In an attempt to be a proper tourist I decided to visit the British Museum, one of those famous, must visit tourist attractions in London. And quite frankly I was quite disappointed!
The museum has such an amazing collection of pieces from most parts of the world, particularly from ancient times (Egypt, Rome and Greece etc) but it got me thinking, shouldn't these pieces be kept in the region they were pilfered from? Wouldn't it be nice to see the Book of the Dead in Egypt? Or pieces of the Parthenon in Greece? Visitors would probably get a better sense of what it would have been like in those days if these pieces were in the location they were found in. What's the point of having a room full of ancient greek pots behind glass in a room hundreds of thousands of miles away? No one can appreciate them, just walk past to get to the next room.
That said, the museum has done a fantastic job in preserving the world's history and it's all in one place so it's convenient for people to come and see everything all at one time. I wouldn't want all the ancient Egyptian collection to be in Egypt right now, because in the present climate not as many people would be visiting Egypt and it collection wouldn't be appreciated. But at the same time I think it's horrible that there are mummified corpses lying the the museum. In this day and age it would be called grave robbing and I'm pretty sure that's illegal.
I don't know whether they are thieves or rescuers, but I've come to the conclusion that the British Museum should have branches in different countries so it can preserve ancient relics and pieces but give each country the right to own and display their own history.
