to items of great archaeological value, such as the Rosetta Stone.

The Rosetta Stone dates back to 196 BC

Further consideration

Also on his wish list is the 3,500-year-old bust of Queen Nefertiti, wife of the famous Pharaoh Akhenaten, on show at the newly re-opened Neues Museum in Berlin, Germany.
Other items include a statue of Hemiunu, the architect of the Great Pyramid at Giza – also in Germany; the bust of Anchhaf, builder of the Chepren Pyramid – at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston; and a painted Zodiac from the Dendera temple, which is kept at the Louvre.

If they cannot be returned permanently, Mr Hawass would at least like them back on loan for the opening of Egypt’s Grand Museum at Giza, due by 2013. So far there have been mostly cautious responses.
“A loan request regarding the Rosetta Stone was received and acknowledged,” says a spokeswoman for the British Museum. “The request currently stands as a matter for further consideration in due course.”
Since he became head of the Supreme Council of Antiquities in 2002, Mr Hawass claims to have returned 5,000 artefacts to Egypt which he says were stolen. His approach is sometimes aggressive.
His recent dispute with the Louvre over Pharaonic steles thought to have been chipped from the walls of the 3,200-year-old tomb of the cleric, Tetaki, resulted in ties being severed with the museum.
The Louvre agreed to hand over the steles within days. An Egyptian delegation is due to collect them on 20 November.
“I’m really happy that story became very big because this will warn every museum all over the world not to buy stolen artefacts,” says Mr Hawass. “That will preserve the heritage not only of Egypt, but of whole world.”

The Egyptian Museum in Cairo draws people from around the world

Great deed

Thousands of artefacts were spirited out of Egypt during the period of colonial rule and afterwards by archaeologists, adventurers and thieves.
According to a 1972 United Nations agreement, artefacts are the property of their country of origin and pieces smuggled out must be returned.

Egypt also pursues items taken before that time if it has evidence of illegal practices. However, the process of determining whether an item has ever been stolen can be laborious and complicated.
A red granite fragment returned last month was an exceptional case.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art bought the piece from an antiques collector in New York so that it could be returned to a shrine in the Ptah temple at Karnak, near Luxor.
Egyptian officials called it “a great deed” and expressed hope that other institutions would follow its example.
“I have very mixed and difficult feelings when I go to a museum overseas and see all these wonderful items taken from Egypt,” says the director of the Egyptian Museum, Wafaa al-Saddiq.
“The objects are giving a good example of Egyptian civilisation to people in different countries so that they then come here to see the Pyramids and tombs.”
“At the same time, I always say the Egyptian people also have the right to see these unique objects, some of which were taken when Egypt was under occupation, so my first wish is that they come back,” she adds.

Zahi Hawass, Egyptian Supreme Council of Antiquities

30th November 2009

ROYAL COLLECTION TO BE DISPLAYED AT THE BRITISH MUSEUM

For the first time in history, the Royal Collection is to be exhibited at the British museum from the 1st of December 2009 until the 31st of May 2010. This opportunity, made possible by collaboration between the royal household and the British Museum, is to help revive the interest in the monarch.

Shaped by the personal tastes of kings and queens, the royal collection to be displayed, includes paintings, drawings, ceramics, clocks, silver, sculpture, jewellery, books, manuscripts, and prints. Some items belonging to earlier monarchs, such as Henry VIII, are also included in the collection.

The exhibition will be held in the department of Prehistory and Europe and will include a narration on the history of the monarchy from 400AD to the present. Special narrations will also be held for children to stimulate their interest in the monarch and its history.

According to Her Majesty the Queen, “A time has come for our royal collection with its rich heritage and culture, has to be shared with many more people from all over the world and the best place to do so is at the British Museum.”

Previously held on display in principal royal residences only, the royal household, which is committed to making the collection more accessible to the public, sought to have it displayed at the British Museum, which has over 5 million visitors each year.

