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Call me cynical
Nov. 18th, 2014 01:43 pmOn Saturday I went up to London to meet up with friends and go with them to the Sherlock Holmes exhibition at the Museum of London. The meeting up with friends bit was great - we talked, three of us shared three different bottles of fruit flavoured cider, we ate pasta/pizza.
The Sherlock Holmes exhibition was okay. But it cost £11.45 to go in. There was the inevitable multi-media - for which read screens showing very short snippets from various versions of Sherlock Holmes, but no identification as to which was which, just a long list of the versions. There was a section on Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and his original creation. There was a room with a number of paintings, purporting to let you imagine what it was like when Holmes was there - which as one of my friends said, were the same as was used for Dickens' London a couple of years ago.
There was a room with various props and clothing, which were vaguely interesting. The best bit - and in prominent place - was the Belstaff coat belonging to BBC Sherlock. There was nothing much that I hadn't seen before - either in other smaller Holmes exhibits (a couple of years ago we went to the one in Portsmouth) or as general Victorian miscellania. The final room had a screen showing a waterfall - presumably Reichenbach - and from there the visitor walked straight out of the exhibit.
I thought it was expensive, when I learnt very little that was new. At the same time for someone who wanted to learn more I'm not sure that there was that much. When I left the room showing the waterfall I thought there would be more to see - after all we all know that Holmes returned. So if I had wanted to go back and look at something again I would have been unable to, since we were completely outside.
We wandered round the shop and looked at various items that we might have bought. I realise that there will be a markup on products, but these felt extortionate.
So I was left, once again, with the feeling that despite what may be said, this museum really wasn't concerned about the visitors' reactions so long as they paid up. Sherlock Holmes is a big draw, so I have no doubt they will do well out of it. It just reminded me why I very rarely go to paid exhibitions.
The Sherlock Holmes exhibition was okay. But it cost £11.45 to go in. There was the inevitable multi-media - for which read screens showing very short snippets from various versions of Sherlock Holmes, but no identification as to which was which, just a long list of the versions. There was a section on Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and his original creation. There was a room with a number of paintings, purporting to let you imagine what it was like when Holmes was there - which as one of my friends said, were the same as was used for Dickens' London a couple of years ago.
There was a room with various props and clothing, which were vaguely interesting. The best bit - and in prominent place - was the Belstaff coat belonging to BBC Sherlock. There was nothing much that I hadn't seen before - either in other smaller Holmes exhibits (a couple of years ago we went to the one in Portsmouth) or as general Victorian miscellania. The final room had a screen showing a waterfall - presumably Reichenbach - and from there the visitor walked straight out of the exhibit.
I thought it was expensive, when I learnt very little that was new. At the same time for someone who wanted to learn more I'm not sure that there was that much. When I left the room showing the waterfall I thought there would be more to see - after all we all know that Holmes returned. So if I had wanted to go back and look at something again I would have been unable to, since we were completely outside.
We wandered round the shop and looked at various items that we might have bought. I realise that there will be a markup on products, but these felt extortionate.
So I was left, once again, with the feeling that despite what may be said, this museum really wasn't concerned about the visitors' reactions so long as they paid up. Sherlock Holmes is a big draw, so I have no doubt they will do well out of it. It just reminded me why I very rarely go to paid exhibitions.
