Victoria and Albert Museum - Britain 1760-1900

From 1760-90 in Britain there was a revival of Greek and Roman influences on architecture and design. Many call this " neo-classicism". Architects not only designed the outside of buildings. They also designed many interior elements of buildings, including carpets, furniture, door handles, kitchen utensils and vases. The vase collection is extensive in this part of the museum. Here are some Wedgwood vases designed by Josiah Wedgwood.

Here are some vases decorated with Ancient Greek themes.

This elaborate Persian style candle vase (1771) came from a noble's house in London.

There are display cases of dining rooms from 1760-1830. The French influenced the style with silver dinner service and porcelain dishes.

The textile printing industry thrived from the 1760-1840. Furniture and clothing reflected this. Here are material for chair backs and cloth for clothes.

Fancy objects in your home was all the rage. Here is an out of focus music stand from 1810. At least you can see the crescent shape, based on the shape of a Greek leather shield.

Alas styles and tastes change and move in a different direction. The Roccoco style came in vogue the early 19th century.  Chinese and Indian influences crept into architecture and interior design during this time as well. A prime example is the willow pattern on plates (that blue and white depiction of a Chinese legend that you still see on grandma's plates). The Brits developed the design. A Gothic revival started in the late 18th century. It was regarded as a "morally superior style" as it was "British and Christian" and not "foreign and pagan". This Gothic style was seen in the rebuilt Palace of Westminster (parliament building) after it burned down in 1834. New designs were made for the chairs and wallpaper of parliament (from 1847-51).

In 1851 was the Great Exhibition of goods from England and her empire. It was a world fair. Queen Victoria especially liked the new Majolica glazes (of tin) on ceramics. Here is an example on a wine cooler. The queen called it " the Victoria wine cooler". She ordered some for her palace. 

Trade increased between Britain and her colonies in the mid 19th century. Importing and exporting happened more frequently with the aid of rail and steamships. As Japan opened its ports in 1850 to American and European powers, new design ideas crept into Britain. Nature themes and simplicity of form were elements taken from Japanese design. In 1870 a movement called "aestheticism" came and combined Japanese and Greek/Roman elements. 

These rooms are only a few of many interesting ones on design in art.  I leave you with a more contemporary piece that was hanging near a stairwell. I did not make it downstairs to see who it was by. The subject matter (of smashed brass instruments) is curious.

No comment....

British Museum - Mesopotamia area, 6000-539 BC

This museum covers ancient history from many parts of the world - Africa, Egypt, Greece, Rome, Asia, Europe and the Middle East. I would recommend going on one of the free "eye-opener tours" that focus on a particular section of the museum. This is such a huge museum. If you are not headed towards a specific item or area in the museum and are overwhelmed by all that is offered here, it is a great idea to start with a tour.

Be prepared to wait in line to get in the museum, to get an audio guide and to get food. This is a popular place.

I took the tour called "Ancient Iraq" (although "Iraq" did not exist at that point). Rather it was the area called Mesopotamia, between the Tigres and Euphrates rivers, where this tour began. Some of the cities mentioned were Ur (in current southern Iraq), Nineveh and Babylon. 

The photo below of a lion is from the throne room of King Nebudchanezzar II, who reigned from 605-562 BC in Babylon. He said the lion represented himself. What an ego! He had a palace, walled city, a gate called " Ishtar" and a royal processional walkway. The city of Babylon was thriving then. The top of the wall was wide enough to allow 2 chariots to pass each other and was the fastest way to get around the city.

In the part of the museum about the city of Ur you find information about the development of writing, a popular board game and the Royal cemetery. Writing was first done with pictures drawn on clay tablets. Later symbols developed that represented sounds or abstract ideas (called "cuneiform"). I did not take pictures of the clay tablets as they were small and very detailed. Popular drawings represented items such as beer and barley (for bread making). These clay tablets were often receipts of goods bought or received. 

The popular board game "The Royal game of Ur" was around for about 3,000 years. It spread from this area to India and China. It involves 2 players moving game pieces around the board as efficiently as possible to finish first. In this photo you can see the game board, playing pieces (buttons) and 4 sided die. I think stick die too. The rule book for the game was written on the clay tablet.

Rumor had it that 2 bored guardsmen at a gate etched a game board on the base of a monument so they could play in their spare time!

A royal cemetery was found and archeologists were surprised to find luxury items in it, such as this silver lyre.

 This was rebuilt, as some of the wood on it had deteriorated. Much of it was made of silver, including the original pegs lying at the foot of the lyre. This instrument is from 2500 BC. 

Here is a text describing what archeologists found at the dig site of the Royal cemetery.

I guess the royals believed you had to take everything and everyone with them into the grave.

