20 Essential Objects To See At The British Museum

(MENAFN- USA Art News) The British Museum, LondonMike Kemp/Pictures via Getty Images

The British Museum, the world's first free-to-the-public national museum, opened its doors in 1759. Founded in 1753 by an act of Parliament, after the physician and collector Hans Sloane bequeathed his collection to the nation, the museum immediately had a base of 71,000 items to oversee.

From its beginnings as Sloane's“cabinet of curiosities,” the British Museum has grown in size, scope, and reputation over the past 266 years. It is now steward of some eight million objects. Here are 20 that shouldn't be missed on your visit.

Jōmon cooking pot, Japan, c. 5000 B.C.

Jōmon cooking pot, c. 5000 B.C.

Photo: British Museum.

Considered the first people in the world to make pottery, the Japanese used vessels such as this one to boil food like shellfish and edible plants. Only about 6.5 inches square, this was very much a personal cooking pot, for fairly small portions of whatever had been brought back that day. The hunter-gatherers of prehistoric Japan hunted boar and deer in the winter and collected shellfish in summer and early autumn. A favorite food was clams, which you can imagine being boiled in this very vessel 7,000 years ago. Note the cordlike markings on this pot; the Jomon period is quite literally named after this typical decoration of the time, Jomon translating to“cord-marked.” This particular example was later lined with lacquered gold leaf on the interior during the 1800s to be converted into a water jar for tea ceremonies. One may wonder, did those 19th-century tea drinkers know what they were sipping from?

Not currently on view

The Royal Game of Ur, Mesopotamia (modern-day Iraq), 2600 B.C.

The Royal Game of Ur, Iraq, 2600 B.C.

Photo: British Museum.

We don't know the real name of the game played with this inlaid board, die, and markers, but it was extremely popular with the people of ancient Mesopotamia-boards for it have been found at archeological sites across the Middle East. Nobody knew how to play it until the 1980s, when British Museum curator Irving Finkel translated a cuneiform tablet written by a Babylonian astronomer in 177 B.C. and realized he was looking at the game's rules. An unpredictable race between two players to move all their counters off the board, this game has stunningly modern gameplay. You can knock your opponent off the board, gain immunity, and win extra throws of your die. This particular set was excavated in southern Iraq, in the royal palace of Ur, in 1926 and is the oldest complete tabletop game ever found. If you want to test your skill, you can buy a copy in the British Museum shop.

On display in Room 56

Queen of the Night plaque, Mesopotamia (present-day Iraq), 1800 B.C.

Queen of the Night plaque, Mesopotamia (present-day Iraq), 1800 B.C.

Photo: British Museum.

This magnificent lady, at 4,000 years old, is faring well for her age. Mesopotamian in origin (though the exact discovery site is unknown), the hand-modeled terracotta winged goddess, dubbed the Queen of the Night, has impressive eagle-claw feet. She perches on two dormant lions, is flanked by two owls, and has a crown made of horns. She would originally have been painted, and there are deposits of red ochre visible on her body.

She is probably linked to the ancient Mesopotamian goddess Ishtar, who represented love, fertility, war, and justice. And because of her links to Ishtar, she is now often associated with Lilith, the goddess of female empowerment and independence in contemporary witchcraft. Originally called the Burney Relief after the London antique dealer, Sidney Burney, who had it in his collection in 1936, it passed through two more collectors' hands before being bought by the British Museum in 2003.

On display, Room 56

Bust of Ramesses the Great, Egypt, 1292–1189 B.C.

Bust of Ramesses the Great, 1292–1189 B.C.

Photo: British Museum.

Unceremoniously hacked off at the waist from where he originally sat as one of a seated pair flanking an entrance to his tomb complex, this granite bust of Ramesses II is 8 feet tall and over 6 feet wide. It was acquired by the British Museum in 1817 with the permission of the Egyptian governor, Muhammad Ali. (Later, in 1835, Ali banned all export of Egyptian antiquities, but not before the Rosetta Stone had left the country.)

Ramesses II ascended the throne at the age of 25 and died at the extremely ripe old age of 90, meaning that many Egyptians would have lived knowing only one pharaoh. Part of the 19th Dynasty, Ramesses II is nearly as famous as the fashionably inbred generation of Akhenaten and his son Tutankhamun, and certainly he should be, as he's said to have had upwards of 100 children between his 200 wives. He also named a new capital city after himself and is believed to have drawn up the first peace treaty between foreign powers-in this case between the Egyptians and the Hittites after the Battle of Kadesh.

On view, Room 4

Book of the Dead, Egypt, c. 1250 B.C.