Ends

Notes to the editor

• The Royal Collection is held in trust by The Queen as Sovereign for her successors and the Nation, and is not owned by her as a private individual.
• The Collection has largely been formed since the Restoration of the Monarchy in 1660. The royal patrons chiefly associated with notable additions to the Collection are Frederick, Prince of Wales; George III; George IV; Queen Victoria and Prince Albert; and Queen Mary, consort of George V.
• The Royal Collection receives no Government grant-in-aid or public subsidy. It is administered by the Royal Collection Trust, a registered charity.
• The British Museum had 5.93 million visitors in 2008/9
• The Department of Prehistory and Europe is responsible for collections that cover a vast expanse of time from the earliest human tools in Africa and Asia two million years ago to the art and archaeology of Europe from the earliest times to the present day, including the history of Britain under Roman occupation. The department currently has eleven galleries displaying highlights from its collections.
• Experts from the Royal household will be on hand at the British museum to give talks on the history of the monarch. There will be an adapted version suitable for children.

Press Contact
Jayne Boachie Telephone: +44 (0)20 7323 8299 Fax+44(0)207323 8616 Mobile: +44 (0)7940 954 789 Email: jayneboachie@britishmuseum.org
The British Museum
Great Russell Street, London WC1B 3DG Telephone: +44 (0)20 7323 8000/8299 Fax: +44 (0)20 7323 8616 Email:information@britishmuseum.org Website:www.british.museum.org

I have a theory.  God made England sunny for a September weekend so that when I visited London, I’d find it quite pleasant and want to come back, thus not disappointing the Brit and causing him to spend oodles of his own cash with mandated trips down to Paris because I’m terrified of coming up to face yet another rainstorm. As it turned out, it was the Brit’s trip down to Paris that resulted in a downpour or two, and my last trip back up (just a week ago) was pleasant with only a few drops of rain and gusty winds – yes, even in Scotland!

In case you don’t believe me, I thought I’d give you some evidence that England can, in fact, be sunny.  Consider this our first flashback.  All the way back to September, when I left the US (for quasi-good) on a jet plane headed to Gatwick Airport.

I arrived in London at dawn, and after a confusing half-hour stumbling around the airport looking for a coffee shop in the wrong terminal (that’s what happens when you arrive in a country without a cellphone and no calling card), I managed to meet up with the Brit and he shuttled me off to his country estate. Ok, not estate, but rather a nice little house in a charming town called Horsham.  After a recuperative nap and some unpacking, we took a walk around town and through the park, where we ran into the Brit’s paternal unit. A brief chat later, we snagged lunch (a real English sandwich!) and did some more wandering before heading back home to meet the maternal unit and one half of the sibling set.  The meet-the-parents routine went rather well, I think, though I felt bad for bringing a bottle of wine when his mum doesn’t drink (but I’m making amends with my next trip up).

The next three days were devoted to London and trying not to miss our trains. We did a lot of walking, I think I counted 7 miles covered in one day, and saw a lot of the mandated tourist destinations.  I’ve got a couple of images from my own camera, before I discovered the sensor had been splattered with dust, and then a couple from the Brit’s camera that will serve as guides to this exciting narrative.  And just for kicks, I thought we’d go sight by sight, rather than follow a timely chronicle, since I can’t remember what we did first, but I certainly remember what we did.  So here’s the London Top Ten, in no particular order.

#1: The London Eye. You can’t miss it if you go to London, and it’s a great way to orient yourself in the city – kind of what the Eiffel Tower is to Paris. Structurally I found it quite beautiful, and the view from the top was well worth the price and the wait.  The British certainly like to queue up.  Although I couldn’t help but think of that Doctor Who episode every time I saw this landmark…also, there was some random 4D movie experience, basically an excuse to get misted and have wind blown in our face, with some 3D effects that were better than Disney’s, while watching cool shots of the Eye and some little girl.

#2: Big Ben. If you have to see the Eye, then you can’t help but hear Big Ben. I found its architecture interesting, though I prefer the proportions and detailing of monuments in Paris. When we were at the top of the London Eye, in true British style, a gent asked me for the time. And as a truly ditsy American, I searched my purse for a watch, Big Ben ticking away behind me, while the rest of the cabin laughed.

Big Ben at night, doesn't he look handsome?

#3: Buckingham Palace. So, we didn’t get to see the changing of the guard, and we didn’t go inside the Palace or the Gardens, but I did get to see a guard and he walked around a bit, so it was almost the same.  It was weird thinking that this essentially huge McMansion belongs to a little old lady that happens to be very rich and the (decorative) head of a small island/important country.  And that Prince Charles grew up there, funny ears and all.

That's the guard! And okay, so he moved a total of 10 feet...but he did change positions!

