Meroë – situated on the Nile in Sudan, two hundred kilometers north of present-day Khartoum – was an important royal capital where African, Egyptian and Greco-Roman influences mingled fascinatingly between 270 BC and 350 AD. The Louvre will for the very first time present an exhibition dedicated exclusively to this ancient seat of regional power, comprising loans mainly from the Museum of Khartoum as well as the British Museum in London, the World and Garstang museums in Liverpool, and other institutions in Munich, Berlin and Leiden. Highlights will include a celebrated gilt bronze statue of an archer-king, and a special focus on the discovery of the ruins of the Meroë pyramids by Frédéric Cailliaud in 1821.
Submitted by Jon Himoff on Tue, 11/24/2009 - 14:01
The big Museums have the greatest advantage when it comes to the artefacts that the UNESCO heritage sites and others want back -- the big Museums have possession. Further, the Museums typically reside in the countries that made the laws governing repatriation. But as cultural tourism continues to be a growing and massive business, the UNESCO sites are making their own big Museums and are able to hire their own lawyers to defend their interests (check Zahi Hawass' Most Wanted List). The complex battle for who controls artefacts is really heating-up now. Perhaps the issue of who owns antiquity is possibly less urgent than who controls it.
The Nubians get short shrift when it comes to recognition of significant ancient cultures. A new exhibition at the Clay Center in West Virginia, US, hopes to rectify that. It is cleverly entitled: “Lost Kingdoms of the Nile,” but the artefacts are all Nubian, not Egyptian. (The subtitle is: “Nubian Treasures from the Museum of Fine Arts Boston.”) The exhibition runs from Sept. 12, 2009 to April 11, 2010.
Submitted by Jon Himoff on Sat, 10/17/2009 - 18:15
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 history at the Neues.
London's Petrie Museum displays some of its archived images of the Egyptian workers who assisted Flinders Petrie on his ground-breaking excavations in the country. As well as showing some amazing henceforth unseen footage, the exhibition will ask the question, 'What defines a worker and what defines an archaeologist?'
A hat-trick of victories have been won around the world this week in the global fight against the theft and sale of archaeological artefacts – a multi-million dollar international industry. The arrest of three men in Bulgaria in connection with their possession of a number of precious Roman coins and other items is particularly heartening, since it offers some sign that the tide might be turning in the struggle against a black-market industry that has been destroying the country’s rich ancient heritage.
London's Petrie Museum displays some of its archived images of the Egyptian workers who assisted Flinders Petrie on his ground-breaking excavations in the country. As well as showing some amazing henceforth unseen footage, the exhibition will ask the question, 'What defines a worker and what defines an archaeologist?'
