My Visit to the London British Museum

I visited the London British museum sometimes last year, and I am so thankful to have seen such awesome display of arts. I was extremely impressed. The building was nothing short of magnificent, and the art collections were incredible.

I have always been interested in the arts; I find them fascinating. So, when I decided to take a trip to the London museum, I knew It would be a great experience.

The British Museum is a museum in London dedicated to human history and culture

Its permanent collection, numbering some eight million works, is amongst the largest and most comprehensive in existence and originates from all continents, illustrating and documenting the story of human culture from its beginnings to the present.

established in 1753, the museum first opened to the public on 15 January 1759 in Montagu House in Bloomsbury, on the site of the current museum building. Its expansion over the following two and a half centuries was largely a result of an expanding British colonial footprint and has resulted in the creation of several branch institutions.

Even though my experience at the museum was awesome, I know a lot of people complain about the artifacts displayed in the museum.

Some say they didn’t feel too good that the Egyptian bodies and sarcophagi were on display when they should have been left alone. But the one I hear often is that most of the artifacts displayed at the museum were stolen. And those that caught my attention were the Benin bronzes which was said to be stolen from western Nigeria when it was invaded by the British.

These stolen artifacts on display has been the centre of heavy criticism of the British museum from people all over the world.

Criticize the British all you want; I personally appreciate the arts in London. The British did a really good job preserving and displaying such a great collection of world’s civilizations of many nations so we can learn and appreciate them. Seeing the level of preservation and maintenance, I can honestly say that most African countries won’t do that. This is not because they can’t do it, but the selfishness of African leaders and their neglects will not let these happen.

I think the artifacts should be left on display at the British museum, but ownership should be transferred to the original owners of these artifacts. They can then find a way that the original owners can benefit from the display of these artifacts.