On to the area of Assyria and the city of Nineveh where King Ashurbanipal ( 668-630 BC) collected a library of texts from all over the area. It is the world's first library. The king asked everyone to make copies of texts from all over the empire and bring them to his library. Any subject was accepted. The texts were mostly copied on clay tablets. When a fire swept through the library in 612 BC, many of the clay tablets survived. The tablets in the photo below discuss rituals/protocol for a substitute king and queen if they had to suddenly come to power and the rituals/procedure for rebuilding a temple.

The library could have looked like this.

Some of the texts have been translated and can be found at http://oracc.org/asbp 

These were only highlights of the Mesopotamia area of the museum. The tour really helped make sense of what I was seeing. The audio guide helped also. I would recommend both. 

Pace yourself in this museum. Much to see here. 

Wimbledon -All England Lawn Tennis Club tour 2017

I visited the site of the Wimbledon tennis tournament for the third time and it never gets old. I always learn something new here. 

Hopefully there will be some new information for you too. I don't want to repeat myself with the same old stuff from my other Wimbledon posts. 

New to me-

The playing season for tennis at the club is from May through September on the outer courts (all the courts except for center, 1 and 2). The grass is re-seeded in October every year.

The center court and courts 1 and 2 are re-seeded in August, shortly after the tournament ends. They are played on less frequently. The center court grass was planted last week and it is already growing! The desired length of the grass is 8 mm on all courts. Here is center court with growing grass.

Center court has had a retractable roof since 2009. If the roof is closed for or during a match, it will not be re-opened during that match. Too much of a hassle. On court #1 they are putting on a retractable roof. Work on it stops around matches. It will be completed in 2019. Here they are resuming work on it.

The company IBM is responsible for all IT related issues, including keeping track of tournament statistics. Here is their nerve center.

Rufus the hawk and his hawk buddies are trained to fly around the tennis court and scare off the birds that are messing up the grass. I did not see him personally, but saw him on video. Watch out!

The BBC has the largest tv studio at the tournament. It costs a lot to broadcast the tournament. Other tv companies shell out lots of money to do so. Here is the BBC's studio you often see on tv during the tournament.

Tickets to the tournament are reserved seating for a whole day on a particular court for center court and courts 1 and 2. A ballot system is used to determine who is eligible to buy those tickets. Otherwise you stand in line on the day of the matches and buy a general admission ticket that will get you into any of the outer courts. Seating there is limited, so you have to run to your favorite court and nab a seat. Do not leave that seat ever or you will lose it to another person. No bathroom or food break for you!

In 1909 the Wimbledon colors of white, green and blue were established. White represents the official uniform color of the club. Green is for the grass. Purple...no idea. You see these colors all around the area and especially in the main interview room. Players are required to speak to the media after a match. If they don't, they will get fined. Here is that room.

The players enter through these doors for the tournament. They check in and go on their way from here.

The court with seating in the photo below is court #2. Surrounding it are outer courts.

All of the players at the tournament get paid prize money for participating. Of course the winners receive more money. This office is an important place.

There are 380 full members of the All England Lawn Tennis Club. They pay 100 GPB annually to belong. The process to become a member is lengthy, including being nominated and vetted. The club wants to know if you will fit into their expectations and participate in their social activities (as well as follow their dress rules to play tennis there). At the end of each year you are evaluated to see how you did. If you fail to meet the club's expectations, you will be denied membership forever more.

Former tournament players (around 100) are invited to be honorary members free of charge. They are often foreigners. If they are ever in London, they can play tennis there for free.

Our tour guide spoke about "designated debenture tickets". Not sure I completely understand what that is. I understand that you can buy a reserved ticket for the tournament that is good for 5 years. Costs a pretty penny!

250 ball boys and girls are chosen among local kids by application. There is a rigorous training involved with tests on fitness, standing still, bouncing the ball correctly, manners and rules of the game.

Here is a photo of the score of this year's men's finals on center court.

As you enter the club, the scores are also posted.

The Wingfield cafe serves delicious food, including strawberries and cream (a Wimbledon favorite).

The museum is worth visiting. New this year is a virtual reality experience complete with head gear. A movie is shown in 3D and a 360 degree view about the tournament and features clips from the 2016 men's and women's singles finals. It feels like you are on court with the players.

A lot of history is covered about the game of tennis. The balls used to be filled with hair, sand, wool and cloth and was covered by leather. It did not bounce well.

This fancy girl's dress was from a fancy dance party in Simla India in 1893. It is based on a badminton outfit. That game was played in India and brought to England by a British officer.

Of course there is a lot shown about the history of the tournament. These photos show the recent domination of certain players since the year 2000.

This is a sign a fan made that anticipated Roger Federer's win this year at the tournament - making it his 19th grand slam title.