Book of the Dead, Egypt, c. 1250 B.C.

Photo: British Museum.

Egyptian books of the dead were a practical guide to the next world and an essential item for surviving the journey to the afterlife. This example is nearly a meter long and belonged to Hunefer, the royal scribe to the pharaoh. Requiring expert scribes and master draftsmen, a book with such fine detail might have been made by Hunefer himself, putting brush to papyrus for his own future.

Shown here is the judgment scene present in all books of the dead. The jackal-headed god of funerary rites, Anubis, leads Hunefer toward the balance of judgment, where Anubis appears again to kneel and adjust the plumb weight. On the left pan is Hunefer's heart; on the right is a feather symbolising Ma'at, the goddess of truth. Forebodingly below the balance crouches Ammit, the Devourer of the Damned, accompanied by a short inscription:“Her front is a crocodile, her rear a hippopotamus, her middle a lion.” And to the right, Thoth, ibis-headed deity of wisdom and writing, holds a pen and scribal palette to record the outcome of the weighing.

If Hunefer's heart is heavier than the feather of Ma'at, he's doomed to the“second death,” with no afterlife whatsoever. Luckily, Hunefer's heart is lighter than Ma'at's feather, meaning that he had been good and truthful enough to continue into the afterlife. The remainder of the scroll describes his crossing.

On display, Room 62

Colossal statue of a winged lion from the Northwest Palace of Ashurnasirpal II in Assyria (modern-day Iraq), 883–859 B.C.

Colossal statue of a winged lion from the Northwest Palace of Ashurnasirpal II in Assyria (modern-day Iraq), 883–859 B.C.

Photo: British Museum.

Heartbreakingly razed by the terrorist organization ISIS in 2016, the ancient city of Nimrud, the capital of Assyria, was adorned with protective deities like this one, which measures an impressive 11.5 by 12 feet. Luckily, a few of these so-called lamassu survive in museums across the world. With a lion's body, a bird's wings, and a human head, the figures often flanked entrances to royal strongholds. (This particular sculpture's five legs are meant to give realistic views of the creature both from the front and in profile.) Guarding doorways in Ashurnasirpal II's palace, they may well have afforded the king of Assyria much-needed protection against his many enemies; famous for both his aggressive campaigns against neighboring peoples and his cruelty, Ashurnasirpal II exacted horrible punishments on his captives and subjects, including public flaying.

On display, Room 6a

Map of the world and the Flood Tablet, Mesopotamia (modern-day Iraq), 700–500 B.C.

Map of the world and the Flood Tablet, 700–500 B.C.

Photo: British Museum.

Does the Old Testament's account of Noah's Ark describe a real event? This seemingly unassuming 5-inch by 3-inch clay map from ancient Mesopotamia (modern-day Iraq), the oldest known map of the world, suggests that it does. The map uses the ancient writing system of cuneiform, and though damaged and by no means complete, it remains readable. But what's so amazing about this little tablet is what it maps: There is a double ring labeled“Bitter River,” a body of water surrounding the Babylonians' known world, depicted as a circular land mass. A vertical line indicates the River Euphrates, and a rectangle in the upper half locates the ancient city of Babylon, but that isn't even the best part. Three triangles emanate from the exterior circle, and incredibly, the text describing these triangles survived on the reverse of this tablet. One description mentions a great mountain and a“parsiktu vessel,” which is how the Babylonians referred to the remains of Noah's Ark, which is said to have come to rest on Mount Ararat. Directly opposite the little triangle that labels the vessel is the Babylonian city of Urartu, which, translated from Assyrian to Hebrew, is Ararat. Wow.

On display, Room 55

Lion hunt panel from the North Palace of Ashurbanipal, Assyria (Northern Iraq), 645–635 B.C.

Lion hunt panel from the North Palace of Ashurbanipal, Assyria (Northern Iraq), 645–635 B.C.

Photo: British Museum.

King Ashurbanipal, ruler of the ancient Assyrian Empire from 668 to 627 B[EM1] was a lover and a fighter. He was also a scholar, an empire builder, a king slayer, a librarian, and a lion hunter. The latter is depicted in this astonishingly detailed gypsum panel that was found at the site of the king's palace.

The panel is eloquent in what it can tell us about the culture of the time. First, it shows Ashurbanipal's kingly credentials: Lion hunting was part of his military training, a signal of his ability to protect his nation against all that was wild and dangerous. Second, it shows that Ashurbanipal took pride in his image: Previous kings of Assyria had largely been depicted in static poses, but the scenes this king commissioned are dynamic, indicating a leader whose actions could benefit his people.

