Refreshed, I entered the Exhibition hall and was greeted by two National Trust volunteers who told me that the Audio/Visual film would be starting shortly and was well worth the visit. It was pretty entertaining and at 8 minutes was about the right length - contained the statement that 80% of modern English words come down to us from Anglo Saxon, which came as news to me.
Amble round the hall soaking up the history and I come to the first display cabinet where I take this shot - looking at it last night I was amazed to find that I had a successful replica of the case contents. So without further explanation here it is.
Then moved in front of the case next to it and took this one, which is not as sharp but does show the ornaments from a horse bridle found in the tomb of a warrior excavated in 1992.
Next stop was the reconstruction of the famous helmet but first I read a notice telling me that photography was not allowed in the Exhibition hall for reasons of privacy and security - damn. Major disappointment as it warranted half a dozen shots all of it’s own, so the next few shots are not mine:
The reconstruction of the helmet is a thing of great beauty and the same could be said of the sword. The hall also had a reproduction of the tomb found within the ship as it would have looked when it was created and boy had they filled it with stuff.
Cooking pots, clothing, jewellery, chain mail coat, sword, spears, shield , that helmet and other items including a game board.- wish I could have taken a photo. That dude certainly went into his afterlife with everything that he might require.
The Treasury Room contained reconstructions of various artifacts, lyre, shield, smiths tools, cloth and jewellery - these people certainly appreciated the finer things in life which I found ironic given that they were living in the middle of the “Dark Ages”.
Coming out of the hall I found that the sun had disappeared behind dull grey skies, headed back with my brain still sifting through the memories of the day and a smile on my face.
3 comments:
The museum sounds so cool! The helmet is the same on that there is a picture of in one of our literature texts (where I teach). My students giggled about the mustache.
At the art museum in Philadelphia, there is (hope there still is) a room dedicated to armor, tapestries, and "stuff" of that particular era. I used to drag my dad there just to go to that room. AMAZING!
If you really think of everything our ancestors did without the benefit of all that we have, you realize just how smart "man" is and that "he" can survive just fine without all the gadgets (although, they make life much nicer).
Wow - cool stuff! That's pretty fancy gear for a horse, eh? Sounds like a lot of fun.
Rt, I love going around museums loking at really old stuff and learning new things - must be time for another visit to the Brisish Museum!
Phlegmmy, the jewellery for the horse harness totally blew me away. All in all a grand day out and the fine weather was the icing on the cake. (Though you might call it frosting?)
Post a Comment