UK travel company Bales Worldwide which runs specialist Egyptian package holiday operator Ancient World Tours says it is following industry practice andis offering full refunds for a limited timeas the situation in Egypt changes. The British Foreign & CommonwealthOffice (FCO) is advising to avoid any non-essential travel to Egypt as well as urging people to leave the country via commercial transport. Check the latest FCO advisory here. British Airways is also offering refunds and exchanges: “Even if your flight is operating, the following options are available to you if you are due to travel to or from Cairo and purchased…
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During excavation work in 2008 to build a new luxury hotel on the grounds of Syon Park in west London on the bank of the Thames workers encountered buried objects. The Museum of London Archaeology (MOLA) department now confirms that these are Roman artefacts dating from the 1st century AD. Thousands of artefacts have been collected during the field work including a late bronze age gold bracelet, which has no context in the Roman settlement. Additionally notes the Museum: “Human skeletons found, could have been the remains of former occupants of the settlement, although the placing of the skeletons in…
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There is a billboard on Sunset Boulevard in Los Angeles where Zahi Hawass is framed in the photo to look bigger than the Great Pyramid.Supposedly, it is all a matter of perspective. In the same way you can take your own view on the reality television series “Chasing Mummies” from History Channel. (If anyone in LA can snap a good shot of that billboard, please add it to the comments below.) In terms of realityTV fare on the tube, I guess this show is pretty good. It is action packed. The series has a strongstar driving the drama andmany interesting,…
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A group of three people dressed in black veils entered the British Museum and solemnly spilled an oil substance near the iconic Eastern Island Moai statue as a form of protest against BP for the Gulf Oil spill disaster. According to blog Culture24 they choose the Hoa Hakananai because of “its fabled links with the sudden demise of reputedly strong civilisations.” BP is a major sponsor for the British Museum as well as other art institutions including the Tate and Royal Opera. Says activist Ben Cooper: “Just like the forests on Easter Island, oil represents a resource being over-exploited despite…
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Zahi Hawass has a new television show coming out on History Channel tomorrow, called “Chasing Mummies“. We had a look at the trailer and it seems like they are going for a highly pop-culture adventure-like, make-the-big-finds angle to attract the thrill-seekers. You had Ice Road Truckers, now get ready for Sand Dead Diggers starring the High Plains Sifter? It all has to be good for making archeology more exciting and discovering history more fun. But at the same time, you have to wonder if the History Channel, on the heels of Discovery Channel’s King Tut Unwrapped, is mixing up the…
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We are testing out a new way to let visitors see and explore great discoveries and artefacts online virtually. The new viewer runs right inside your browser, so there is no need for downloading a new application. You will need to add the Unity3D plug-in (sort of like Flash) to your browser unless you already have it. We are releasing this first areas “the Gallery Preview” as Alpha now and appreciate . You will need to Register/Login now to have a look, but once we get some feedback we will make the public. There is only one type of avatar,…
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The St Pancras Church in the center of London sends us signals about the ancient Greeks with the recreation of the Erechtheum, or ‘Porch of the Maidens’, from the Acropolis in Athens. I always get a more gothic feel from the four powerful female figures at the front of the church. Maybe it’s the bright red doors or the streaks of caked-on grime that seem more Victorian than classical? Today the crypt below the Caryatids at the rear of the building is the venue for 40 international artists in the group show called Lingering Whispers, which runs until 06 June…
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Sometimes getting lost in the museum is the most interesting way to find something. Notwithstanding the Louvre in Paris being an expansive, vast area, wandering the rooms in search of a specific place you may not find (read more about the long walk here) is a good way to discover something–even if that something wasn’t what you had planned to find. Below is short slideshow of some of the objects we ran across in our short visit to the Louvre. It is a fairly random collection of artefacts from Assyria, Greece, Crete and Egypt. Mainly these photos are the images…
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I had a great break last weekend and made a one-day shot London/Paris/London via the Eurostar (which is best way to travel this itinerary) to join some family for a special celebration. After lunch we also had (not enough) time to make a quick visit to the Louvre Museum. Given the recent incident where the Louvre was busted by Zahi Hawass for taking “hot” artefacts from Egypt, we decided to go have a look at the Egyptian Collection. The Louvre is even bigger than I had remembered it. Getting to the Egyptian area was not very easy. So the first…
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The Neues Museum re-establishes itself as one of the premier ancient world destination in Europe–and the world really– after being closed since 1939. The collection combined with the restored/re-imagined building delivers an experience that every real ancient world explorer needs to embrace. You need to get straight to the Main Stairs to start your exploration of the Neues. Feel the vibrations of history from the not so old Soviet bullet holes that still pepper the structural walls nearest the windows to the romanesque columns and classical castings from the Parthenon. Use the modern stairs to transport yourself across time and…