The British Museum

On almost every one of my trips to London I have made time to visit the British Museum. As one of the oldest museums, you can see artifacts from around the globe, many collected in the Victorian years and on display since the days of Queen Victoria. Viewing objects that my Great-great Grandparents most likely saw when they lived in London adds a special meaning for me.

On my last trip to the museum in July of 2015, I remarked to my travel companion about the distaste I had for a lot of the collections, especially those of the Egyptian mummies and some old tomb stones in one exhibit. To me it felt like grave robbing and I'm certain I would not want to see a relative's grave stone in some museum somewhere 500 years from now!

However, I have since had reason to rethink some of the logic used behind some of the collections, especially after reading about Lord Elgin, who happened to be the husband of my 2nd cousin, Elizabeth Oswald, and his reasoning behind removing a large number of sculptures and other artifacts from the Parthenon in Greece.

Read about this interesting relative and his reason, and the reasons the British Government give, for removing and now retaining these ancient artifacts which are on display at the British Museum (and have been since 1816).