Bronze

Here I am the other day at the Greek antiquities inside the British Museum. I report, dear reader, that the BM was established in 1753, opening with the collection donated mostly by Sir Hans Sloane (yes, of Sloane Square, South Kensington) in Montague House in Bloomsbury. The collection today numbers more than 13 million objects of which less than 2% are on display at any given time. In the archives are wall paintings from Central Asia's' Caves of Bezeklik, which Sonnet and I visited in 1997. The cave retreats were once inhabited by Buddhist monks near the Turpan Peninsula in the Taklamakan desert (translation: "those who enter do not come out)" and remain a testimony to the heyday of Chinese Buddhism. The caves were hidden for hundreds of years buried in sand or riverside cliffs. Upon their discovery in the 1920s by British explorer Sir John Younghusband, portions were carved out and delivered to London in straw and rope, leaving gaping holes where once there were horse-heads, weapons and painted men. In London I contacted the Curator of Central Asia to see what I missed, but never did she return my communication.