#4: Piccadilly Circus. The Brit describes this plaza as London’s version of the Big Apple’s Times Square.  I will say, it was cleaner than Times Square.  It was also smaller than Times Square, like waaaaaay smaller. I guess everything is bigger in America. But the tiny size and it’s great aspirations only made it quaintly adorable. Wait a minute, that sounds like an apt way to describe England itself…

It has a lot of moving images, which are interestingly hard to capture on still digital "film."

#5 Trafalgar Square, National Gallery. The Brit and I made it a tradition to approach relevant bits of public sculpture from the rear, and then forget to see them from the front.  We made an exception for Trafalgar Square, only because walking around the sculpture was key to our getting on our way. The National Gallery itself was beautiful, architecturally, and I was especially fond of its bathrooms – one of my professors always said, you can tell how well a space is designed by how much thought is given to the bathrooms, as they tend to be an afterthought.  The art in the gallery was your usual smattering of stuff, though I particularly enjoyed the Turners on display.

From the rear at sunset, as we saw it. Take note of the sliver of moon on the right.

That’s it on London for now.  Look for Part II shortly!

Quick tonal sketch at the British Museum (a great free resource)

Just as the term started I decided my drawing skills needed a boost that drop in classes weren’t providing. Luckily, literally 2 minutes walk from my flat in Bethnal Green is life teacher who holds various fine art drawing and painting classes through via the Meetup website.

As I never formally studied fine art at a tertiary level I thought this would be a good place to start and definitely haven’t regretted the move.

My post MA illustration commercial goals revolve around concept film and game work and these skills seem to be critical in this arena. Adrian Dutton runs a high quality class barely half way through the course the ten week course I’d felt I’d had my money’s worth.

I’ve posted a few pics here so you can see the kind of thing we’ve been doing.

Grid measured enlargement from the measuring session

Charcoal experiment for the tonal drawing session, covered the whole
page with charcoal and worked back with a putty rubber

This is also fits in very well with my MA project of creating a series of bestiary images.

Imagine FX have been running an excellent series in the back of the magazine about breaking down people and animals into basic shapes. I’d largely ignored it until I started this course and realised just how useful it could be when I come to do my bestiary images (ie. now!)

The learning curve is steep for my painting and drawing but it’s all worth it’s weight!

این سردیس* به بلندی 11.3 سانتی متر متعلق به گنجینه ی آمودریا از دوره ی هخامنشی است. این اثر که جنس آن طلاست در تخت کواد (قباد) تاجیکستان بافته شده و اکنون در موزه ی بریتانیا نگهداری می شود. گنجینه ی آمودریا مهمترین مجموعه ی آثار با جنس طلا و نقره است که از دوره ی هخامنشی به جا مانده است. این گنجینه در ساحل رود آمودریا (جیحون) یافته شده و بیشتر آثار آن متعلق به سده ی چهارم و پنجم پیش از میلاد است. بیشتر آثار این مجموعه دارای سبکی است که به عنوان سبک شناخته شده در دربار هخامنشی مشهور است. البته این سردیس ممکن است که یک تولید محلی باشد. این اثر صورت جوان بدون ریشی را نشان می دهد که گوشهایش نیز (برای گوشواره) سوراخ شده بوده. ممکن است این سردیس بخشی از مجسمه ای باشد که جنس دیگری مانند چوب داشته.

توضیحات برگرفته از وبگاه موزه ی بریتانیا

___________________

* مجسمه ای که در آن تنها سر، پیکر تراشی شده است.

]]> http://mdinlondon.wordpress.com/2009/11/05/autumn-afternoon/ Thu, 05 Nov 2009 15:23:42 +0000 Marie http://mdinlondon.wordpress.com/2009/11/05/autumn-afternoon/

I met a guy Tim that I met on Halloween at The Rocket for a cup of coffee at Russell Square Wednesday afternoon.  He’s in training with the British army, grew up in the British countryside, went to a Hogwarts-like boarding school, and has a British socialite mother thanks to some sort of diamond company inheritance………..yeah, I know.  But the best part is he’s really nice and bought me my green tea   We chatted for about an hour and half before he had to go do physical training with his flatmate (again, I know).  I decided to stay in the area and headed across the Square to the British Museum.  As Tim put it, the collection is basically everything the British Empire acquired/stole from everywhere in the world…and there’s a ton of it.  Needless to say I barely scratched the surface before the gallery guards were kicking me out at 17:30.  I managed to see some great stuff though: an exhibit on Elsa Peretti’s collection for Tiffany & Co., the Enlightenment room featuring Sir Hans Sloane’s personal acquisitions and the most items I’ve ever seen in one room, the Africa gallery, and the Ancient Rome, Greece, and Cyprus section.  I must admit, museums have become one of my favorite afternoon activities while being here this semester.

