Check your comprehension

Exercise 4. Say if the sentence is true or false.

1. The British Museum was founded with a collection of books and antiquities donated by the doctor of George II.

2. Antique Greek marbles were brought to Britain by Lord Elgin.

3. The best collection of English painting is in the national gallery.

4. Museum of London doesn’t tell the city’s story in chronological order.

5. The steam-engines in the Kew Bridge Pumping Station date from the 19^th century.

6. The oldest aircraft are on display in the Royal Air Force Museum.

7. The painter William Morris designed wallpaper.

8. Queen Victoria Museum is for and about children.

Vocabulary check

Exercise 5. Put the correct word into each of the blank spaces.

donated fabulous marble

enabled legacy antiquities

1. The old man left a … to his grandson.

2. Free time … him to read more.

3. When the old trunk was opened, … treasure was found inside.

4. Tretyakov … his collection of painting to people.

5. Moscow Fine Arts Museum has a rich exhibition of … .

6. This tomb is made of black … .

Careful reading

Read the text paying special attention to details to answer the questions in Exercise3.

Maritime History

The tall masts of the clipper ship Cutty Sark the last of the clippers which brought tea to England from China, mark the site of the National Maritime Museum at Greenwich. The museum was founded in 1937 to illustrate the maritime history of Great Britain, which it does with the help of models, paintings, uniforms and navigational instruments. Two galleries are devoted to the life and time of Nelson. Relics of the great admiral include the coat he wore at Trafalgar.

Museumland

South Kensington is London’s museumland. In the 19^th century an area of land between Kensington Gardens and Cromwell Road was developed as a cultural centre on the initiative of Prince Albert. Within his huge complex of colleges and institutes there are four large museums: the Natural History Museum, the Victoria and Albert Museum, the Geological Museum and the Science Museum.

The Victoria and Albert is a museum of fine and applied arts of all countries, styles and periods. The general division of arts into the two groups is based on the principle of the useful arts and the beautiful arts (painting, sculpture, architecture, poetry and music). In England the term “five arts” is sometimes used in the meaning of fine arts.

The Victoria and Albert Museum exhibits range from arms and armour to water-colours and woodwork. Among the museum’s treasures are Raphael’s cartoons depicting scenes from the New Testament, painted as designs for a set of tapestries now in the Vatican in Rome. A collection of English, French and Italian furniture includes the 16^th century bed which could sleep eight people.

The Natural History Museum, which is part of the British Museum, moved to its present site in 1880. The size of the museum and its enormous collections reflect the importance of the Victorians placed on the subject. In the Fossil Galleries can be seen the bones of mammoths discovered in Essex and Kent. Bird, insects and butterflies add colour to the galleries on the ground floor.

The Whale Gallery includes a 91 ft long model of a blue whale, the largest animal alive on earth.

Of all the South Kensington museums the Science Museum comes closest to being a living display. The main hall has the steam-engines of James Watt, a 1905 Rolls-Royce car and giant locomotives of the last days of steam on the railways.

The last of the South Kensington’s major museums is the Geological museum, which opened its doors in 1935. It is devoted to the study of earth’s history and geological science. In the main hall a revolving globe shows the model of the world. The central area of the hall is occupied by a display of gem stones. Dioramas – illustrated moving scenes – illustrate the actions of earthquakes, volcanoes, the sea and glaciers. Displays include The Story of Earth, Treasures of the Earth, and Britain Before Man.

A must for many tourists to London is a visit to Madame Tussaud’s, the waxworks museum in Marylebone Road where the figures seem even more real than the originals. Among the groups on exhibition are the Kings and Queens of England, including Queen Elizabeth II, and the Chamber of Horrors.

MULTIPLE CHOICE

Exercise 6. Read the four possible ways to complete the sentences and choose the only one correct.

1. The Museum at Greenwich

1. was founded in1837

2. is called the National Airforce Museum.

3. illustrates maritime history of Britain

4. has two galleries devoted to Lord Byron.

2. The last clipper which brought tea to England from China was

1. “Cutty Sark”

2. “Lupine”

3. “Bounty”

4. “Freedom”

3. In the 19^th century great sponsors of art were

1. the Rothschilds

2. Prince Albert and Queen Victoria

3. Members of London Council

4. English painters

4. Visitors can see bones of mammoths and other fossils in

1. the British Museum

2. the Geological Museum

3. the Victoria and Albert Museum

4. The Natural history Museum

5. In the Geological Museum dioramas illustrate the actions of

1. earthquakes, volcanoes and glaciers

2. locomotives and steam-engines

3. warfare

4. a blue whale