Museum of the World

The Southbank Centre hosted a 'Museum of the World' for the Olympics which included an Antarctica world passport delivery bureau where 30 000 facsimile Antarctica world passports were being issued. 

A booth has been set up so you could have an official photo taken for only 20p.  There was even a guy sat at a desk within the art installation to stamp your newly acquired passport.

Outside a giant world map was being slowly completed out of LEGO. A long line of children and their parents were patiently waiting to receive a base plate and instruction to build their small section of the map.

Church of the Holy Sepulchre

The British Museum currently has on special exhibition a detailed model of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, a church built on the site of what is thought to be the place where Jesus was crucified and buried.

The model was made in Bethlehem in the 17th Century.  There is also some information in the exhibition about what you might call the religious souvenirs industry in Israel.

The Afana brothers from Bethlehem, makers and traders of religious souvenirs.

Seven branches of Christianity share the space of the church: Eastern Orthodox, Armenian Apostolic, Roman Catholic, Greek Orthodox, Coptic Orthodox, Ethiopian Orthodox and Syriac Orthodox.

I was surprised to read that back in 2002 a monk moved his chair from one area to another in the church, which was perceived to be the Coptic area to the Ethiopian area of the church and the reaction of the monks in one of Christianity's most holy sites was to descend into a bit of an orgy of violence involving punches, chairs and even metal bars at the end of which some the monks were so badly injured they required hospital treatment.  In a way, it's quite comforting really to see that people are people no matter where they are or how they are supposed to be acting.

www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2002/julyweb-only/7-29-52.0.html

Psychoanalysis in Finchley Road

I had no idea that Freud's famous psychoanalytical couch was here in London, nor that he had moved to Finchley Road to continue his work following increasing harassment by the Nazi party in his native Austria.  I had imaged the couch to be black or red leather so to see the real thing was a bit of a surprise - it certainly looked very comfy! His whole study had quite a comfortable air about it,.

Freud was an avid collector of antiquities and there were all kinds of strange statues around the museum that he had collected over the years

This is the first time I've added an entry for a country relating to a particular person, but the it's my blog, so my rules.

Australian Season British Museum

The British Museum is having an 'Australian Season' until September 2011.

Events include films, talks, workshops and gallery tours.  A lot of events are free but some do have a charge.More details can be found here: www.britishmuseum.org/whats_on/exhibitions/australian_season.aspx

There is a little 'Australian landscape' that you can look round, designed in partnership with the Royal Botanical Gardens in Kew.

Victoria and Albert Museum

Countries: Several
Cost: Free
Location: South Kensington

My first visit to the Victoria and Albert Museum!  I didn't have a chance to see everything but enjoyed the time I did spend there.  There's a good mix of old and new exhibits.