The trophies are kept by the museum. All the winners' names from past tournaments are engraved on them. The recent winners' names are engraved on a new bottom part of the trophy as there is no room for any more names on the cup.

Definitely worth a half day visit to this hallowed ground of tennis!

Museum of London - 16th through early 20th century

As I made my way through this museum, I started off in the 16th century with the London stone. The earliest written reference to this stone was in a survey of London from 1598. The stone is thought to be from 1100 AD. Its origin and purpose are unknown. It is surmised that it was from London's Roman days and could have been part of a larger building. 

London Delftware is a style of ceramics that came from the Netherlands. It has a white surface from tin oxide in the glaze and gets its other colors from metallic pastes. These items are hand painted.  The first Delftware shop in London was founded in 1571.  Note in this photo the cat jug from the mid 17th century. It held cream, milk or wine. 

A model of an early theater from 1587 called the Rose Theater was on display. It was a rival theater to the Globe Theater in the 16th century. 

It was interesting to find out that a bookkeeper copied out each actor's lines separately and gave it to him in that script form to learn his lines.  How does he then know when to say those lines? Also a list of stage entrances/exits and props were posted backstage (and not put in the actor's script).

There was a section on the civil wars from 1642-51 with King Charles I being a major player. His love of divine power got him in trouble and he was exiled.  Oliver Cromwell stepped in to lead in 1653 as "Lord Protector". He managed to unite England, Scotland and Ireland and work well with parliament. International trade flourished during this time. In 1660 parliament wanted a return of a king, so Charles II came to rule. During his tenure hatred was expressed towards Cromwell and effigies of Cromwell and the coat of arms of the Commonwealth were burned. In 1661 Cromwell's body was exhumed and hung for display at Tyburn. Here is a cast of his death mask.

Charles II's coronation was a grand affair with a procession on horseback from the Tower of London to Whitehall. A theater impresario was stage manager of his coronation. 

The next section covered the Great Plague of 1665.  The disease was spread by flea-infested rats. There were many suggested treatments for the plague. The Goa stone was a compound of bezoar (mineral ball from the stomach of deer and sheep), shells, amber, resin and precious gems. It was imported from India. One would mix scrapings of this stone with water to treat those with the plague.

Prepared "plague waters" (water with ground hart's horn) were given to people pre-emptively to fend off the plague. Tobacco smoke was supposed to protect you from the plague. It was a lobbying ploy from the American tobacco industry. 

Deaths from the plague were announced with the ringing of a "plague bell", signifying that dead bodies were being collected for burial. 

At first people were buried individually, until the number of deaths were so overwhelming that mass burials in churchyards were performed.  Mourners wore mourning rings made for the death of a loved one. The quality and value of the ring varied based on the recipient's relationship with the deceased.

The Great Fire of 1666 in London started in a bakery on Pudding Lane. The buildings back then were made of wood and placed very close together. The upper floors of buildings were larger than the lower floors, so that the upper floors needed extra structural support from wooden brackets.  Here is a photo of one of these brackets, plus a sign behind it for a pub (a leather bottle).

436 acres and 13,200 homes were destroyed in the fire. 

Foreigners and Catholics were blamed for starting the fire. The blame had to fall on someone. A plaque was put on the new building in Pudding Lane in 1681 where the fire had started. It blamed the Catholics and Robert Hubert (a French foreigner who worked at the bakery) for the fire. He was hung  for the "crime". It was not proven that he caused the fire. He did confess, but probably under duress.

The history of fire control and insurance back then in London is interesting.  There were no established fire departments. Each parish had its own fire equipment, but it was in poor shape. When the Great Fire started, fire hooks were used to pull down buildings to create fire breaks and hopefully prevent the spreading of the fire. It was a pre-emptive measure. It helped a bit. If they could not easily pull the houses down, they would blow them up with gunpowder to create a fire break.  There was also no fire insurance back then.  The insurance business only developed later after the fire. A house covered by a fire insurance policy would have a plaque on it with the logo of the insurance company plus the policy number. Here is an example from a residence from 1701.

In another area of the museum is the "Victorian Walk".  Various shops and business are represented here with examples of store fronts. Shops included toy stores, tobacconists, barber, pub, glassware, tea/coffee warehouse, engraver, watchmaker, baker, milliner, tailor, grocer, pharmacy, stationer, bank, public urinal and pawnbroker. It was fun to walk around and peek into the store fronts. 

The next section covered the 1850s-1940s.  I did not make it all the way through this part or the next area of the museum. An early London taxi from 1908 (running on gas) was prominent in the room.

A 1928 elevator from Selfridge's department store stood out too.

I just started to read about a series of exhibitions in London that were meant to promote trade with 

England's colonies. I did not get that far, as I had to leave.  I walked quickly through an area about the suffragette movement and the world wars.  Next time I will continue to explore from there.