Stage Eight: The British Museum Great Court,
Great Russell Street, London
As a member of the FRiends of the British Museum (formerly the British Museum Society), I managed to get an invitation to an exclusive preview of the Great Court redevelopment at the British Museum, before the official opening on December 7th.
The Great Court, at the centre of the Museum, used to house the British Library bookstacks and administration areas, and surrounded the world famous Reading Room, which had been only accessible by staff and holders of Reader's Tickets. When, eventually, the British Library relocated to new premises at St. Pancras, the project to refurbish Great Court and Reading Room, and open it up to the public began. A glass roof was added and a brand new South Portico was constructed.
The following are just a few quick snaps I took during the preview on Tuesday November 28th.
The Great Court is stunning (even in the state I saw it, with some work still to be finished) The 2 1/2 acre area is simply amazing - light and airy, with the Reading Room restored to it's place as the centre of attention!
If you are in London, I can strongly recommend that you visit.
The Dome as you leave the Tube station / Jazz Band entertaining visitors in Main Square
Posters advertising the film "Blackadder Back and Forth"
(which can be ordered from Blackstar.co.uk by selecting the link!)
Left - Hugh Laurie and Stephen Fry
Right - Tony Robinson, Kate Moss and Rowan Atkinson
The Body Zone;
Top - the infamous 'Body' scupture
Left - the 'hand' of the scupture, featuring a twirling ball containing a statue
Right - the 'brain' of the Body Zone, with the Tommy Cooper 'Brain' telling jokes!
Yours Truly on the balcony overlooking the Main Arena / The Earth 'hovering' next to the Home Planet Zone
Exhibits from the Journey Zone;
The USS Enterprise D / The Jet Boat from the James Bond film "The World is Not Enough" / a London Double Decker Bus which was also exhibited at the Festival of Britain in 1951
The Self Portrait Zone
The Learning/Work Zone;
A large 'video' style screen which
alternated between a huge bookshelf, containing over 13,000 popular titles,
an industrial scene, and a countryside scene.
The picture on the right shows the
bookshelves transforming into the Industrial scene
Two of my 'stitched together' pictures;
One of the supporting masts / The Main
Arena and roof
The Rest Zone
The Dome at night / Yours Truly on
his way home, pausing to pose outside the darkening Dome (Mast just visible
in the centre of the picture).
Dome
Memorabilia
As you can imagine,
The Dome has a wide range of memorabilia associated with it - here are
just a few examples (not to scale)
Left to Right - Plastic bag from one
of the Gift Shops; The Dome fold out map and guide; The Official Dome Guide
(available at the gift shop) 124 pages.
Left to Right - Millennium Show ticket/Blackadder
Back and Forth ticket (on the same piece of paper); Body Zone ticket -
the Body Zone, being the most popular exhibit, is the only Zone to have
entrance by timed ticket.