I am really fortunate to have been able to visit some of the world’s greatest museums. The “Big Four” that come to mind for me are the British Museum in London, the Egyptian Museum in Cairo, the Louvre in Paris, and the Vatican Museum in Rome. I would have to rank these four as the top museums in the world, although I realize that not everyone may concur with my opinion. Let me comment briefly on each of them in ascending order of my own personal favorites.
The Ceiling of the Sistine Chapel
The Vatican Museum is truly amazing! If you have the opportunity to visit there, it is well worth it to pay a little extra for a private tour guide. The crowds are horrendous! I must admit that there may have been a few too many tapestries for my taste, but still an interesting visit. Perhaps my favorite stop on the whole tour was the renowned Sistine Chapel, with its famous ceiling painted by Michelangelo from 1508 to 1512. I can certainly see why it took him four long and tortuous years to complete it. I probably shouldn’t say this, but I somehow expected the Chapel to be a little larger and grander than it was, but I guess that is often the case. Our guide, who had a wicked sense of humor, did tell us that one of the figures descending into Hell on one of the panels depicted a particular Cardinal that Michelangelo disliked. My favorite panel is the famous one known as “The Creation of Adam,” which shows the hand of God reaching down to Adam.
The Glass Pyramid at the Louvre
Next on my little museum tour is the Louvre in Paris. This is the largest art museum in the world. For our visit to the Louvre, we didn’t go the tour guide route; we opted to go by ourselves, armed with a detailed map and a list of the key items that we really wanted to see. You could easily spend days and days in the Louvre, but since we didn’t have that much time, we just made the most of it. I suspect everyone is familiar with the iconic glass pyramid in the courtyard of the Louvre. Underneath that pyramid is the central starting point for the various wings of the huge Louvre Palace. Like the Vatican, it was packed with tourists of all nationalities.
We managed to see our list of the most famous pieces, including Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa. Probably everyone has seen her famous smile. The actual painting is really quite small; my husband remarked that he expected it to be larger. It actually only measures about 30″ by 21″, so not a huge painting. When we saw the Mona Lisa, there were what seemed like thousands of Japanese tourists there, all armed with selfie sticks and taking endless selfies of themselves standing next to the Mona Lisa. Now that was the picture I should have taken–that sea of selfie sticks!
Mona Lisa Enjoying the Selfies
Moving on from Paris, my next favorite museum is the Egyptian Museum in Cairo, more properly called the Museum of Egyptian Antiquities. I have always had a deep interest in archaeology and ancient Egypt. We visited the Museum in the early 2000’s. Sadly, it was broken into during the Egyptian uprisings in 2011 with some damage to artifacts and some thefts. I have to admit that I am glad that we got to see it when we did; I don’t know if I would choose to return to Egypt these days! Probably everyone has seen the movie, “The Mummy” with the great exterior shots of the Egyptian Museum. That is exactly what it looks like.
When we visited, the crowds were primarily focused on the King Tutankhamun exhibits and the room with the royal mummies and disregarded most of the rest of the museum. Once you got away from the crowds and found some of the older displays, you pretty well had the whole place to yourself. I don’t think some of the display cabinets had been opened or dusted since the items were originally put in them. Faded placards written on old typewriters and handwritten captions in French and English revealed much of the French and British presence in Egypt in earlier centuries.
Exterior of the Egyptian Museum
In one case we saw a well-preserved hunting dog; his hair looked as if he were still alive. Except for the King Tut and the Royal Mummies exhibits, the building was not air-conditioned and was open to Cairo’s horribly polluted air. At one point I started to take a picture of some old stone sarcophagi, and a museum guard told me not to take picture due to my flash. As if the flash on my camera could be any worse than all the automobile exhaust pollution pouring in through the open windows! The sad thing with the Egyptian Museum is that so many of the artifacts are not on display or even catalogued for that matter. I can only hope that the present leadership in Egypt can somehow appreciate and preserve the wonderful ancient treasures of their country.
Now for my number one favorite museum! It has to be the British Museum in London. This outstanding museum has a bit of everything, from the famed Rosetta Stone to the Elgin Marbles. It has an amazing collection of Egyptian artifacts as well the Elgin Marble from the Parthenon in Greece and numerous Roman objects and old Viking relics from the Sutton Hoo excavations. The entire collection reflects what a world power the British Empire was for so many years. At one point I used to think it was sad that the treasures from so many countries ended up in museums in England or France. Then having seen the lack of preservation and regard in some of these locales, I think it is a blessing that these artifacts are being so carefully preserved and cared for outside of their native countries.
Being of English and Scottish heritage myself as well as a student of English literature for many, many years, I also loved seeing the original manuscripts and folios of so many famous works of literature that I have loved through the years. There you have it, my top four museums to visit and enjoy!
©The Eclectic Grandma, 2018
