This afternoon, a group of us went to the Fitzwilliam Museum, which is Cambridge’s most famous museum. It is housed in a very large, classically inspired building, with columns and marble galore. When one enters the Fitzwilliam Museum, they are greeted by staircases going up on either side of the information desk and dark marble on all of the walls. While this is undoubtedly architecturally beautiful and visually striking, it was almost overwhelming to the eye; indeed, as I passed through the collections at the museum, the feeling of being overwhelmed continued to grow. Personally, I prefer museums that are less ornate, where the focus is more on what is being shown, rather than the building in which it is being shown. For this reason, I was very impressed by the British Museum, which is light, airy, and open; because of this, I always felt like my eye was drawn to the exhibits, not distracted by the building. Another museum that I feel is also less obtrusive is the Pergamon Museum in Berlin, which is an enormous museum by virtue of its holding enormous exhibits, not to make a statement. There, my eye was always drawn to the displays in front of me, much as in the British Museum. I find these differences between museums to be quite fascinating, as I have an interest in public history and how history is displayed for mass consumption.
The first rooms I went through at the Fitzwilliam Museum displayed objects from ancient Egypt, Greece, and Rome. Many of the Egyptian artifacts were sarcophagi, in which mummies were buried, and grave goods that were discovered with the mummies. Every time I see mummies or sarcophagi, I am always amazed at how well preserved they are: the colors are still quite vibrant after thousands of years, and the wood has hardly disintegrated at all. In fact, some of these artifacts are so well-preserved that I have a hard time comprehending how old they truly are, and that time (and civilization) could possibly stretch back that far. I felt the same way when viewing the objects from Greece and Rome; indeed, some of the Greek vases were wholly intact and so well-restored that it is very hard to realize that an entirely different civilization, in an entirely different time, created and painted such works of art. As I believe I have said before, perhaps this is the true role of history: to give us a sort of context for our own society, and learn how insignificant we really are in temporal terms.
From what I have said so far, it seems as though the Fitzwilliam Museum is simply a collection of artifacts from the ancient world. However, this is by no means the case, as they also have a rather large collection of art from Italy, France, Britain, and other countries. This collection occupied the second floor of the museum, along with some special exhibitions. One such special exhibition was on money and trade during the reign of Charlemagne (or Karl der Große), especially the similarities between Charlemagne’s empire and other realms. One such other realm mentioned was England (though England had not yet become England); during this time, the island was still divided into small kingdoms, the most powerful of which was Mercia, in the Midlands. This part of the exhibition compared Offa, King of Mercia, to Charlemagne, which I found quite interesting, as most people think of Charlemagne as the father of civilized Europe and the Anglo-Saxons as barbarians. Despite this common misconception, Charlemagne and Offa were actually quite similar: both patronized the arts and introduced coins bearing the king’s image. Indeed, Offa instituted this last innovation before Charlemagne, illustrating the fact that the Anglo-Saxons had quite a flourishing culture of their own.
This part of the museum, as well as their collection of armor and small room of medieval and Renaissance artifacts, was my personal favorite, probably because it aligned most closely with what we are studying here in class. Before my English class last semester and doing the readings for my Cambridge classes, I hardly knew anything about the Anglo-Saxons, except the fact that they lived in England and were conquered by the Normans in 1066. When I studied genealogical history, I began with William the Conqueror, omitting centuries of kings before him; as a history major, I hate to say that I was completely uninformed about Anglo-Saxon society and culture. Now, however, everything I learn about them peaks my interest further, to the point that I cannot wait to dive into the Anglo-Saxons in class this coming week! I also want to search out any remnant of Anglo-Saxon England that I can.
After the Fitzwilliam Museum, my attention turned toward an entirely different subject: football (soccer for Americans). Today was the World Cup final, between Germany and Argentina; naturally, being a German major and a lover of German culture in general, I was cheering for Germany. Rather than watch the game in the common room here at Emmanuel, which would have been quite boring, to be honest, as we would not have seen any of the locals, several of us went to a nearby pub. We got there about forty-five minutes before the game was supposed to start, expecting that we might actually be able to find a table. Obviously, we underestimated the pull of football in England, even when their national team is no longer playing: the place was absolutely packing, with standing room only. We finally got food at a different place, which served pizza and kebabs, then returned to the pub for the game.
Watching the World Cup final in a pub in England has to be one of the most amazing experiences I have had since I have arrived here. The best part was the fact that we were by no means the only foreigners in the pub, as we were surrounded by several people speaking German and others speaking Spanish, among many other languages. Surprisingly, most of the pub was filled with Germany fans, not Argentina: there were even British Germany fans, which was somewhat astonishing, given Britain’s rocky history with Germany in the twentieth century. Perhaps this is a sign that things really have changed, when the British can cheer for Germany in a sporting event.
The game itself was quite long, going all the way through regular time without either team scoring a goal (not counting when Argentina scored, but it was disallowed for offsides); indeed, when the extra time kept dragging on without a goal, I began to fear that the World Cup final would have to be decided by penalty kicks, which somehow did not seem a fitting end to the World Cup, of all things. However, six minutes before extra time was up, Germany scored, and the pub went wild. I was clapping and cheering, people were hugging each other, some were singing, and others were chanting “Super Deutschland.” Despite this, the game was still not over, especially when Argentina had a chance to score in the last minute (the last seconds, almost); I was standing there, just hoping that the Germans would pull through. And they did: Argentina missed, the game ended soon after, and the pub went wild for a second time. After the walk back to Emmanuel, I was still in a state of great excitement about the German victory. All I have left to say is that I cannot wait to go to Germany in two weeks: it is going to be amazing!
Making the Past Present 