772909965470056448
“The public galleries are just the crust, the thin outer layer. These rooms are dotted with locked doors, barely noticed by the visiting public. Look out, next time you pass through, for discreet labels stuck to some of these doors, showing an illustration of a lion in profile. It is museum code for “evacuate me urgently in case of fire or flood” and means you are passing a storeroom. The symbol, it dawned on me this autumn, when I spotted a version made from glazed earthenware on display in gallery 47, derives from a set of 19th-century iron lions that adorned the building’s railings until they were removed in 1895. Only a museum could invent a code so arcane, so historically self-referential.”
Reminds me of the Hague Convention Blue Shield.
Date liked: 2025/01/17 18:01:31
4 Tumblr notes
Liked from: STML
Tagged:
illustration 245
animal 27
macro 14
sticker 4
wood grain 2
lion 2
keyhole 2
wooden door 1
lock 1
brass 1
