The Tower of London

The first exhibit we went through was the crown jewels, and while it was still very interesting, it was my least favorite of the exhibits that I saw. The crowns themselves were very interesting, and I enjoyed being able to see their intricate design up close, but many of the other things on display I did not find as interesting. The style of many of the items used by royals and those around them seemed very noisy and over designed in my opinion, appearing somewhat gaudy to me. With that being said there were some items I feel like this style worked well on, specifically the dishes and serving devices. My favorite of these was the royal punch bowl, which was said to have been able to hold over 400 bottles of wine and was used by the royals for special ceremonies.

The exhibits that I thought were the most interesting were the royal animals exhibit, the minting exhibit, and the white tower. The royal animals exhibit explained how over the years many royals were given exotic animals as extravagant gifts, and as a result the tower of london had been home to animals like monkeys, polar bears, and lions. The treatment of these animals was very poor, including encouraging fighting and giving cigarettes to the monkeys. Luckily the remainder of these animals were transferred to the London Zoo, and were able to be better cared for. Around the tower they had statues of some of the animals formerly held there made out of a metal mesh which were very beautiful, and trying to find them all was a fun activity to do while walking between exhibits.

The Minting press intrigued me with its focus on the methods and tools used in the old coin production process. They had replicas of money of the tools that you could handle to get a feel for how the process used to work. There I also learned that for a time Isaac Newton was the warden for the Royal Mint, which I was very surprised by as I had always assumed that his contributions in life were purely scientific. While not a strictly scientific pursuit, Newton did still use his knowledge of science to catch counterfeit coins.

While both of these exhibits were very interesting, by far my favorite was the white tower, which primarily showcased historical armors and weapons. There was a display called the giant and the dwarf which showcased an extremely tall and a very short suit of armor. Despite the name, researchers now believe that smaller armor was designed for a prince while they were a child, and the large armor was more of a ceremonial gift. Among the weaponry my favorites were the weapons that attempted to incorporate the technology of the time, even if unsuccessfully. Soon after guns started to become more developed, it seems that engineers of the time attempted to merge guns with a wide range of other weaponry to varying degrees of success. There were gun shields, gun maces, and a gun axe that while not all entirely practical had very interesting designs.

Along with the exhibits about the tower as a fortress and castle, there were ones discussing its role as a prison. One of the most famous prisoners in the tower was Anne Boleyn, one of King Henry the eighth wives. After being unable to produce a male offspring, Anne was accused of adultary and incest, with these accusations landing her in prison over fear that the rumors would endanger the kings life. She was executed for this, and in the tower today there is a statue consisting of a carved pillow that was believed to be the location of Anne Boleyn’s beheading.

Despite that slightly melancholy note the trip overall was very fun. it was a nice day out and while there were plenty of people about it did not feel too crowded.