Thinking of Spencer, Umberto Eco and All That....

OK.....If you're wondering why this is called Thinking of Spencer, Umberto Eco and all that, I have just one clue to offer.....

This is the picture of the church (the round part on the left side below) the Knights Templar build in London in the late 1100's.  It's one of the few round Christian churches in existence from this period (the only one?)  It was built round to mirror the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem built by the Emperor Constantine.  The current church of this name is not round but the original one was!  Anyway, Spencer and I have had many conversations about the Knights Templar over the years (naturally!)

Umberto Eco also wrote a book called Foucault's Pendulum that had a Templar-related mystery at its heart.  You should read it!

Here's a statue of two Templars on a column outside the church.
There are some amazing stained glass windows in the more traditional part of the church (the part on the right-hand side of the photo above.)  Here are a few pictures of those - the sun came out just at the right time!

After I left the Templar church I wandered over to the British Museum.  It's an amazing place - it has collections that span the globe.  Of course, most (some?) of that is the result of early English explorers looting and pillaging all the good stuff and sending it back home, but I guess those were different days.  The collection includes the Elgin Marbles from the Parthenon in Athens, massive gates from Nineveh, an incredible Egyptian collection of massive seated and standing statues, etc.  You name it, they probably have it!  This summer they are hosting what looks to be an amazing exhibit on the Emperor Hadrian - I'm glad to be coming back to London to see that.

A few years ago the British Museum decided to enclose what was just the roof of the building with an incredible roof.  The space this created has become the nerve-center for the museum.  Here are a few pictures!

   

Finally a few pictures from Somerset House.  It's a massive warren of rooms, halls and stairs. I thought these photos were a little like M C Escher's work.  You know the ones - where you can't tell which direction is up / down / side?  Check out a few here.  

      

That's it.  I'm back on the train to Aylsham tomorrow.  I had a good time in London, but didn't see anything too great in the theater.  But Kate and I saw a great film tonight - it is an Israeli film called Beaufort.  I highly recommend it.