The day started with a trip to the British Museum. My “must see” was the Rosetta Stone; so we started with the Egyptian collection. Between the perpetual crowd around the stone's display plus the reflection off the case, I couldn't get a good picture. So, here is a Horus-falcon instead.
We finished the Egyptian section and then decided to move on to the British Library because of time constraints. Our map said that the British Museum and British Library were next to each other. When we asked at information about how to get to the Library, the man looked at our map and told us it was very out of date. The Library had moved 13 years earlier! Fortunately, it is only a few blocks away; so we were able to walk there.
The British Library is a very modern building. My goal at this stop was to see the Magna Carta and other incunabula (books printed before 1501). There were some very fine old books and documents. I thought the Magna Carta from 1215 would be the oldest document there, but it wasn't. The oldest document was from the 600s. Photography was not allowed, so I don't have pictures of the Magna Carta, but here is a portion of the British Library's book wall which is in the lobby and cafe area.
No comments:
Post a Comment