The Royal Albert Memorial Museum

A few weeks ago, I visited the Royal Albert Museum in Exeter. As you probably guessed the museum was named after this fellow...

Prince Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha was the consort to Queen Victoria, who ruled England during in which the monarchy lost power, but the British Empire dominated the globe. Albert, an avid supporter of learning, hosting the Great Exhibition in London to raise awareness about about the wonderful achievements of all nations, but mostly Britain. When he died, Victoria blamed her son for her husband;s death, saying that he had stressed him to the point of collapse (Victoria and her kids didn't really get along). She then went into mourning for the next decade and she wore black until she died. Others had more constructive ways to deal with his passing. Sir Stafford Northcote of Pynes decided to found a museum in his former employers' honor, and thus the museum was born.

The Museum, like the Great Exhibition, contains artifacts from all over the world, but mostly Britian. From Asia we have this lovely Buddist statue...

As well as this full samurai armor...

There's a reason the samurai were feared and respected in feudal Japanese society, and that suit of armor played a huge part of that. Seriously, a person wearing that armor is not something that you want to piss off.

Moving onto Africa we have an excellent example of what I believe is a Zulu sword and spear.

The Zulu were actually a fairly minor tribe, until Shaka took over. Under his leadership they became a powerful fighting force. The heavily regimented lifestyle was further militarized (think Ancient Sparta and you'll get the idea), and Shaka improved the military through such measures as having the men march barefoot (no chance of getting tripped up by sandals) and shortening the spear so that it was used more as a stabbing instrument rather than a throwing instrument (my concern that this shield and spear combo might not be Zulu is do to the fact that the spear seems to be fairly traditional in design, but maybe its just my memory).

\Another interesting artifact was this sculpture from the Kingdom of Benin.

Funny story about this object actually. When I was in 8th grade, I was in a group that had to research the Kingdom of Benin and make a museum exhibit about it (Ben Jaffe and David Langlois, if you are reading this, remember how we rocked that presentation?). Anyway, for the exhibit we made tiny clay scuptures of several of the artifacts and the above sculpted head was one of them. 6 years later and I finally get to see it in person. Cool huh? The Kingdom of Benin was renowned for the sculptures, which they made using a process known as the Lost Wax Method, to mold and form the unique designs. Unlike many other West African kingdoms, this one came to prominence via trade. The sculptures made by the people of this kingdom ranged from African Kings to European traders and are some of the finest examples of West African art.

That's not to say that the museum neglected the Americas. From the Pacific Northwest we have the ever popular totem pole...

And an example of an Inuit Parka...

In addition, we also have a stuffed bison from the American plains...

 There were also sections of the Museum that had exhibits dealing with the history of Exeter as well as a very nice art gallery. Unfortunately, I found out that you couldn't take pictures in those sections, so I don't have any to show, but I definitely recommend checking those sections out as well.
Now, I feel that I should acknowledge that  a lot of these items might have been acquired via force or plundering during the expansion of the Empire, but its also possible that many were acquired via legitimate trade (or in the Bison's case, simply firing a gun out the window of the train). Ultimately, the items, like the artifacts and exhibits in any good museum, tell a story and educate people, whether they be young children or American college students. Another great part about the Museum? It's free. So, if any of you happen to be in Exeter and have an hour to two to spare, I definitely recommend giving this place a look.