The "Head of Memnon" the colossal statue around which this episode is based still dominates the gallery in The British Museum where it sits. It is said to have been the inspiration behind Shelley's great poem Ozymandias.
Just the feat of moving this half of the statue, getting it to the Nile river and thence back to England was considered an amazing feat of engineering in the early 1800s when Giovanni Belzoni managed it. Imagine how much more impressive it must have been 1000 years before the birth of Christ when the entire statue was created and moved to its initial position.
In addition to filling us in on the life and works of Ramses II (aka Ramses the Great) this docu-drama shows us the man primarily responsible for this mammoth statue getting to London. While it doesn't mention how Napoleon tried (and failed) to get it back to France we see the corrupt local officials, the conniving French fortune hunters who were busy stripping the country of its art
Yes, one may lament that these treasures were not able to stay in the country that created them but at least in Britain this work has been seen and appreciated by thousands that otherwise would have missed out.
Just the feat of moving this half of the statue, getting it to the Nile river and thence back to England was considered an amazing feat of engineering in the early 1800s when Giovanni Belzoni managed it. Imagine how much more impressive it must have been 1000 years before the birth of Christ when the entire statue was created and moved to its initial position.
In addition to filling us in on the life and works of Ramses II (aka Ramses the Great) this docu-drama shows us the man primarily responsible for this mammoth statue getting to London. While it doesn't mention how Napoleon tried (and failed) to get it back to France we see the corrupt local officials, the conniving French fortune hunters who were busy stripping the country of its art
Yes, one may lament that these treasures were not able to stay in the country that created them but at least in Britain this work has been seen and appreciated by thousands that otherwise would have missed out.
