The AndeanSkies team travelled down to the Bloomsbury area of London to visit the British Museum and later the National Gallery at Trafalgar Square. The British Museum, established in 1753, is a public institution dedicated to human history, art, and culture. The permanent collection of over eight million works sourced during the rise and expansion of the British Empire is the most comprehensive in history.
There is considerable controversy regarding the "custodianship" of these collections, with the topic of repatriation of these artefacts being a contentious issue for several countries and indigenous peoples. However, it would be disingenuous not to appreciate the British Museum's position best articulated in 2006 by Dr. Robert Anderson, British Museum Director,
"restitutionist premise, that whatever was made in a country must return to an original geographical site, would empty both the British Museum and the other great museums of the world"
The British Museum has a impressive collection of Pre-Colombian artefacts from Central America.
While the Andean collections had no dedicated viewing room, the team found several artefacts of Nazca and Inca origin on display in the Enlightenment and other adjacent rooms.
The physical facilities were quite overwhelming, the team was amazed at the scale of the building and the wealth of the various cultures represented with its massive collections. The team spent more than three hours in the Museum, finally retiring to view the collections at the National Gallery.
Unfortunately the team was too exhausted and short on time to travel to the South American restaurant, so we settled on having dinner at Tortillas across the street from Trafalgar Square - where Robert failed to eat a burrito properly despite sitting not 5 feet from a "How to Eat a Burrito" sign.....
