If London had a "ghost", it would have drifted in Sir John Thorn's former residence. Moreover, it must be Mr. Thorn's own "soul."

Thorn is a British 19th century famous architect, good at neoclassicism, London landmark building Bank of England building is his masterpiece. The son of the mason most proud of his works should be the home of the London city center, because the design of his own, three houses converted from the big house, he traveled the world collecting collecting the wonderful Yibao.

Free to enter a room are full of Dangdang: the face is usually a cabinet hardcover edition of the book, which presumably Morocco sheepskin wrapped Cicero book and gold-plated medieval incision prayer book, placed on top of a row of bookcase Heer ink And hundreds of giant giants Argos ancient Greek black pottery; middle of the room from the support of the glass cabinet display dozens of pieces may be carefully crafted by the 17th century craftsmen bone porcelain brooches, fireplace set up a few layers of partitions, yards put a few pieces of China The Ming Dynasty blue and white porcelain, near the Mediterranean to find the remnants of stone pillars or Napoleon and Peter the Great had to wear a pistol; turned to be careful not touch the favorite temple model of Athens or the Duke of York is the astronomical watches and clocks ; Eyes no place, only with the footsteps constantly from the wall Turner, Hogarth's painting to Thorn in the Royal College of Art colleagues presented to him on the pieces of manuscripts. So to speak, the sun from the old house dome glass shot in, the light of the Department of Thorne's collection.

According to Thorn's last wish, his house into a museum, free of charge, provided that all collections remain intact. In other words, into the museum, you see and then saw exactly the same Thorn. In fact, you do not feel this is a museum, as if it and next door to the house, are still living people, but its owner has left 200 years.

Walk through the collections, I seem to see, Thorne is still sitting in the house, while drinking tea, while looking around his poor life to collect the baby. I also seem to hear the dialogue between him and his wife:

"Honey, where do you think this new marble statue should be placed?"

"I think it 's better to put your sarcophagus in the basement, and our dining room and bedroom will not be in place anyway.

"That 's the sarcophagus of the king of Cedi I, the British Museum because it can not afford to buy 2,000 pounds, but you use it to install statues!

Thorn to the British love collection of this national characteristics show to the extreme. Many British people love to put some antiques in the home, from printmaking to silverware and tea. The history of the royal family is the driving force of the British collection, George V is crazy philatelists, and Windsor Palace also has the world's largest collection of Leonardo da Vinci manuscripts and France's top palace porcelain. Britain, if not the world's largest museum of the country, it is also the highest density of the museum country.

British love collection, from all angles to explain. For example, after the Norman conquest in 1066, the United Kingdom no longer occupied by foreigners, the Glorious Revolution in 1688, the United Kingdom no longer violent revolution, long-term social stability so that artifacts can be spread; for example, overseas colonization to the rest of the world For example, the United Kingdom has developed cultural relics valuation and circulation system, auction sites, professional exchanges, flea markets and other readily available; another example, the British craftsmen together, porcelain art, silver, publishing, etc. But also the world, exquisite handicrafts after another.

These are the objective conditions, such as Thorn love collection, the most important reason is: the British special attachment to the family. They do not, like the French or the Italian, linger on the streets of the coffee shop. The British go to the community bar on the road to drink a pint of beer in the community, and then go home, hide in their own room, play in the fire side of their collections.

The British dream of a retreat and not lonely life, so everyone wants a house, and their small world carefully dressed. They even give each house a name, rather than just boring house number to call it. The British are well suited to the lonely way of life, probably because the British humid air, persistent cloudy days and long winter nights make them more willing to stay at home. I even suspect that this is related to the spirit of the British Knights, the home is full of beloved objects is the British castle, that is, such as Sir Thorn "wolf" infested land.