Flowers, Swords and France

On a sunny and relaxing morning, the Treville brothers, together with their friends and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs personnel who received them, finally arrived at this world-famous museum on Oxford Street.

After they got off the carriage, they could see this magnificent classical building. Behind the columns imitating the ancient Roman style, the main entrance of the museum was clearly visible.

Even in the 21st century, the British Museum in Russell Square, Oxford Street, is still one of the must-see places for most visitors to London, let alone today.

At this time, the British Empire was at its most glorious, so its soldiers, businessmen, and colonists scattered around the world were continuously transporting cultural relics obtained by them through legal and illegal means. , as a decoration of the empire's glory.

The moral stains will be slowly forgotten, but the treasures will remain here forever and become part of the proud memories of the British.

Because today is not a rest day, there are not many people visiting here, so this group of people easily walked into the museum under the guidance of the diplomat.

For ordinary people, they can only get perfunctory guidance or even be ignored when they come here, and there are many places they cannot go. But for Mr. Treville, a distinguished guest from England, he can naturally get many conveniences that are different from ordinary people. One of them is that there are dedicated French-speaking staff to guide them around.

"Mr. Treville, Miss Treville, you have arrived at the largest treasure house in the world. I am very honored to be able to lead you to appreciate it." In the slightly dark hall, the librarian looked towards Xia very respectfully. Er and Fran bowed, with unconcealable pride in their respect, "I believe you will make this trip worthwhile."

"I believe so too." Charles replied very kindly, and then pointed at Fran, "However, it is not easy to satisfy my sister - she has studied art for several years, so like all unachieved artists The taste is tricky.”

"You are so funny." The librarian couldn't help laughing. Then he turned his attention to Fran, "Miss Treville, just give us your orders, please believe it. Not only in France, but also in England beautiful ladies have privileges."

"So you are very confident about this place?" Fran took over the words, seemingly not agreeing with the other person's pride.

"Of course, it is the best museum in the world. If you are not satisfied with it, then there is no other museum that will satisfy you more." He replied very proudly, which seemed to him a matter of course.

"The British Museum is very good," Fran nodded and acknowledged the other person's words, but out of a sense of pride, she couldn't help but add, "However, there are equally good museums in France. We are in the Louvre. It also has a collection of many art treasures.”

The Louvre was already open to the public as a collection of art in this era. However, at this time, France was not as powerful and large as the British Empire, and the richness of its natural collections was not as good as the British Empire. It can only be said that it can rival or even slightly outperform it in some aspects. However, this did not prevent Fran from acting arrogantly.

"Miss Treville, since you live in Paris and love art so much, you must have been to the Louvre many times, right?" The librarian looked at Fu with a respectful and slightly reserved smile. orchid.

"Of course." Fran nodded without hesitation, "When I was just learning painting, the teacher took us there many times, and I was familiar with the process! The teacher explained the key points to us. Paintings by Leonardo da Vinci and Raphael, and we were asked to see the statue of Venus...it was really beautiful.”

In 1820, a farmer on the Greek Aegean island of Milo discovered a statue of the goddess of beauty while digging. After the news came out. A French warship that happened to be anchored in Port Milo at the time rushed to the scene immediately after the captain learned the news. But the statue happened to be bought by a Greek businessman and was ready to be shipped to Constantinople. Seeing that the treasure was about to be lost, the captain at that time immediately ordered the destroyer to stop it. A scuffle broke out between the two sides. As a result, the treasures were damaged and the statue's arms were shattered. The dispute between the two parties was resolved by the local authorities of Milo, and the French used money to buy the statue and donate it to the French King - His Majesty the Orthodox King Louis XVIII was still on the throne at that time. In this way, "Venus" was shipped to France. It caused an immediate sensation at the time.

Of course, whether it is the Royal Family of Bourbon, the Royal Family of Orleans, or the Bonaparte family, they will all admit that this is a priceless treasure.

"In that case, you must be used to seeing paintings and sculptures," the librarian shook his head with regret. "The paintings collected in the Louvre are indeed the best, and the Greek collection inside is also an immeasurable treasure."

"I think so." Fran accepted the compliment without humility.

"So, in order to make your journey more efficient, I suggest you visit the parts that are more novel to you first." The librarian smiled at her, not minding her pride, "I can take you You go to the Egyptian Pavilion first and take a look.”

"The Egyptian Pavilion?" To his surprise, after hearing his suggestion, Miss Treville was a little surprised and looked at each other with the female companion next to her.

This doesn't mean that they don't want to go there, but it involves a historical issue.

In 1798, Emperor Napoleon was a rising general of the French Republic. Under the order of the Republican government, he led an expedition to Egypt, led tens of thousands of troops to fight east and west, defeated the Egyptian Mamluk Corps, the Syrian Army and the Turkish Sultan Army many times, and almost conquered the whole of Egypt.

From the beginning, this expedition had a cultural purpose. Napoleon brought a large number of archaeologists and related experts with him. After conquering Egypt, he carried out a lot of archaeological work and excavated a large number of ancient Egyptian cultural relics.

Originally, these cultural relics were prepared to be transported to France for preservation, but soon the political situation in France changed suddenly, and the already unstable Republican government became even more precarious. In order to seize power, Napoleon abandoned his army and returned to France alone. Later, he launched a coup and became the first ruler. The abandoned soldiers soon surrendered to the British, and then the cultural relics they excavated had to be handed over to Britain according to the surrender agreement and became the collection of the British Empire Museum.

