It's a modest gift shop adjoining a multi-level flat dressed to match the space described in the original stories, from ever-present items that defined the characters...
to more specific curiosities mentioned in certain episodes.
It's all crammed into a narrow space meant to authentically reproduce the layout of the flat that only ever existed in the real world in its being given an actual, plausible address. Upper levels of the space are devoted to a small wax museum that recreate a few moments from the novels and stories:
As you may have seen me post on the blog, I've only recently begun to read the original Holmes stories in earnest. I've read more so far than I've found time to write about here on the blog -- I've been writing about the trip instead -- but I'm still not all that far into Holmes adventures. As such, many of the particulars inside the museum admittedly held no specific resonance for me. But the overall space was an intriguing look at the pages of a book come to life.
Stories are often realized on television or film, but it's rather rare for a book to be translated into a real world space that you can actually stand in and interact with. Going to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter in Orlando was a similar experience, albeit vastly more commercialized than this more modest effort. (No roller coasters here.) I can't pretend the the Holmes museum swept me away into another world, but there was a more simultaneous sense of reality and fiction co-mingling in the short time we wandered the space.
The Sherlock Holmes Museum certainly wouldn't be a stop that any visitor to London should make time for. But if you've ever been entertained by one of the many incarnations of the character over the years, you might find it a fun hour's diversion.
1 comment:
I hope I didn't goad you too much into visiting that little museum.
It just seemed to me that, being a SH fan AND being in London, well, you just had to step into 221B Baker Street, if only for a short while. :)
FKL
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