Cultural Dilemma #1

So it turns out I'm not really a museum person. Not that I'm adverse to museums - I have wiled away many a happy school trip running around with a clipboard trying to complete all the assignments/sketches/questions as quickly as possible in order to go and check out the fun stuff like the shop, the launchpad, or the giant dinosaur skeleton in the atrium - but I just can't seem to find that inquisitive part of me that wants to read every single placard about every single toothpick, toilet bowl or shoe sole that ever came out of every century that ever came to pass. I think of myself as more of a browser in these things. I like to dip in and out and only read about the things that fascinate me the most. Like the bed of Ware for example. The hugest bed in history, and currently residing in the V and A museum, having been of historical interest almost as soon as it was made. I am slightly ashamed to say that this was the most memorable object from my museum visit today. But let us not belittle the importance of this bed. It made it into a Shakespeare play after all, which just goes to show its significance; you know you've made it if you are alluded to by Shakespeare.

But back to the topic of browsing museums. I came to the conclusion today that a museum to me is a bit like shopping in TK Maxx. For one you need to give yourself a fair whack of time if you are going to do it properly, and in order to do it properly you have to be really in the mood to persevere trawling through item after item of mediocrity (or appalling ugliness) before lighting upon a real gem that makes the entire visit worthwhile. And gems you do find, in both TK Maxx and museums.

Despite my visit to the V and A this afternoon being a little on the brief side, I did actually leave with the feeling that the visit was worthwhile, if not for the most conventional of reasons (the bed of ware being one of them). Due to my unemployment status making cash somewhat scarce, I rejected the offer of a photography exhibition for a mere £7.50(!) and  opted for a tour of the free part of the collection. Despite making a rather whistle-stop tour around the majority of the artifacts, I was struck, as I always am when in such buildings, by the awe inspiring and almost eerie solemness that pervades grand and cavernous museums. It is a half comforting, half humbling experience, hearing your footsteps rebound in the hollow silence that intermingles with the distant echoes from the busy atrium. So for me it seems, it isn't what is on display at a museum, or the knowledge to be gained, so much as the experience of escaping the hustle and bustle of the city outside, to ensconce oneself in the soothing and shady halls, feel the coolness of the marble on your skin and the comforting permanence and security of the past and its relics surrounding you.