Sun, Moon and Stars Exhibition, Museum of Culture, Basel, Switzerland The excellent Museum of Culture regularly holds exhibitions which help to highlight certain themes within its collection. When I visited, they had an interesting exhibition which looked at the way the universe shapes people on earth – from the way we create calendars, to the gods we worship. Because of the…
‘Shahidul Alam: Truth to Power’ Exhibition, The Rubin Museum, New York It’s not often that I visit photography exhibitions any more. There was a time when I was a student in London when I was quite into it. But then I decided that actually, most photographers were more interested in themselves than in their subjects and that was reflected in…
Hadrian and Athens: Conversing with an Ideal World, Exhibition at the National Museum of Athens, Greece A small exhibition in the Archaeological Museum in Athens highlighted portrait busts created during the rule of the Roman Emperor Hadrian. The exhibits are all from the museum, but by placing them all together, you get to see portraits from a specific era, which…
The Countless Aspects of Beauty Exhibition, “Οι αμέτρητες όψεις του Ωραίου“, National Archaeological Museum, Athens, Greece The vast and incredible collection of ancient artefacts in the National Archaeological Museum in Athens is almost too overwhelming. Literally every room is packed full of incredible objects and what a joy it is to explore. However, the museum clearly doesn’t have that much…
We’ve Invented Nothing!: Products, Commerce and Gastronomy in Ancient Rome, On n’a rien inventé ! Produits, Commerce et Gastronomie dans l’antiquité romaine, Museum of Marseille’s History, Marseille, France Sometimes it feels like the modern world has an obsession with food which is unlike anything European society has experienced before. Social media is playing its part in exaggerating the natural…
‘Zorn and Carl Larsson – Art and Friendship’ Exhibition, Zorn Museum, Zornmuseet, Mora, Sweden It’s funny how sometimes a small town can be famous for some major things. Mora, quiet, tiny and generally unobtrusive, is famous for three symbols of Swedishness: the Dala Horse (produced in a village nearby), the sturdy, multifunctional Mora knife, and the artist, Anders Zorn. As…
Yokainoshima, Spirits of Japan Exhibition, Confluence Museum, Lyon, France If there is an exhibition on about Japan – I want to see it. I have an old, old fascination with the country, and its wonderful culture, and this exhibition at the Confluence Museum promised to be fun. After all, it was advertised with this lovely photograph: Gee, ain’t they cute?…
Caesar and the Rhône: Masterpieces of Ancient Arles, César et la Rhône: Chefs-d’œuvre antiques d’Arles, Geneva, Switzerland When walking around the clean, tidy and efficient city of Geneva, it’s easy to forget the fact that it has ancient origins. There are no obvious outdoor remains, like amphitheatres or even walls, but the fact remains that it was an important place in…
What’s New at the Palace? Exhibition, Narbonne, France With the opening of a new museum on Roman Narbonne, NarboVia, in 2020, the Palace Museums complex decided to show off some of its collections that have been languishing away from the public gaze. Since the Roman objects will be leaving the Palace, their place will be taken by others plucked from…
Mirabilis Exhibition at the Popes’ Palace, Avignon Staged in a grand hall in the Popes’ Palace in 2018 was an exhibition which highlighted the treasures found across Avignon’s five main museums and galleries: the Petit Palais, Calvet, Requien, Roure and Lapidaire. What made it rather special was the fact that it was curated by Christian Lacroix. Despite the fact that…
Lagoon Navigation: 2000 Years of Secrets Revealed by the Archaeology Museum of Catalonia, La navigation lagunaire. 2000 ans de secrets révélés par le musée d’archéologie de Catalogne, Henri Prades Museum, Lattes, France An unexpectedly excellent exhibition on Roman ships at the museum of Lattes in the summer of 2018 was extremely educational. Not only were there some fascinating survivors of…
Gladiators: heroes of the Colosseum, Gladiateurs, héros du Colisée, at the Musée de la Romanité, Nîmes, France In my usual not-very-efficient way, I’m writing about an exhibition which has now closed. It was, however, a very neat and well thought out exhibition at the Musée de la Romanité about gladiators in the Roman world, possibly because it’s been on a world tour…