I am planning a week-long trip to Istanbul with my husband and two young boys for Christmas holidays and the New Year. The main focus of the holiday will be visiting my family who live in Istanbul and catching up with friends. Each time we are back home my French husband gets restless in a family environment with too much Turkish language around him that he understands very little of, and wants to be the sightseeing tourist wondering the streets. He would rather be watching a belly dancing show in Galata Tower or relaxing in a TurkishBath – typical tourist…
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The UNESCO World Heritage List is possibly the best known list, of anything, anywhere on Earth. One of UNESCO’s core projects, it is intended to identify and safeguard the world’s natural and cultural treasures. Listing by UNESCO is the ambition of many sites, large and small, around the world because it not only brings prestige and tourist dollars, but it also brings with it the clout of UNESCO and and expertise in the preservation and conservation of sites. Jethro Lennox is the publishing manager responsible for UNESCO‘s new The World’s Heritage: A Complete Guide to the Most Extraordinary Places, which features every UNESCO World Heritage…
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Leptis Magna, which was opened to the public in 2005, represents some of the finest ruins of the Roman age. London-based professional photographer Herb Schmitz recently visited the area and took some fantastic images, and you should watch Heritage Key’s fascinating video interview with Herb as he shares some of his thoughts on his visit to this Libyan treasure. A view you most certainly don’t get to see very often is the satellite view, looking down onto these impressive Roman remains, and the town that has built nearby it. Thanks to Geoeye who have kindly contributed this amazing high resolution…
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Thirty years in the making, the 130 million euro New Acropolis Museum is a stunning, if controversial, addition to Athen’s famous architectural landscape and at the same time a provocative statement of intent by the Greek people. In a fascinating talk in Dublin last night, Professor Dimitrios Pandermalis, President of the new museum took an enthralled audience on a tour of the history, architecture and intentions of the spectacular building.
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Thirty years in the making, the 130 million euro New Acropolis Museum is a stunning, if controversial, addition to Athen’s famous architectural landscape and at the same time a provocative statement of intent by the Greek people. In a fascinating talk in Dublin last night, Professor Dimitrios Pandermalis, President of the new museum took an enthralled audience on a tour of the history, architecture and intentions of the spectacular building. The talk, entitled ‘Collections Present and Absent at the New Acropolis Museum, Athens‘ was hosted by the National Museum of Ireland, organised by the Irish Museums Association and was attended…
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A pioneering research project to recreate Roman Leicester with an interactive virtual world is unveiled today at the official launch of Phoenix Square film and digital media centre in the city’s emerging cultural quarter. Members of the public will see a showcase of a range of IOCT – Institute of Creative Technologies – projects including taking an interactive on-screen tour round Roman Leicester 210AD; which takes them inside some of the 3D buildings including the Merlin Works Baths, Mithraum, the Temple of Jupiter and the Basilica and Forum. Using a skill known as architectural forensics, and working with archaeologists from…
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Parts of an ancient underground drain that takes Bath’s famous hot spring water from the Roman Baths to the River Avon are to be explored for the first time in a project to survey parts of the Great Roman Drain, a scheduled ancient monument and fundamental part of the Roman Baths complex. Parts of the drain have not been explored for hundreds of years. Built by the Romans to prevent central Bath from flooding, the Great Drain still performs its original purpose, discharging water from the natural hot springs to – Bluestonehenge’s – River Avon. It definitely needs to be…
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Following on from the amazing high resolution satellite images of the Pyramids of Giza, it’s worth noting that the Pyramid is a structure that is seen across the world. The pyramid form was a popular one in ancient times – when you mention the Pyramids, people will instantly think of the Ancient Egyptians, and the Great Pyramid of Giza. But many civilisations adopted the pyramidal form, from the Greeks and Romans to the Chinese and Mesopotamians! The primary reason for this would be the structural form of a pyramid – the majority of the construction material that would be used…
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We’ve already heard Lord Norwich‘s warnings about the perilous future of his beloved Venice (watch this video). But throughout human history, what have been the planet’s greatest cities – and how did they come to be? Lord Norwich’s latest book, The Great Cities in History (see more info here) attempts to explain that over 300 pages of exquisite photography and expert opinion on 70 of man’s greatest settlements. Famed writers such as Simon Schama and Bettany Hughes lend their views on cities from Nineveh to New York, with forewords on the ancient world and beyond by Lord Norwich himself. Primordial…
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The three day Egypt symposium, last weekend in Toronto, yielded a number of interesting finds. As Heritage Key has reported, researchers unravelled evidence showing that the husband of Djedmaatesankh, a mummy in the Royal Ontario museum, is now located in Chicago. Also, a large amount of info was presented on the discovery of an Amarna era fortress at Tell el-Borg. A detailed article on this can be seen here. Another key piece of research, released at the symposium,is an excavation project at the Seila pyramid. Professor Kerry Muhlestein, of Brigham Young University, delivered an update last weekend on research going…