A lovely day, but bitterly cold. Felt like I had to get out and do something, so rather than just a walk I decided to head to the science museum, not only booking a slot for museum entry but also for the exhibition on the Ancient Greeks which is what I really wanted to see.
Now to be honest, If I had known how small the exhibition was I might not have bothered with the effort. Perhaps I shouldn't have been surprised since it was free. But although well dressed up it was essentially just one room. And not an enormous one at that. On the other hand I have to say they did very well with what they had on show. Superbly presented. Plus a few little films on subjects like music and sea travel.
The theme was really the scientific and artistic achievements of the Greeks. A good example of how well the exhibition was presented was the opening exhibit below. This is a sarcophagus featuring the nine muses plus Apollo and Athena. Of course the actual object is plain white marble (its painted surface having long since disappeared). But with light projection the figures could be isolated figure by figure against a black background, while the screen above could briefly outline the theme of the exhibition.
As for this statue of Apollo of course the first thing you notice is the erosion. It had spent more than 2000 years in the sea, but fortuitously it went in head first so while the rest of the marble had been eaten away, the head miraculously, and very decoratively, remained in tact. The other thing to notice is the mirrored background. This helped make the small space of the exhibition feel much larger.
The best part of the exhibition to my mind, was a display case of ancient fish plates. They are in amazing condition, and illustrated the skill of the painters of course, but also the ancient study of fish (and other sea creatures, like dolphins, which they noticed bore young like humans (well mammals)). They even created a rudimentary classification of these creatures. In short the Greeks really studied things, as a opposed to just doing what was necessary to sustain life.
This statue was meant to illustrate Greek concepts of proportion. But again I liked the mirror background so you can see the whole figure without having to circle round and feel weird staring at his buttocks!
As I say, it wasn't a big exhibition so I spent a while looking around some of the less popular stuff. I am no science buff, so was more drawn to things like the scientific instruments, more for their decorative value.
How about this for a microscope, made in solid silver for King George III (who was a science buff).
This is the mathematics gallery
If you are wondering what the strange thing below is, well look at the bottom half of the silver cylinder in the middle and you should just make out the image of the stern of a warship. This is the refection of the weird looking painting which the cylinder sits on. It was painted so that you can only see the real image in the cylinder. Ok, pointless exercise, but at the same time impressive.
Elizabethan weights and measures
Flying for real men!
I did get in a bit of walk over Kensington Gardens - Albert Memorial below.
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