Of all the museums I’ve been to, none of them have been as vast as the British Museum. When I first walked in, I fell in love with the central courtyard. I think Foster did a great job combining the old and the new. As I looked at the map, I was shocked to see the number of exhibits from all parts of the world. Never before had I seen such a large collection; I was excited to go explore and rushed off to try to see as much of this expansive museum as I could.

Unfortunately, part way through the museum, I decided that having such a large collection wasn’t necessarily a good thing. About an hour into my visit I walked into a room packed full of Egyptian mummies and coffins. Cases with rows of coffins filled the space, so much so that I couldn’t even count the number they had. I worked my way through that room only to walk into another room packed full of mummies. At this point I started to feel a little uncomfortable. Earlier we had been asked the question, “What does it mean to have all these artifacts taken from their homes and places in a museum?” For all the times I’ve been in a museum before, I had never really considered this.

I think museums are really important as they help people understand past cultures. Also, without museums, many artifacts may not be around today, at least they wouldn’t be in as good of condition. That being said, I think it is important to consider how the items were acquired – were they given to the museum or did the museum “rescue” them.

While the vastness of the British Museum was incredible and it was amazing to be able to see vases from China, carvings from the Parthenon, and a capital column from the Pantheon all in one place, I think the largeness of the collection took away the value of the individual pieces. When you get to the point where you walk past a two-thousand-year-old vase because “it’s just another vase”, I think that is a sign that the collection has grown too large for a single museum. It is incredible to have so many treasures in one place. However, it’s a simple theory of supply and demand – the more items there are, the less valuable an object becomes. When you walk into a room with a single mummy, you are amazed at what you are seeing. But, when you walk through a room where one mummy is packed in a case with five others, it doesn’t seem as important. I felt proper respect couldn’t be given to each individual treasure as it was more about showing off the largeness of the collection.