At this time, half a century has passed since then, as the descendants of the victors. The librarian had almost forgotten this old story, and regarded these cultural relics as if they were naturally preserved here - but the French might not think so.

After a moment of embarrassment, Fran finally confirmed that this honest librarian was not mocking them, the French. He was just enthusiastically providing advice based on her situation.

"Okay, thank you for your advice, then we will do as you say." She agreed immediately.

"Okay, please follow me." The librarian nodded with a smile, and then led the way diligently in front. No matter what era. Beautiful women always have some conveniences.

"You go over and take a look, I'll forget it." Charles suddenly said beside him, "I'll just go to the library to read books."

"Aren't you going to go with us to see it together?" Fran was a little surprised.

"Yes, I won't go over. I have no interest in Egypt and cultural relics." Charles shrugged easily, "Just find a place to read books."

In fact, this is mainly because he has seen the precious collections in the Egyptian Museum once, so he has no interest in seeing them again.

"But... we finally came together..." Fran was still a little hesitant, and finally, she looked up at Charles. "Why don't we just go to the library to read?"

"... It's a rare trip here, why are you going to read books?" Charles laughed dumbly, "Okay, don't worry about me, just go shopping, it's just one person missing, it's no big deal. Besides, you young people are here, if I keep following, you won't be able to talk about young people's topics."

Fran then remembered that the young Bonaparte was also following them. Since he followed, he has been silent, perhaps because he didn't know how to interrupt.

Only then did she understand that Charles didn't want to get too close to him at this time.

"Okay, okay. It's all up to you..." Finally, she could only sigh.

"Well, I wish you a good time, Miss Treville." Charles gestured to her, then turned around and left.

"Sir, don't you need someone to lead the way?" The librarian asked anxiously from behind.

"No need. I can find it!" Charles answered without looking back.

The original text is available at Six # 9 @Books/Bar!

As an important part of human civilization, books are of course also an important collection of the British Museum, which has always collected a large number of books and manuscripts. In 1823, the late George IV donated his father's library (the King's Library) to the British Museum as a gift, further enriching the collection.

At that time, the library of this museum was the largest and most comprehensive book storage in the world, gathering countless knowledge and culture, and also attracted many scholars to stop here.

Most of Dr. Marx's magnificent work was completed here, where he collected materials and wrote. It was not until 1973 (when the British Empire no longer existed) that the British Library was officially established, and the museum's book collection was transferred to the British Library for preservation.

In the 21st century, he came here for a tour once, and he also went to the tour guide to find the seat where he often sat in those days.

How could he have imagined at that time that he would be able to see the real person and become the target of his repeated name calling and scolding? The changes in the world are indeed unpredictable.

And Fran followed the guide to the Ancient Egyptian Exhibition Hall. Although Charles's departure made her a little unhappy, this unhappiness was soon washed away by the large number of artworks coming towards her.

Under the guidance of the curator, she began to appreciate the ancient Egyptian artifacts one by one, and was soon dragged into the torrent of history and immersed in the amazing and strange creations of that ancient civilization.

The Rosetta Stone, the statue of Pharaoh Amenhotep III, various large stone sculptures of humans and animals, temple buildings, numerous mummies, countless inscriptions and murals, as well as utensils and jewelry... Everything about the ancient Egyptians was displayed in front of her.

"These things should have belonged to us!" After carefully admiring a large number of murals up close, Fran bit her lip with some dissatisfaction, "We were the first to discover them in Egypt. The emperor brought a large number of experts to Egypt, so so many cultural relics were discovered. They should be properly preserved in the Louvre, not here!"

"That's right!" Mary nodded repeatedly in agreement. She also loved these artworks very much. "They should have belonged to France, but they were snatched away by the hateful British! If they were placed in Paris, we could appreciate them whenever we wanted... How could these British people who have no artistic talent understand their value!"

"But... didn't you just say that these things belonged to Egyptians?" The young man next to him, Jerome Bonaparte, was a little confused. "Where are they stored? Didn't anyone care about the Egyptians' opinions? They wouldn't be happy that they had to choose between Britain and France..."

When they heard this rebuttal, the two girls turned their heads and looked at him at the same time. This poor young man, who was obviously a warrior who had served in Texas, couldn't help but shrink a little at this moment, as if he had really said something wrong.

"Yes, no one cares about the Egyptians. They haven't cared about themselves for forty centuries. Rather than leaving these artifacts there and disappearing in the wind and sand, they should be placed in the hands of people who know how to appreciate and protect them, right?"

Marie dismissed him casually, not caring how contradictory this sounded-in this era, not many people would feel guilty about colonial plunder.

Jerome Bonaparte shrugged his shoulders. He had no intention of arguing with the two ladies. Since they thought so, they should be right.

He didn't like this museum, nor did he like these weird things that seemed to have no practical use.

However, although as an American, he didn't understand it at all and was not interested in it, it didn't prevent him from happily following the beautiful Miss Treville around-he didn't care where they were now.

If he could go to France in the future and become a member of the royal family, there is no doubt that he would have the opportunity to accompany her.

In order to achieve this, he is now even ready to give up all his pride.

"God, please bless me!" he thought to himself. "As long as you can let me go back, I will kowtow to Louis Bonaparte as many times as I want!" (~^~)