Legion at the British Museum

[Trojanbores]

I just feel euphoric after seeing this exhibition.

Has anybody else been?

No but I've seen the posters and thoughts it looked interesting. I find BM exhibitions a bit hit and miss.

So it was good?

Glad you enjoyed it as we're going in the Easter holidays

Yes. I liked the way they drew the themes and artefacts together around the letters home of two individual soldiers and the focus of the economic and social impact of the Roman army. There were some really good exhibits which I hadn't seen before (dragon standard, glass "medals")alongside some of the BM core collection (crocodile armour) and a good selection from Vindolanda and the north of England. I didn't come away feeling that I had learned an enormous amount that isn't relatively common knowledge; but it was interesting and evocative. Only drawback was that we had forgotten that it was half term and it was very noisy and crowded.

I am having to go back … I just felt that it really hit the mark.

A fantastic collection, a clear narrative and, actually, a huge, dramatic space.

I came out feeling really confident about the Roman army, which is an area that I have always found a bit confusing.

Clever stuff!

I’ve been today, absolutely loved it, and will hope to get back for a second visit, agree it did a great job of making it personal and thematic, linking in Rattus with panels aimed at older visitors. Both children loved it - agree, horribly busy!

if I lived nearer I’d try and get to it on the Friday lates.

I've been thinking about going to see this. I currently have a regular appointment in London on (most) Mondays and am taking advantage by doing some sightseeing after each one, but I could probably only get there for the last entry at 3.50pm, or 3.40pm if I were lucky. Would that give me long enough to see it all before the museum closes at 5pm? Don't want to waste £20.

Hmm it might be tricky to get round in that time but still think I’d do it as you’ll have seen a fair bit, we didn’t get around it all but still glad we went.

I thought it was fantastic and although I already knew quite a bit about the subject, it brought a lot of interesting ideas together. I did go out of term, on a late Friday and it was perfect.

I did a very focused 30 mins because I was meeting friends. And it worked fine.

To get the most out of it, I would read all the resources on the BM website beforehand. Mary Beard has an essay on there. The curator does a lecture on YouTube.

Thanks. I've just read Mary Beard's essay and watched some of that video, and I want to see the exhibition even more now. But before booking I will see if I can move one week's appointment forward by 15 minutes, then I could get an hour and a half in the museum.

I liked it but my god the text etc was so small and low
if they’d moved it higher more people could read it

good for kids.

Saw it last night, snuck in just before it finishes. It was great for someone like me who knew basically nothing. Great space, manageable number of objects, explained really well.

I’m hoping it travels to other museums in some form as it was so good, shame it’s over!