Experience of visiting the First National Public Museum in the world

This blog post describes the author's experience of visiting the British Museum, the first national public museum in the world. It highlights the museum's vast collection, informative exhibits, and overwhelming infrastructure. The post also emphasizes the importance of planning the visit to make the most out of the experience.

Assessment 2: Blog

Contents
Blog Post 1..................................................................................................................................................3
Experience of visiting the First National Public Museum in the world....................................................3
Blog Post 2..................................................................................................................................................5
Experience of visiting the Uffizi Gallery.................................................................................................5
Comparison of my experiences at both these heritage attractions.........................................................7
REFERENCES..........................................................................................................................................8

Blog Post 1
Experience of visiting the First National Public Museum in the world
Tourism and Heritage Management is basically concerned with protecting and
maintaining the significant cultural sites in a particular geographic location. It plays an important
role and contributes to the overall tourism of a country. I visited the British Museum in London,
which is the first national public museum of the world. The museum was founded in the year
1753 and opened for the public in the year 1759. I can to know about it through an online travel
website, wherein it was listed as one of the best museums to visit when in London, United
Kingdom. The British Museum is very big and like many people, I too found it very fascinating.
This is because I like visiting places that have a story to tell. It has collections that are absolutely
amazing and various ancient exhibits that are very informative.
One can explore the British Museum from home by taking a virtual tour through Google
Street View. The immense collection present at the museum can make the initial visit to the
museum overwhelming. All the items as well as exhibits that are at display at the museum
belong to the different ancient eras. I had heard that British Museum is one of the places that are
highly recommended to people who visit the place. The museum has over 70 galleries with
nearly 8 million articles that are on display. When I entered the museum, I was overwhelmed by
the exhibits as well as the infrastructure. The guide at the museum provided us with all the
necessary and relevant information about the different articles that were on display. I came to
know that the British Museum has expanded is exhibits over the years and is one of the largest
museums in the world.
I was so overwhelmed with my visit at the museum that I would like to visit the museum
again whenever I get a chance. I spent one whole day exploring the museum and learning about
the different exhibits. Since the museum is large, I planned the whole visit so that I could make
the most out of the same. I had researched about the opening and closing hours of the museum
and how much would the tickets cost etc. All of the collections of the museum were initially
housed in a 17th century mansion. But as the collections grew, they were moved to the original
building. I think that the British Museum is one of the highlights for anyone who visits London
for the first time and holds interest in ancient times. If they do, they should look no further and
visit the British Museum for an overwhelming and informative experience.

I’d also read about the museum in a lot of magazines and a lot of websites. And after
visiting the museum, I can say that the museum itself as well as its exhibits excellently convey
the cultural connectivity that has grown over many years. For me, it was an experience of
travelling through time and witnessing the various ancient as well as modern civilizations. All
the visitors, when they visit the museum for the first time are reminded of the innovation as well
as beauty of the remains of the past can be a source of a lot of information. The museum also
welcomes families that come from different parts of the world to explore the city of London and
the very enormous British Museum. The Mediterranean Galleries and the artefacts from all over
the world were what caught my attention the most. It can be said that the British Museum is a
hub wherein the entire world, both past as well as the future come together.
Figure 1: British Museum
Source: British Museum still funded by Japan Tobacco International, 2020
The museum even has a Reading Room at the center and is hailed as one of the great
sights in the city of London. The Reading Room is considered to be one of the most famous
learning centers in the world. Also, it was used for special exhibitions until the year 2013. There
is not a single thing in the museum that does not interest the visitors. Since it is regarded as one
of the most ancient museums in the world, the British Museum is one of the most informative

experiences a person can have when they first visit London. Therefore, I can say that the
museum left me overwhelmed and also contributed to my overall knowledge about ancient eras
very much. I would definitely like to visit the museum another time if I get a chance to.
Blog Post 2
Experience of visiting the Uffizi Gallery
I have also had the chance to visit Uffizi Gallery in Florence with my family. Uffizi
Gallery is one of the finest and oldest art galleries in the world, that is situated in Italy. The
gallery houses some of the world’s masterpieces of art and that too, since the time of Leonardo.
The gallery was designed by Vasari and established in the year 1581. Uffizi Gallery attracts a lot
of tourists from all the across the world, each year. It took me nearly 3 to 4 hours to explore the
complete gallery and learn about the various masterpieces that were at display. When we arrived
at the art gallery, we noticed that there were two queues, the shorter one of the both was for
people who had already made a booking in advance. Whereas the other queue was very long and
was for people who had not made any prior bookings. We had booked our visit to the art gallery
much in advance, so we got priority.
Once we got in, we continued our tour in the gallery which was worth the wait outside in
the queue. All the paintings that are displayed at the Uffizi Gallery, are masterpieces. But as per
y experience, I thought that they were not presented the way they should have been. I had
expected to be blown away by some of the paintings, but to my surprise, the paintings looked flat
and muted as compared to the reviews that I had read online on various websites. I would say
that people who are interested in exploring an art gallery like Uffizi, should make their booking
prior to the visit because otherwise, they will have to deal with a large crowd. The gallery is
organized chronologically and all of the descriptions of the different paintings are written in both
English as well as Italian. The gallery also offers a lot of beautiful sculptures besides fantastic art
that is so overwhelming.
But the customer experience that I received at the gallery was not as we had expected,
which was a little disappointing. The gallery houses a lot of masterpieces and is crowded most of
the time because a lot of people keep visiting the place from time to time. Uffizi gallery is one of
the must-see places in Florence that people who visit the place should see at least once. Although
at some points during our tour in the gallery, I did not enjoy as much I had expected to. The

