Amelia Edmonston

Sunday, 2 September 2012

Scott's Last Exhibition

Scott's Last Expedition - Natural History Museum, London.

Walking into the exhibition you are met with a cold breeze and haunting noises echoing around you. The room is cleverly laid out to replicate the hut in which the explorers lived on the infamous Terra Nova Expedition of 1910. White markings on the floor show all of the different bunks and exactly where everything was placed, it's very eerie yet intriguing.

You are taken on a tour of how Robert Falcon Scott prepared for the journey - gathering sponsorship and money, the equipment used, examples of clothing - and you start to build a relationship with this inspiring character. Around the room there are copious amounts of diary entries, drawings and letters - which were only posted once a year on the 3 year expedition. It's when they start mentioning Roald Amundsen, that you start to worry. Amundsen originally planned to journey to the North pole but suddenly changed track and followed Scott to the South. Amundsen beat Scott, and arrived at the South pole 33 days before him.

Not one member of Scotts party survived the journey home. The whole story is tragic, but it's amazing to see how they lived and fought for something important to them.

http://www.nhm.ac.uk/visit-us/whats-on/temporary-exhibitions/scott-last-expedition/index.html