British Museum

You could spend a day here and still come away wishing you had seen more! Despite the name, this isn’t a museum about Britain – the collections include artefacts from all over the world (including controversially some that people feel should have stayed where they were, such as the Elgin Marbles from the Acropolis), and span 2 million years of history.

Some highlights:
~ From Ancient Egypt (one of my favourite collections): statuary & decorated architecture, inscribed with hieroglyphs; coffins & mummies of individuals; furniture, fine jewellery & other burial goods.
~ From Imperial China: calligraphy, paintings & ceramics (and in 2008 there will be an exhibition featuring some of the Terracotta Army from Xian)
~ From Anglo-Saxon: one of the most impressive collections, the treasures from the ship burial at Sutton Hoo, Suffolk.
~ From the Aztecs: stone & ceramic sculptures; musical instruments such as drums, decorated with intricate carvings; rare turquoise mosaics.
~ From Iron Age Britain: one of the items that has fascinated me since I first saw it, Lindow Man. This is the body of a man discovered in August 1984 when workmen were cutting peat at Lindow Moss bog in NW England. The conditions in the peat bog meant that the man’s skin, hair and many of his internal organs are well preserved, and scientists have been able to do lots of research to learn about his life and death, concluding that he was probably the victim of a ritual sacrifice by druids.

Admission is free, as it is to all the major museums in London. Open every day 10.00-17.30, and later on Thursdays and Fridays.

Phone: 0 20 7323 8299

Directions: Nearest tube is Holborn (Central & Piccadilly lines) – the museum is signposted from the station. It’s also an easy walk from Russell Square (Piccadilly line), Tottenham Court Road (Central line) & Goodge Street (Northern line)

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British Museum