UK Trip 2007

A sad fate for a once powerful mutant soldier in a traveling machine...

This Red Dalek was found in a empty balcony overlooking the food court of the Bradford Museum of Film and Photography (now called the National Media Museum). My guide too all things British informed me -- despite the lack of any signs -- that this one was from the Dalek Invasion of Earth. I tried to watch the film later, but it's cheesy humor offset me. I never finished the film.

A Dalek traveling machine from the first series of Dr. Who (1963). This was found in the "TV Heaven" section of the National Museum of the Media in Bradford, UK.

A resin model of Wallace and Gromit from the film, A Close Shave. Taken from the "TV Heaven" section of the National Museum of the Media, Bradford, UK.

An example of a False Door of an Ancient Egyptian mastaba. False Doors were often a part of mastabas and early funerary structures. They were thought a doorway by which the ka of a person can receive offerings. Some false doors even included a sculpted figure of the actual person.

British Museum, London, UK.

A fragment from the Egyptian King's List. British Museam, London, UK.

A slightly fuzzy statue of a pharoh in balsalt. British Museum, London, UK.

The picture simply doesn't do it justice. This enormous head of a pharaoh is carved from red granite. The pedestal it's resting on is at least 3 meters tall. The head itself most likely weighs over a ton (tonne?).

Sorry for the darkness on this one. The one I took with the flash was too fuzzy.

Sandstone statue of a Pharaoh, roughly 1.6 meters tall. British Museum, London, UK.

An Akkadian stele in balsalt. British Museum, London, UK.

Another pic of the Akkadian Stele. British Museum, London, UK.

Statue of an ancient egyptian woman. British Museum, London, UK.

An ancient epytian column in basalt. The design was meant to resemble reeds along the nile. British Museum, London, UK.

While it's true there were 300 Spartians at the Battle of Thermopolyae, what Frank Miller completely neglected was the 5000 greeks that made the bulk of the opposing forces against the Persians. Upon discovering the overwhelming size of the Persian force, King Leonidas dismissed the majority of the forces saving for 700 Thespian volunteers, and 300 hand-picked Spartians. (Forgot someone, Mr. Miller?)

The 1000 soldiers served as a front line, serving as a road block for Persia allowing the majority of the Greek forces to retreat. By maintaining this front line, Leonidas created the illusion that the full greek force was present. Quite a bit more interesting than the movie.

This bronze helmet was from that battle.  British Museam, London, UK.

Ancient greek pots using the Red Figure technique. My British "guide" suggested that the greeks let all their pots break and that's why their civilization fell. His American wife reminded me not to listen to him. :-D

British Museum, London, UK. 

A greek soldier in marble. British Museum, London, UK.

An Egyptian statue of a cat in bronze. British Museum, London, UK.

The greek goddess Aphrodite in marble. British Museum, London, UK.

The atrium at the British Museum. This is a very, very big open space. It spans at least three floors and almost makes a complete circle. It's the biggest indoor area I saw my entire trip. The architecture of the place make me curious. It almost looks as if the atrium was a later edition. That the central structure was built after the bulk of the museum and then the glass roof was built afterward. The image of the geodesic ceiling meeting the classical greek columns struck me as a unique blend of new and old.

This chunk of basalt is perhaps one of the most iconic artifacts of ancient history. It's so iconic, that it's become a metaphor for "something that allows to interpret".

The Rosetta Stone has three identical blocks of text in three different languages. From top to bottom, hieroglyphics, demotic (a later Ancient Egyptian script), and finally classical greek. Until it's discovery, we couldn't translate much of egyptian script. The Rosetta Stone allowed us to translate the older scripts by keying off of names. We can read names easily enough in greek, but not in the older scripts. Thankfully, hieroglyphics encircle names in a cartouche. It looks like an oval with a line along the narrow side, perpendicular to the length of the oval. By comparing the names in greek and in the hieroglyphics, translation was possible.

Not surprisingly, this was made during the Ptolemaic Dynasty, a curious period when Ancient Egypt was under the leadership of a greek.

A beautifully carved sarcophagus cover in basalt. One of my friends wants "a hat like that". British Museum, London, UK.

A greek statuette of a woman with child. I found this was interesting because of the lack of proportion in the child. Many artists in antiquity could not or did not represent children accurately due to the different proportions involved. Instead, children and babies were represented as diminutive adults. Even in the renaissance period representations of this sort can be found.

A plaster cast of the famous Bust of Nefertiti. The real one is in the Altes Museum in Berlin. Even this replica is strikingly beautiful. Manchester Museum of History, Manchester, UK.

A bust of a Greek man in bronze. One thing that few people realize is that most of the "Greek" statuary we have is actually roman. The Greeks typically created sculptures using a lost-wax casting technique. The resulting piece was made of bronze. The Romans, being the warriors they are, melted down all that valuable bronze to make weapons. The sculptures were replaced with marble copies of the original bronze figures.

British Museum, London, UK.

One of my favorite non-museum photos of my trip. I managed to snap this picture on the way to a restaurant in London. It was dusk so the picture came out very dark, but the sign of the Underground hanging overhead was perfect.

Little did I know that one of the largest ferris wheels in the world (at that time) was along the Thames in London. And little did I realize that I was about to walk right past it. The picture is fuzzy due to my shaky hands, wind, and low light conditions. Sorry!!!

Another picture of The Eye

A running steam engine from the Manchester Museum of Science, Manchester, UK.

Sometimes you find the neatest stuff when looking at your feet. Manchester, UK.

A shot of the sculpture and background just outside of the Manchester train station. Manchester, UK.