London Day 1: The British Museum

Tiglath-Pileser III

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Nimrud (Nimroud): Gypsum wall panel relief: the king, Tiglath-Pileser III, wears a long full beard, a moustache, and carefully curled hair. His high crown is decorated with three bands which are ornamented with rosettes. The ornamented ends of the lowest band hang down his back. His garment has a fringed border decorated with rosettes alternating with concentric squares. His earring is of a common type; on his wrist he wears a four-fold bracelet with a many-petalled rosette in the middle. In his raised right hand he holds a staff. 728 BC. British Museum. "The reliefs here, excavated by Rassam and Loftus at Nimroud and Nineveh, belong to the latest period of Assyrian art ... 862. Tiglath-Pileser III. (745 727 B.C.) receiving the submission of a foe;"--Baedeker 1915. IMG_1829p2

Hoa Hakananai'a

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British Museum. Hoa Hakananai'a. Easter Island moai statue. Collected for the British Museum by HMS Topaz in 1868. Presented to Queen Victoria in 1869. IMG_1793

Great Court

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Great Court. In the centre is the exterior of the Reading Room of the British Museum Library. Built in 1857 under the direction of Antonio Panizzi. The Reading Room closed in 1997 when the collection moved to the new British Library. MG_1833p1Great Court

Charles James Fox

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Statue of Charles James Fox (1749-1806) in Bloomsbury Square. Bronze figure by Richard Westmacott on a granite pedestal, installed in 1816. "Bloomsbury is noted for the number of its squares. In Bloomsbury Square, which is embellished with a statue of Charles James Fox (d. 1806), by Westmacott ..."--Baedeker 1915. IMG_1864

Bloomsbury Place

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Terrace houses at 1-5 Bloomsbury Place. Dates from the late 17th century, but were refronted in 1857-1862. Southhampton Row and Bloomsbury Place. IMG_1887

Great Russell Street

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Terraces in Great Russell Street. Developed by James Burton beginning in 1800. Once the site of Bedford House, demolished in 1800. 74-77 Great Russell Street. IMG_1883

Central School of Art and Design

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Central School of Art and Design. Built in 1908. Southampton Row. "...Central School of Arts and Crafts, in a handsome building at the corner of Southampton Row and Theobald's Road ..."--Baedeker 1915. IMG_1893

Museum Tavern

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Museum Tavern. Across the street from the British Museum. "Public house. c1855-64. By William Finch Hill and EL Paraire. Stucco with wooden public house ground floor. Modified French Renaissance style. ... Public house front with Corinthian pilasters and colonnettes carrying entablature with dentil cornice. Round-arched, recessed openings with panelled dados. Entrance on splayed corner with fanlight and double part-glazed doors". 49 Great Russell Street. IMG_1879p1

Ultimate Fish & Chips

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Ultimate Fish & Chips, served at Museum Tavern. IMG_1874

Grange Holborn Hotel

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Grange Holborn Hotel. Built ca.1956 as the Sentinel House. 50 - 60 Southampton Row. IMG_1978