Back to Babylon
This week, my wife and I visited the British Museum in central London to see the exhibition “Babylon: Myth And Reality”. While not having the scale and grandeur of the “Byzantium” exhibition at the Royal Academy [see my comment here]. it is still an interesting and impressive exhibition as this review from the “Observer” newspaper makes clear.
However, if one wants to see the true glory of Babylon, one has to visit the Pergamon Museum in Berlin (which I have) where one can see a reconstruction of the magnificent Ishtar Gate. The actual remains of Babylon south of Baghdad are more disappointing than ever since American and Polish troops used the site as a base in the current occupation and did terrible harm to archeological site.
January 12th, 2009 at 12:19 pm
Agreed, I’m amazed how many people go to Berlin and don’t go to that Museum. It’s fabulous. As indeed is the Byzantium exhibition in the RA in particular. Babylon was good and informative, but the crowds were very off putting…
January 13th, 2009 at 9:29 am
We found the British Museum exhibition crowded too, Damian.