On the 5^th November 2009,  a new temporary exhibition opens at the British Museum. The theme is a Japanese art form known as manga, and the exhibition shows the work of one of Japan’s leading manga artists, Hoshino Yukinobu. This exhibition also showcases the British Museum, and the collection here, through the adventures of the main protagonist in the story, an academic and specialist in folk-lore, Professor Munakata (who you can see here on the right).

Hoshino first created Professor Munakata in 1990. Now, every two weeks, millions of readers in Japan eagerly follow the professor’s latest adventures in the manga magazine Big Comic.  In October 2009, Hoshino came to visit the British Museum. While here, in the space of just five days, he created three in drawings showing Professor Munakata’s most recent encounters with treasures from the ancient past. These pictures, all ink on paper, are on display in the exhibition. They include objects from the Museum Collection, such as the helmet from Sutton Hoo and the Rosetta Stone.

Hoshino plans to return next year to create a series of nine episodes based on Professor Munakata’s adventures in the British Museum. They will feature his encounters with more of the British Museums’ most iconic objects as he delves into their mysteries.

Photo submitted by © Desirée Talbot

[click on photo to enlarge]

• Personal note by Des Talbot

Front entrance to the British Museum

Links :
• Follow Des Twitter – @destalbot
• Visit Des’s iPhone Drop Box – desandian.posterous.com

Come vediamo spesso dalle attività di Jim Richardson, o dal bellissimo portale MUSEUMid, in Inghilterra c’è un vivace confronto sull’utilizzo dei nuovi media in ambito museale.

In questo senso è interessante leggere il post di Bilkis Mosoddik “Museums and social software: some interesting findings from research”.

Bilkis ha contatto via mail  i 10 musei top di Londra (estrapolati da UKguide.org) sottoponendo ad essi alcune domande relativamente all’attività online.

Queste le sue conclusioni:

• Blog: 4 hanno già un blog o stanno per pubblicarlo online; i restanti 6 stanno valutano la possibilità di crearne uno per l’immediato futuro.

• Social media: 9 su 10 hanno un profilo in Facebook

• Facebook è il “social tool” più utilizzato per promuovere il brand del museo e gli eventi organizzati.

Bilkis cita anche un’altra ricerca presentata lo scorso giugno, dove venivano interpellati ben 270 manager culturali:

I also came across the results of a questionnaire of 270 managers in cultural institutions from across the world carried out by Communicating the Museum at a conference in June 2009. It showed that 61% of these managers had a high knowledge of social networking despite 32% having no affiliation with any social networks themselves.

It was also discovered that more institutions intended to move into social media, though a majority of cultural institutions were still using their websites for most communications and were not using social software tools at all.

Sarebbe interessante proporre un veloce questionario alle istituzioni culturali italiane, relativo alle strategie digitali, per avere un’istantanea dell’adozione di nuovi strumenti e nuove strategie.

Buenos Dias!

This year’s November 1st was spent at the British Museum, armed with camera.  The Museum was holding a Day of the Dead exhibition to celebrate the Spanish/Mexican tradition in true style…

There was a huge turn out to see the dancing and displays; including its very own funeral procession throughout the venue.

You can view the few pictures I took on my facebook page here!

Here few places that you should visit when you traveling to London. It is top Attractions list in London

Westminster Abbey
Steeped in history, the pillars of this great vaulted hall stand on the final resting place of the men and women who built Britain. Its great Gothic hall continues to play a part in the formation of the kingdom, having hosted nearly every coronation since 1308.

Buckingham Palace
Not the prettiest royal residence, but a must-see for the glimpse it affords of the modern life of the monarchy. The opulence of the state rooms open to the public provides plenty of wow factor, and don’t forget the collection of china and carriages at the Queen’s Gallery and Royal Mews next door.

St. Paul’s Cathedral
No matter how many times you have been before, the scale and elegance of Sir Christopher Wren’s masterpiece never fail to take the breath away. Climb the enormous dome, third largest in the world, to experience the freaky acoustics of the Whispering Gallery, and higher still for fantastic views across London.

