On Friday 13th May, the Third-form scholars and exhibitioners headed up to the British Museum and Sir John Soane Museum, along with Dr Gardner, Dr Johncock and Mr Lewis. The aim of the day was to gather more information for the students’ individual projects and inspiration for their ‘cabinets of curiosities’ (they are reducing their projects down to 9 objects that best represent their research).
At the British Museum, we headed first for the Enlightenment gallery, where Dr Gardner introduced the role of the Enlightenment (sapere aude! (dare to know!) in developing eighteenth-century interest in the natural world and in ideas of classification and measurement. She discussed the way in which cabinets of curiosities and museums began to emerge alongside dictionaries and encyclopaedias as contemporaries sought to understand the world around them.
Mr Lewis then led us through the Assyrian galleries, offering a lively introduction to the royal palace of Ashurnasirpal II (883-859 BC) and the reliefs that would have stood in its magnificent throne room (including one of a ‘war machine’ complete with battering ram) and a fantastic commentary on the myriad lion killings in the Lion Hunts room.
After some time for students to locate information for their own projects, we headed off to Sir John Soane’s house where we were given a tour of the interior. This was a significant change from the order of the British Museum for the house is a veritable cabinet of curiosities. Sir John’s eighteenth-century collecting mind is evident for all to see: from his paintings room in which there are hidden paintings behind every wall, to his crypt where he kept his prize sarcophagus, to the back room filled with Roman columns, reliefs and other collectables!
It was a perfect day: glorious weather, wonderful conversation and an intellectual odyssey!
