Our class took us to the Greenwich Maritime Museum today, where we toured a special exhibit. Normally, the group gets a tour of the library at the museum but it has been closed for the past two years, first for construction and this year because of the Olympics. That is upsetting but we rallied our spirits and took the exhibit by storm.
The exhibit is titled: Power, Pageantry, and The Thames and is sponsored by Barclays in celebration of Queen Elizabeth II's Diamond Jubilee. The exhibit runs until September 9th and goes through the importance of the Thames in royal processions over the years. It was both a wonderful and educational exhibit, beginning with the importance of London Bridge in the 16th century as the only crossing in the capital and one that connected all of the palaces together. It then traced the history of the royal family through their processions on the Thames, the construction of major palaces along the riverfront, and the importance of the Royal Navy for British Royalty.
The exhibit took about 30-45 minutes to go through and really soak up all of the information. There wasn't a lot of technological aspects of the exhibit, possibly because it is only a temporary exhibit. Along the back wall of the exhibit, there clips of a video rolling across the screen but I was unsure as to what they pertained. The only other confusing aspect of the exhibit was the direction in which one walked. When you entered a room, you did not begin immediately on your right but needed to walk to the other side of the room and the proceed in a semi-circle to your right. As an American who is used to everything being done on the right, this was sort of confusing, but I quickly got used to it.
Overall, I really enjoyed the exhibit and thought it was well done. The lighting was excellent and the explanation of the exhibit cases were very good. Moreover, the items displayed were quite stunning, with books the detailed processions to outfits worn by the royal family on these processions, and many more amazing items. It was a great exhibit and it is took bad that it will only be around for another two months. I wasn't able to take photos of the exhibit, but one can purchase a book of it at the gift shop located at the entrance to the exhibit.
http://www.rmg.co.uk/visit/events/royal-river
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