The British Museum, or Why I Didn't See any Babylonian Relics in Iraq

Yesterday, I boarded a train at Waverly Station, Edinburgh, and 5 hours later arrived at King's Cross London. Over the next 5 days I will be exploring the city from my base in a small room at the Euro Hotel.

This morning, I spent 3 hours at the British Museum. My first stop in the building was the room with the mummies, which was very impressive. The museum caretaker told me that it was wise to arrive early, as within a few hours it would be nearly impossible to move in the museum.

The British Museum houses a huge collection of artifacts from the world over. The most interesting pieces, in my opinion, were those from the ancient civilizations in Iraq, including the Assyrians and the Babylonians. My main interests stemmed from the fact that I have been to Iraq. In fact, I have stood on the site of the ancient city of Babylon, and have seen the location of the famous Ishtar gate. In recent years, this cite has been greatly damaged. Saddam Hussein decided to build a huge palace at Babylon, and he also had masons in Iraq 're create' the city of Babylon by building on top of the ruins. I can imagine that is not great from an archeological standpoint. Of course, it is also well known that American soldiers made a base out of Babylon. I am up in the air on whether or not this is good or bad from an archeological standpoint.

Anyway, the collection of Assyrian and Babylonian artifacts in the British Museum is very impressive. I really liked the giant statues of winged bulls with the heads of bearded men, as well as the wall reliefs found in the grave cites of Assyrian kings.

In addition to visiting the British Museum, I went to the tower of London and collected my tickets for tomorrow. A friend of mine advised me to get to the tower really early and go straight to see the crowned jewels, so that is my plan for tomorrow.

At the end of the day, I spent a few hours in the British Library. The collection of famous manuscripts, including the Magna Carta, is quite impressive. Also on display was a collection of very artistic maps from as far back as the 13th century. There were many more items in the library that I want to see, but they kicked me out at 5 pm. Luckily, it is only about a 5 minute walk from my hotel, so I may head back later in the week.