sculptures as well as the paintings at the gallery belong to both the Middle Ages as well as the
Modern Period. The artists that are represented at the gallery include Leonardo, Botticelli,
Raffaello and Michelangelo. The building has elevators that are easy to use that the visitors
would not find to be difficult to use.
Figure 2: Uffizi Gallery
Source: Skip The Line to Uffizi Gallery - Guided Tour, 2020
One cannot travel to Florence, Italy and miss visiting Uffizi art gallery because it is
regarded as one of the most famous and visited places there. We took our camera along with
fresh batteries in order to take pictures of the pictures and sculptures that overwhelmed us the
most. People who are fascinated by art and history should definitely visit this place. One thing
that I found interesting about the art gallery was that audio guides were present in different
languages including English, Japanese, Spanish, German etc. for the tourists. There is also a café
on the inside of the gallery that offers snacks and beverages to the visitors. The building of the
art gallery itself, is very beautiful and if one has already made online bookings, they will not
have to wait in the long queue and will be able to easily get in.

Comparison of my experiences at both these heritage attractions
On comparing my experiences of visiting both the British Museum, London as well as
Uffizi Gallery, Florence, I can say that I enjoyed more at the British Museum. One of the reasons
behind this is that I like exploring places that are ancient and offer an experience that is
informative as well as enjoyable at the same time. Also, all the reviews that I had read about the
museum were positive and the people who had visited the place, had recommended to visit it at
least once. On the other hand, I found Uffizi Gallery to not be of my type. This was because my
experience was not very good and I thought that the paintings were not presented in the way they
should have been. Although, the gallery housed a lot of masterpieces, they could have been
placed in a much more presentable way. I found my experience at the British Museum to be
more interactive as the guide told us a lot of facts about the artefacts displayed there, which was
not the case at Uffizi Gallery where the people only had pamphlets along with them that
described the different paintings and sculptures.
The infrastructures of both the attractions were mesmerizing and overwhelming for me.
But I personally liked the infrastructure of the British Museum more as I thought that although it
was very ancient, it still had a touch of modern art to it. The amount of information that I
received at the museum was a lot more than what I learned about art at the Uffizi Gallery. It
takes nearly 3-4 hours for a person to explore the complete gallery, which is not the case for the
British Museum. For people who like and are interested in history, even a whole day can be less
to explore the museum as well as the Reading Room which is present there. Therefore, given a
second chance, I would really like to go and visit the British Museum again as I had a
memorable and enjoyable experience there than I had at the gallery. Also, I will make sure that I
keep aside one whole day for exploring the museum as I could not do it when I visited it earlier.
Therefore, this is a comparison of my experiences of visiting both the heritage attractions. I liked
both the experience but enjoyed the one at the museum more than the other at the gallery.

REFERENCES
Books & Journals
Bec, A. and et. al., 2019. Management of immersive heritage tourism experiences: A conceptual
model. Tourism Management. 72. pp.117-120.
Buckley, R., 2018. Tourism and natural World Heritage: A complicated relationship. Journal of
Travel Research. 57(5). pp.563-578.
Du Cros, H. and McKercher, B., 2020. Cultural tourism. Routledge.
Gholitabar, S., Alipour, H. and Costa, C. M. M. D., 2018. An empirical investigation of
architectural heritage management implications for tourism: The case of Portugal.
Sustainability 10(1). p.93.
Guzmán, P. C., Roders, A. P. and Colenbrander, B. J. F., 2017. Measuring links between cultural
heritage management and sustainable urban development: An overview of global
monitoring tools. Cities. 60. pp.192-201.
Lak, A., Gheitasi, M. and Timothy, D. J., 2020. Urban regeneration through heritage tourism:
cultural policies and strategic management. Journal of Tourism and Cultural Change.
18(4). pp.386-403.
Larsen, P. B. and Logan, W. eds., 2018. World heritage and sustainable development: New
directions in world heritage management. Routledge.
Timothy, D. J. ed., 2017. Managing heritage and cultural tourism resources: Critical essays,
Volume one. Routledge.
Timothy, D. J., 2018. Making sense of heritage tourism: Research trends in a maturing field of
study. Tourism management perspectives. 25. pp.177-180.
Online
British Museum still funded by Japan Tobacco International. 2020. [Online]. Available
through:< https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/british-museum-still-funded-by-japan-
tobacco-international-2r7r2jd6m >.
Skip The Line to Uffizi Gallery - Guided Tour. 2020. [Online]. Available through:<
https://www.headout.com/tour/7713/italy/florence/skip-the-line-to-uffizi-gallery-guided-
tour>.