Finally, look closely at Ashurbanipal's belt and you'll see a pair of styluses tucked into it. One of the outstanding achievements of this ruler was his building of the Library of Ashurbanipal, which held an astonishing 30,000 clay tablets, most of them cuneiform texts on religion, medicine, mathematics, history, and law, as well as works of literature such as the Epic of Gilgamesh.

On display, Room 10

Parthenon Marbles, Greece, 447–432 B.C.

Parthenon Marbles, 447–432 B.C.

Photo: British Museum.

Where to start? One of the most contested artworks in the world, the Parthenon Marbles used to adorn the pediment of the eponymous Athens temple devoted to Athena, the Greek goddess of wisdom and warfare. Indeed, the Parthenon was originally built to celebrate a hard-fought victory over the Persians, and this was the ancient Greeks' big thank-you. The long marble frieze held by the British Museum shows the procession of the Panathenaic festival, the commemoration of the birthday of Athena.

Notoriously ordered to be chipped off the Parthenon by the Scottish diplomat Thomas Bruce, the British ambassador to the Ottoman Empire and the Seventh Earl of Elgin, the marbles caused a stir right from the start. The ship that was to haul them to England was wrecked within a day of leaving port in 1803, and it took three years to raise the funds for the marbles to be recovered by divers. The original cost of the marbles' removal had been close to £75,000 (now £5.7 million), and Lord Elgin hoped to make that back by selling them to the British government. He finally did so, in 1816, but his take was much lower, just £35,000. And it is still disputed whether the Ottoman sultan actually granted him permission to remove them in the first place.

And the debate rages on. The Parthenon Marbles were first put on display at the British Museum in 1817, and for now they remain a fixture there. The recently appointed director of the museum, Nicholas Cullinan, has firmly ruled out any permanent restitution of artifacts during his tenure.

On display, Room 18

The Rosetta Stone, Egypt, 196 B.C.

The Rosetta Stone, 196 B.C.

Photo: British Museum.

The ancient stela (tablet) known as the Rosetta Stone sparked a race to decipher ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs, which for centuries had remained impenetrable. Ancient Egyptian artifacts with this pictorial language had been filtering into European collections from as early as 1400 and had been studied by artists and scholars alike. But it wasn't until this incredible stone document was found by French soldiers in 1799 as they dug foundations for a fort in the Egyptian town of el-Rashid, or Rosetta, that understanding it became possible.

In itself the document isn't remarkable; in fact it is rather a boring decree about the coronation of the Egyptian Pharaoh Ptolemy V. But it bears the same text in three languages-pictorial Egyptian hieroglyphs, nonpictorial Egyptian demotic, and ancient Greek, thus providing the key to interpreting the hieroglyphs. A fierce competition ensued between the English physicist Thomas Young and the French scholar Jean-Francois Champollion to be the first to crack the code; it was the Frenchman who won. Interestingly, it turns out that the Rosetta Stone isn't even rare; it was a mass-produced stela designed to be widely disseminated, just like our governmental documents today.

On display, Room 4

Lindow Man, England, 2 B.C.–119 A.D.

Lindow Man, 2 B.C.–119 A.D.

Photo: British Museum.

On an August day in 1984, just south of Manchester, England, a local peat cutter found what looked like a piece of wood sticking out of his machinery. He threw it at the man he was working with for fun, and as the peat fell off it, a shriveled, leathery foot appeared. The rest of the body was eventually exhumed, and subsequent study determined that Lindow Man-named for the bog in which he was found-was killed and left to rot on the marshland. He did not rot, however. As new layers of vegetation grew on top of him, the older layers released humic acid, with a pH similar to that of vinegar, pickling him just like a gherkin. Due to the exceptional preservation of the body, we know the victim suffered an axe wound to the head, a garrotting, and a slash across the throat, and was then left naked apart from a fox fur band around one arm. Reasons for his violent death, including robbery or ritual sacrifice, have been proposed, but it remains a mystery.

On display, Room 50

Townley Diskobolos, Roman, second century A.D.

Townley Diskobolos, Roman, second century A.D.

Photo: British Museum.

A Roman marble copy of a Greek bronze original, the Townley Diskobolos is remarkable for its sculptural prowess in depicting the human form. This statue (one of a few copies) was found in the Roman Emperor Hadrian's villa in Tivoli, outside Rome, in 1791. The original, which no longer exists, was cast by the Athenian sculptor Myron (480–440 B.C.), who was known for his expertise and artistry in capturing athletes mid-action.

