We all know that a surely proud couple from a village populated by irreducible Gauls still resisting the Roman invaders in 50BC gave birth to Asterix. But where do the Smurfs smurf from? Are they all Peyo’s imagination, or did a tribe of small, little blue men ever exist? One is inclined to think that those cute creatures, dated to the early Spiroe Age, are just a silly invention of a genius comic book writer. Or are they? Their primitive grammar seems to suggest a more ancient origin, and new evidence recently surfaced that Smurfs started smurfing back in ancient…
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Mariah Carey performed at what must be the world’s most awe-inspiring concert venue this week, as she belted out a set at the pyramids of Giza in Cairo, Egypt. The ancient backdrop surprised even the diva herself, who exclaimed to the 3,000-strong crowd, “Wow! I can’t believe I’m standing here! “Wow! I can’t believe I’m standing here!” “I mean you guys you’re maybe used to it, but us,” added Carey, pointing to backing singer Trey Lorenz, “that man comes from a town with 300 people only, and and I’m from New York.” The gig, for Middle Eastern telecommunications firm Etisalat’s…
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At the end of August the Terracotta Army will visit Sweden, and the soldiers will bring with them the story of China’s birth. In a unique location,the Terracotta Warriors and a collection of never-seen-before objects from simular gravesites will tell the story of how the vast Chinese empire was built on the idea of eternal power. This idea – stretching both space and time – was given shape through momumental burial sites and buildings, and the unification of China. The sophisticated empire that was established would last over two thousand years. A selection of Terracotta Army statues and recent archaeological…
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Today the ‘The Lost World of Old Europe The Danube Valley, 5000-3500BC’ exhibition opens at the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford. When visiting you can expect to see the famed goddess figurines which have triggered intense debates about women’s roles in Old European society; the oldest major gold treasure found (in the earliest known male elite burial); and more exuberant (and suprisingly ‘modern’) art and pottery from Europe’s first civilisation. Having only previously visited New York, it’s a must-attend exhibition containing objects on loan from over 20 museums in Romania, Bulgaria and Moldova. It’s a chance to learn about a relatively…
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Fresh from shows in Washington D.C.and Toronto, 18 Terracotta Warriors will make their debut at Calgary’s Glenbow Museum next summer. The 18 statues, the afterlife bodyguards of China’s First Qin Emperor – of which 8,000 have been excavated so far – will be joined by some brand new archaeological relics from the emperor’s giant tomb including two horses and a painting, as well and hundreds of other artefacts associated with the warriors. It’s a big coup for the museum, who will expect blockbuster attendances akin to those seen at D.C.’s National Geographic Museum and the Royal Ontario Museum. The First…
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Police have seized two ‘outstanding’ ancient Greek statues in the Peloponnese, shortly before they were due to be sold for 10 million (8.6m). Two men aged 42 and 48 were arrested while loading the pair of 2,500-year-old relics onto the back of a truck near the ancient city of Corinth. Police are seeking a third man they believe to be the group’s ringleader. The pair of marble statues stand 5’8″ and 5’9″ tall, and are of the Kouros style popular during the 6th and 7th centuries BC. Experts believe both were made by the same sculptor between 550 and 520…
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A reunion 180 years in waiting will occur this Friday in Edinburgh, as Lewis Chessmen pieces from north and south of the border are displayed side-by-side for the very first time at the National Museum of Scotland (NMS). The exhibition (one of our top ten to look forward to worldwide this year) marks the arrival of a 20-piece sample of the ornate, ivory-carved 12th/13th century artefacts in Edinburgh on loan from the British Museum, and the beginning of a tour of the country that between now and September 2011 will visit Aberdeen, Shetland and finally Stornoway on the Isle of…
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Both of these monumental pieces of sculpture are beautiful, both portray good overcoming evil and the greatness of civilised man over barbarians. The Parthenon itself is awe-inspiring. If you haven’t managed to see it yet (a perfect opportunity for a holiday in Athens!), when you get up to the Acropolis and walk around, look at the Parthenon frieze, the pediments, the metopes, and then you should get ready to pick your jaw up off the floor! It is honestly one of the most magical buildings that I have ever seen. Everything about it proclaims the glory of Athens – it’s…
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Scholars often refer to cultures who used monumental architecture for political purposes as a ‘theater-state’ and boy could the Aztecs put on a good show! When the Spanish conquistadors first glimpsed Tenochtitlan at its zenith in 1519, the Mexica capital and its suburbs surrounding Lake Texcoco was home to over a million inhabitants whose lives were punctuated by numerous festivities centered around amphitheaters and religious shrines scattered across the city. It is no wonder then, that the Spanish, many of whom were natives of Extremadura, a province of western Spain that was once a part of Roman Lusitania and birthplace…
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Dr. David Silverman is delighted at the thought that visitors to Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs, one of two King Tut exhibitions touring North America right now, would come away as I did – with an itching interest in Akhenaten, who was almost certainly King Tuts father. Hes also enthused at the idea that viewing the vast exhibition at the Discovery Time Square Exposition, with 130 significant objects from King Tuts tomb and the 100 years preceding the boy kings life, will spur people to go take a look at King Tuts funerary urns up at the…