A Day in London
2 October 2024
The directors at BYRGA GENIHT periodically have business to attend to in the City of London, but few have been as aesthetic as this.
First, a visit to the Silk Roads exhibition at the British Museum, which manages a truly stunning presentation of artefacts from along the ancient trade route, running from east to west. Visitors start in a snaking queue which then breaks up, reflecting the path of treasures on the original route, and through a combination of projection, soundscape, and scent boxes, the sensory experience that would have been familiar to those ancient merchants is made to feel very real and immediate. The stars, of course, are the exhibits, and the poster child is a large porcelain camel from China. Mouth gasping and body running with sweat, it epitomises the sheer effort put into trading the most luxurious goods across 5,000 miles.
After that, an escape from the bustling museum to the church of St. Dunstan's in the West (pictured). The octagonal plan of the building is powerful and humbling, tempered by the serene blue of the starry ceiling overhead. The octagonal motif extends to the font, the panelling, but conspicuously not to the hexagonal pulpit. Our video, linked below, explains this stylistic choice.
One more stop to Temple church. A soft yellow stone building with a more conventional layout, but only thanks to the long chancel built onto the original Norman round church of six-fold symmetry. These buildings can pass a casual viewer by, but if you are ever on Fleet Street, take a moment to study them more closely, and unfold the meaning built into their foundations.
BYRGA GENIHT is the trading name of BYRGA GENIHT LTD,
registered in the UK, company no. 14729339, VAT no. 437140905.
Registered address The Willows, Fell Mill Lane, Honington, Warwickshire CV36 5AD
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