The Greek casting process was long and complex, utilizing the hollow lost wax process and requiring arduous finishing after casting. For the Romans to make a marble copy was hard as well. First the sculptor would need to set up a wooden measuring frame around the statue to establish a visual grid. He'd use calipers to get the exact depth, width, and height of the anatomical points, then start chipping away at his unforgiving marble block. With all the measurements continually adjusted and realigned, the final form would take shape, hopefully very close to the Greek original.

On display, Room 1

Sutton Hoo helmet, England, early 600s A.D.

Sutton Hoo helmet, early 600s A.D.

Photo: British Museum.

On the eve of the Second World War in 1939, a buried Anglo-Saxon ship was discovered at Sutton Hoo, near the town of Woodbridge in southeastern England. It was the final resting place of King Raedwald, whose corpse would have been taken on a winding waterborne trip down the River Deben, his boat then dragged up a steep hill.

The discovery of the burial site dramatically furthered our understanding of Anglo-Saxon culture. With the fall of Rome circa 476 A.D., the Angles, Saxons, and other northern European tribes settled in Britain, but until Sutton Hoo there was precious little archaeological evidence from this period. Previously thought of as lacking in civil infrastructure, engineering, and trade, Anglo-Saxon Britain was proved to be culturally rich and complex because of this excavation, the subject of the 2021 Netflix film The Dig.

First the rivets of the boat came out of the ground, then slowly treasures including King Raedwald's helmet emerged, all shedding light on a culture of sophistication, knowledge, and trade. Constructed from gold, silver, iron, and copper alloy, the helmet-with its moustache and bushy eyebrows-may reflect what the king actually looked like.

On display, Room 41

Lintel 24, The Yaxchilán Lintels, Mayan (Mexico), 723–726 A.D.

Lintel 24, The Yaxchilán Lintels, Mayan (Mexico), 723–726 A.D.

Photo: British Museum.

The Mayan civilization, which occupied what is now Mexico and much of Central America, produced rich carved imagery, imposing ziggurat temples, and incredible jewels and adornments often comprising gold, turquoise, and obsidian. The Maya were also known for their violent rituals. Mayan depictions of their rites tend to show only important men, so this one, Lintel 24 from the Yaxchilán Lintels (named after the city where they were found), is unusual in portraying a powerful Mayan woman, Lady K'ab'al Xook (681–742), partner of the ruler of Yaxchilán, Itzaamnaj B'ahlam II (647–742), also known as Shield Jaguar.

She is performing an act of deep devotion, a complex bloodletting ritual that would have been carried out on three occasions: the king's accession to the throne, the birth of their son, and the dedication of the temple where this lintel was found. Lady Xook pulls a rope with obsidian barbs through a hole in her tongue so that blood loss and pain will induce a trance. From that trance she will summon a spirit to protect and help her husband. Shield Jaguar holds a great torch, described in the text as a“burning spear,” while the rope snakes into a bowl collecting her blood. The in the series (not on display) shows the magnificent articulated spirit that appears as a result.

On display, Room 27

Ancestor figure moai, Easter Island, Polynesia, c. 1000–1200 A.D.

Ancestor figure moai, Easter Island, Polynesia, c. 1000–1200 A.D.

Photo: British Museum.

Carved by the indigenous Easter Island (Rapa Nui) people between 1000 and 1200 A.D., this basalt figure, nearly 2.5 meters tall, represents the spirit of a deified ancestor. It was re-carved sometime later with symbols relating to the island's 16th–19th century Birdman cult.

We know a bit about this cult because Christian missionaries interviewed the locals about it. Each summer, when sooty terns (manu tara) returned to the area to nest, a ritual contest was held to choose the Tangata Manu-the sacred birdman of the year. Clans competed, with each contestant choosing a representative who would have to climb down the cliffs from the village of Orongo to the sea and swim using reed floats across the dangerous channel to Motu Nui, the largest of three nearby islets.

There the representatives would wait, living on the islet for days or weeks, watching for the first sooty tern egg of the season. The first one to find an intact egg and bring it back to the main island would make his patron Birdman of the year, a figure believed to embody the power of Makemake, the creator god.

In 1868 the British naval ship HMS Topaze removed this moai from Orongo and took it back to the United Kingdom, where it was shown to Queen Victoria before making its way to the British Museum. In 2018 a delegation from Rapa Nui, who call the statue Hoa Hakananai'a, or“hidden or stolen friend,” wept in front of it as they asked the British Museum to return it.

On display, Room 24

The Sloane Astrolabe, England, 1290–1300

The Sloane Astrolabe, 1290–1300

Photo: British Museum.

