When I was a boy I used to wonder a great deal about what grand mysteries of the ancient world might be available to us had the Library of Alexandria survived. Today my dreams were rekindled as my family and I visited the British Museum in London where we saw one of the most significant collections of antiquities from the ancient world available on Earth.

Each exhibit—each treasure trove-filled room—is better than the last. The very design of the museum has a gloriously 19th century feel to it. One expects Phineas Fogg to make an appearance at any moment. Everywhere you look there are seemingly never-ending shelves filled with treasure, thousands of well-known first edition books from centuries past, business ledgers of King Nebuchadnezzer, and so much more—glorious!

The biggest problem with a trip to the British Museum is the sense of frustration and genuine panic you feel after a half day of viewing stunning, one-of-a-kind antiquities, you realize that you have covered less than 3% of the museum.

Modern museums lean upon high-tech displays designed to amuse people into paying attention to history. But not at the British Museum. Here the one-of-a kind artifacts need no computer simulation games or fancy graphic displays. More is said with less. The raw enormity of many items in the collections grabs the attention, and one can not help wondering about the men who documented their own lives in stone and marble, and whose creations (ranging from business ledgers to the idolatrous rocks of worship) have long out-survived their nations.