Tower of London
The Tower is London at its majestic, idiosyncratic best. This is truly the heart of the kingdom—with foundations dating back nine centuries, every brick tells a story, and the ax-blows and fortunes that have risen and fallen within this turreted mini-city provide an inexhaustible supply of intrigue.

British Museum
If you want to journey through time and space without leaving the confines of Bloomsbury, a visit to the British Museum holds hours of eye-catching artifacts from the world’s greatest civilizations, including the Elgin Marbles, the Rosetta Stone, and the Sutton Hoo treasure.

Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre
You can catch a Shakespeare play almost every night of the year in London. But standing on a floor of leaves and sawdust in a painstakingly re-created version of the galleried Tudor theater for which he wrote is a special thrill.

Hampton Court Palace
This collection of buildings and gardens so captivated Henry VIII that it became his favorite royal residence. Its Tudor charm, augmented by Wren’s touch, and a picturesque upstream Thames location make it a great day out—not even dour Oliver Cromwell, who moved here in 1653, could resist its charms.

Tate Modern
More of an event than the average museum visit, Tate Modern, housed inside a striking 1930s power station, is a hip, immensely successful addition to the London gallery landscape. Passing judgment on the latest controversial temporary exhibit inside the giant turbine hall has become almost a civic duty among art-loving Londoners.

National Gallery
Whatever the collective noun is for a set of old masters—a palette? a canvas?—there are enough here to have the most casual art enthusiast cooing with admiration. When you’ve finished, enjoy pedestrianized Trafalgar Square on the doorstep of this collection.

London’s Central Parks
With London’s green spaces so broken up, it seems churlish to pick out only one. The four central parks are all within walking distance: pick St. James’s Park for fairy-tale views; Green Park for hillocks and wide boulevards; Regent’s Park for its open-air theater and the London Zoo; and Hyde Park for rowing on the Serpentine Lido. (Fodors)

As some of you might have heard, I lost my passport the very day I arrived in the UK. After 21 hours of travel which involved three airports, the London Underground and a regular train ride, I managed to leave it in the back seat of our taxi on the way to our first host’s house. *sigh* I will spare you the whole drama of trying to report it lost, calling the Embassy, getting new photos etc-if you want those details you can ask and I will email you the story. Today we went into London and got all that gnarly paperwork out of the way. Sooo, in approximately 2 weeks I will once again have a passport and that means I will be able to take advantage of some of these crazy Ryanair deals.Yes, you can fly to Genoa for£3 each way. But that’s not the best thing about today. There are two other things that made today awesome. Number One: after the Embassy we went to the British Museum. This is basically the repository for all the nifty artifacts Britain looted while occupying other countries (that was Maria’s hubby Simon’s description, and he’s from the UK so you can’t blame me). This means there are rooms and rooms of mummies. They own all kinds of crazy things.

my soon-to-be future dinner

The British Museum owns Cleopatra! Cleo-freaking-patra. Know what else they own? The Rosetta Stone. Yes, today I saw the Rosetta Stone. Number Two: while we were aimlessly wandering around London, trying to make our way back to the train station, we stumbled upon this gem. Oh was I ever excited. Most of the stuff in there was actually reasonably priced! So we bought sushi rice, and nori sheets, and rice vinegar. And as soon as I can find some decent fish, we will feast. Oh yes, my friends, there will be sushi.

In Mexico, Day of the Dead is an annual festival where families gather to remember the dead. This year, celebrate Day of the Dead at the British Museum with free events and activities.

Various regions have different beliefs, but some believe that the souls of children that have died come to visit the living on the 31st October. The sould of dead adults arrive a day later. Everyone seems to agree that all the souls depart on the 2nd November. The presence of the souls is not scary or ghoulish as Halloween is in the UK or America, rather it is a reassuring, pleasant and peaceful feeling, and an opportunity for the living to show how much they still love and miss their relatives and friends.

The British Museum organised a special event on Sunday 1st November 2009, with Carnival parades and special displays, food and music. I attended and the Museum was so full of people! Official estimations were of arun 30,000 people in the Museum! 

A colleague of mine has filmed this bit of the parade which took place inside the Museum, there are photos which you can also access through this link: click here. You can also find more information through this link: Day of Dead Celebrations.

It would be fantastic to blog about Eid and Diwali too, so if anyone has any photos of their celebrations, that would be great!

Terhi