Artefacts of Faith

Our aim in exploring the British Museum was to look for objects which had a religious role, or were inspired by or intended to inspire faith and spiritual understanding. This helped spark some interesting conversations about our own beliefs and practices.

Our first stop was ancient Assyria, including wall carvings of the Siege of Lachish. Lachish was once an important Judean city, and is mentioned in several places in the Old Testatment. The siege of the city is actually referred to in 2 Kings and 2 Chronicles. To be standing in front of something with such a strong link to ancient scripture was quite toe-curling.

We then moved on to ancient Greece, where we split up to find some things for ourselves that resonated with us.

Rachel picked the Nereid Monument - (once a tomb), partly because of the large number of buildings around the world and throughout history which are built in the same basic style and shape - portico, columns and pointed roof. The Museum itself, and our own Hinde Street being two good examples.


Moving on, David the Second nominated this ferocious lion, guardian, protector and King of Beasts.


Stephen chose the battle between a man and a centaur from one of the Parthenon metopes. This could be understood as symbolising the struggle between good and evil, civilsation and barbarism - or on the night of the Question Time programme with the BNP leader on it, perhaps between human rights and fascism?


And I picked out this carving of a man at a feast, with a cup, a plate of food, and with his friends around him, laughing and sharing jokes, and his dog at his feet. For me this reminded me of Psalms of celebration which talked about cups overflowing, and also about counting our blessings that we can enjoy abundant life, and that we have a responsibility to help all people be fully alive as well.

Moving on we compared and contrasted a North American Totem Pole, this one for a chief of the Eagle-Beaver Clan of the Nisga'a Nation from the 19th Century (right) with an Anglo-Saxon Cross from England in the 7th Century (left). Was the purpose and impact of these objects essentially the same, to call down a blessing and to remind folk of important messages. The totem contains carvings of animals from legends of the clan's past. The cross is decorated with vine leaves, recalling the words of Christ about vines and branches.

Moving upstairs we visited the Medieval gallery. Here we saw the Royal Cup, an elephant ivory comb for delousing priests and a bronze censer cover. Whilst these pieces are incredibly delicate and beautiful, do they really teach us about what the people who used them believed? This got us thinking about what would a museum with objects from Hinde Street contain in 1,000 years time? I have a horrid feeling it might be the ugly disembodied winged cherub heads which sit above the stained glass windows...