A Year in Pictures – The Natural History Museum

[swan_tower]

This work by http://www.swantower.com is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

In honor of Worldcon starting today in London, here’s a place I’ve recommended to many friends of mine: the Natural History Museum, aka the Victorians’ cathedral to St. Darwin. This broad shot doesn’t really convey it, but the place is decorated within an inch of its life, with animals carved on columns and stair posts, the ceiling panels painted with botanical images. If you’re in London, it’s absolutely worth at least walking through the front door just to gape.

Originally published at Swan Tower. You can comment here or there.

Comments

[desperance.livejournal.com]

Heh. I was totally ruined as a kid, growing up in Oxford with London just an hour's dash away. This - was just what architecture looked like, y'know? It was how buildings were. I used to shrug bewilderedly, where tourists gaped.

[swan-tower.livejournal.com]

It greatly disappoints me that, despite the vastly improved ease of construction nowadays, we've basically given up on decorating our buildings -- even the buildings that are supposed to be fancy.

[desperance.livejournal.com]

Aye that. Whatever happened to the principle of excess? Elaborate, people; not everything has to be lean and mean! Sometimes less is just less, y'know...?*

*I used to say this to every writing-class I taught. While all my colleagues were crying "Less is more!", obviously.

[swan-tower.livejournal.com]

I know, right? There is a time and a place for ornamentation! Actually, multiple times and places, of which the Baroque period is but one!

[desperance.livejournal.com]

Heh. We should probably start a movement. Make that a Movement. The latest time is now!

[davesmusictank.livejournal.com]

This is one of the great buildings in London. I love going there.