Final Days in London!

       Hey everyone! Claiborne and Mary Haden here to talk to you about our final stop on this long journey: London! It was so much fun to come back to this city and be familiar with our surroundings. On our second leg in London, we delved even deeper into the history of both Great Britain and the world.

As two AP art historians, we were thrilled that our first stops were the National Portrait Gallery and National Gallery. In the National Portrait Gallery, we saw many portraits of the recent royal weddings. It was really cool that the pictures were mostly "unposed," which was interesting, considering the royal family is usually portrayed as "proper." They seemed more like real people in these photographs. The National Gallery was definitely the highlight of this outing, though. The building itself was a work of art! The majority of our group was thrilled to find the Arnolfini Portrait by Jan Van Eyck, our beloved AP art history piece. Emma Clark Luster, a fellow art historian, stated, “As I entered the National Gallery, I had one work on my mind. After the long hunt to find the piece, I could not believe my eyes at the intricacy and details of the oil painting. I truly felt like I was in the Northern Renaissance.” While many think it is a wedding portrait, another theory is that the woman in the picture has recently passed away, as shown by the candles out on her side. This is also illustrated by the paintings in the mirror, showing the death and resurrection of Jesus on her side and of the life of Jesus on his. It was so fun to analyze this work in person and show off our knowledge to friends. Along with works by Van Eyck, we saw many more famous artists, including Botticelli, Lippi, Van Gogh,  Da Vinci, and Giotto. It was brilliant to see these famous artists and paintings in real life!

       The following day, we visited the Victoria and Albert Museum. The art historians were “quaking” at the thought of seeing the Ardabil Carpet and cast of Trajan’s Column. We were in awe at the sight of the Ardabil Carpet and shocked at its grand size. Again, it was fun to explain the symbolism of the carpet and what the different details represent. We were also in awe of the replica of Trajan’s Column, which was so tall that it could only fit into the museum in two pieces! The reason for its large size is because it is the height of a hill that Apollodorus of Damascus had to dig out to create it. Seeing the height in real life made us realize how much we underestimate the talents of our predecessors.

       That same day, we visited the Churchill War Rooms. We really got a feel of how intense and scary World War II was in London during the Blitz. It was amazing to see how people like Churchill made such world-altering decisions in such small rooms removed from the chaos above them. It was interesting to see how the museum did not idolize Churchill, but rather allowed us to see him the same way citizens did during the war with all his flaws included.

     

    After our dark times in the war, we traveled into the Arabian Nights. That’s right, we saw Disney’s Aladdin! The sets were awe-inspiring, and the musical numbers were insane. We all were struck by the quick costume changes and stunts that the cast preformed. Everything looked like real magic! It was truly a magical end to a magical trip.