From the 10th century on in Europe, enormous technological leaps were being made: Water mills were speeding up corn grinding and cloth fulling; new plows were being pulled by agile, maneuverable horses instead of sturdy old oxen; and great quarries were being dug for stone to build towering gothic cathedrals. But what hadn't been solved was the problem of tracing time reliably.

This London-made Sloane astrolabe, collected by the founding father of the British Museum Hans Sloane, symbolizes the beginning of the race to standardize time. Born from Islamic interest in math, geometry, and astronomy, astrolabes were the forerunners of modern clocks, but they had their drawbacks-for instance, a user could calculate the time by turning its parts, but it did not have perpetual movement.

It is thanks to subsequent centuries' worth of horological work that timepieces like the Cassiobury Park clock (on display in Room 38) could be made. This particular turret clock has what's called a foliot balance, which predates the pendulum and meant that common time could be kept. Until the industrial revolution in the 19th century, clocks such as this one would have been a main fixture in community and church life.

Astrolabe, On display, Room 1

The David Vases, Yuan Dynasty, China, 1351

The David Vases, Yuan Dynasty, China, 1351

Photo: British Museum.

While the Ming dynasty in China was rightly famous for its porcelain ware, it was actually the preceding dynasty, the Yuan, that developed the art of porcelain ceramics. The David Vases (named after collector Sir Percival David) were produced under the last Yuan emperor, Toghon Temür. A sixth-generation descendant of Genghis Khan, Temür came to the throne as a teenager in 1333 and had a long and turbulent reign, his power dwindling before the Ming dynasty captured Beijing in 1368.

These altar vases are among the best-known porcelains in the world, their importance lying in the dated inscriptions on their necks above the bands of dragons. The long dedication-the earliest known on blue-and-white wares-records that in 1351 a man named Zhang Wenjin from Yushan County presented two vases and an incense burner (whereabouts unknown) to a Daoist temple in Xingyuan. Importantly, the inscription demonstrates that blue-and-white porcelain production was already well established at Jingdezhen, where these vases were made, by this date.

On display, Room 95

Miniature Tabernacle and Case, Flanders (modern-day Belgium), 1510–1525

Miniature Tabernacle and Case, Flanders (modern-day Belgium), 1510–1525

Photo: British Museum.

This intricately carved boxwood tabernacle, which comes with its own fitted case, would have been a highly prized personal possession. Designed as an interactive aid to prayer, it opens to reveal scene after carved scene from the life of Jesus. Inside the pinnacle, the Virgin and Child can be raised by a ratchet; surrounding them are four petal-like flanges that unfold to show reliefs of the Annunciation, Nativity, circumcision and Adoration of the Magi.

Below the pinnacle is the so-called prayer nut, which opens into two halves, one showing a relief of the Resurrection, the other depicting the Crucifixion. Astounding for its artistry on such a miniature scale, this captivating object may have been owned by the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V (1500–1558), whose arms appear on the case.

On display, Room 2a

Afro-Portuguese Salt Cellar, Benin (modern-day Nigeria), c. 1525–1600

Afro-Portuguese Salt Cellar, Benin (modern-day Nigeria), c. 1525–1600

Photo: British Museum.

This 16th-century elephant ivory salt cellar was likely commissioned by a visiting Portuguese merchant from a Nigerian artisan. During this time, the Portuguese were trading in precious commodities from the African continent, their predominant interest being carved ivory items traditionally produced only for the royal court in the city of Benin. However, the ruling oba

The cellar depicts four stern, stocky Europeans with long hair, beards, and angular noses wearing brigandines (metal-lined jackets), jerkins, pleated skirts or pantaloons, decorated stockings, and either feathered hats or skullcaps. Ready to fight, they carry swords, shields, and spears, while two of the men sport garishly large Christian crosses around their necks. Perched on the cellar's top is a miniature galleon with a sailor peeping out of its crow's nest.

Lavish salt cellars made of so-called white gold were status symbols in Europe; the well-to-do patron who commissioned this exquisite object would have taken it back to Portugal as a signal of his refined taste.

On display, Room 25

Samurai armor, Japan, 18th century

Samurai armor, Japan, 18th century

Photo: British Museum.

Japanese samurai warriors only fought battles actively between 900 and 1600 A.D., so the 18th-century suit of armor we see here must have been intended just for ceremonial use. It was produced during the peaceful Edo period (1615–1868), when Japan was run by a military government. It was made of paper, lacquer, wood, and metal, and so heavy and highly decorated that it would have been impossible to move in. The most impressive part of this suit is its helmet: Made up of 32 plates, it frames the lacquered iron face of a grimacing man with wrinkles, copper teeth, and a mustache of animal hair.

On display, Room 93

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