Days in the Life

May 11, 2003

the British Museum... The passage inward led to a great foyer -- elaborate with Victorian ornament, huge in scale, but close and dimly lit as though gaslight were still the mode of the day. But beyond gigantic doors reaching twenty feet or more toward the distant painted ceiling, the darkness dramatically gave way to a dazzling open courtyard of enlightenment, ablaze in its physical intensity and grand in its intellectual scope. Here was a tangible culmination of the Victorians' ambition to encompass the knowledge of the world, much as they were doing with its political and cultural landscape. This place is as much monument as museum, honoring the process of accumulating knowledge even as it displays the fruits of that effort. It's hard to explain exactly why, but I found this atmosphere extremely exciting and I felt rather giddy. My physical and mental fatigue from the past days' exploration was beaten back, for a time, by adrenaline spiking through my weary and oversaturated system. an image of the Grand Courtyard of the British Museum
a detail image of hieroglyphics with colors intact

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©2003 Gerry Manacsa