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THE WORLD IN A BOX
Sunday 25 June 2006 8pm-9pm; 2.20am-3.20am |
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In July 2003 the British Museum celebrated its 250th birthday.
World in a Box explores how the museum's vast collections played a major part in the Enlightenment: in the practice of science, medical research, and aesthetics.
When it was created in 1753, the museum displayed a bizarre array of objects - "monsters preserved in spirits", King William and Queen Mary cut in walnut shells, stones from the bladders of horses... It brought an impossibly rich flavour of life from around the world into the lives of the public.
The story of the creation of these incredible collections involves some remarkable men - from John Tradescant, a gardener whose collection became the Ashmolean, to Sir Hans Sloane, the "Jamaica Doctor" whose collection became the first national museum - the British Museum.
The documentary examines the change in the museum, from a collection of mystical objects to a carefully classified encyclopaedia of history, and it tracks the changes in thought from the 17th to 18th centuries.
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