1 HOUR AT THE BRITISH MUSEUM

BUST OF RAMESSES THE GREAT

We've mentioned before that we often get overwhelmed by the amount of artifacts on display at the larger museums, and the British Museum in London was no exception. It would take days to view all the artifacts on display here. Days!! We're not joking.

After our visit to the National Museum of Scotland, we knew the tours outlined in the British Museum's complimentary map would serve as a good strategy to guide our visit. We used the museum's 1 hour object trail to help us find the most famous objects on display and then added some detours along the way for the items and collections that caught our interest. It seemed like this strategy gave us a good feel of what the museum had to offer, and we completed our visit before lunchtime.

Here are the highlights of the museum's permanent collection, as described in the object trail:

THE LEWIS CHESSMEN: The most famous chess set in the world

OXUS TREASURE: Fabulous metalwork from ancient Persia

ROYAL GAME OF UR: A popular pastime in the ancient world

THE PORTLAND VASE: The Roman inspiration for Wedgwood

SAMURAI ARMOUR: Military might in medieval Japan

CLOISONNE JAR WITH DRAGONS: Made for a Ming dynasty emperor

IFE HEAD: A masterpiece of African art

EASTER ISLAND STATUE HOA HAKANANAI'A: A colossal figure from a lost civilization

THE ROSETTA STONE: The key to deciphering hieroglyphs

ASSYRIAN LION HUNT RELIEFS: An ancient king's triumph over nature

ASSYRIAN LION HUNT RELIEFS: An ancient king's triumph over nature

PARTHENON SCULPTURES: Iconic sculpture from ancient Greece

PARTHENON SCULPTURES: Iconic sculpture from ancient Greece

PARTHENON SCULPTURES: Iconic sculpture from ancient Greece

MUMMY OF KATEBET: One of the most studied Egyptian mummies

Read more about our trip to London HERE.