The exhibition Living with gods: peoples, places and worlds beyond contains many poignant and powerful reminders of the persistence and value of prayer. Whether uttered silently or aloud, words of devotion form part of a dialogue with a being whose existence can be understood (or denied) in different ways. In that sense, they are of great interest to psychologists, who have sometimes examined them as an example of ‘inner speech’, the silent conversations that many of us report accompanying our daily lives. Without having to commit to any metaphysics or deny their spiritual meaning, psychologists like me can try to understand the processes through which we conduct internal dialogues with varied conversational partners, whether they be absent friends, the voices of the dead, imaginary entities or supernatural beings.

Adriaen Collaert (c. 1560–1618), Plate 6 from the series The Life of Teresa of Avila showing Teresa hearing God’s voice. Engraving, 1613.

My research in the last few years has had a particular focus on these internal dialogues. I’m interested in how all these words get into our heads, what they are doing there, and what the experience of inner speech is like. An often distressing counterpart to these ordinary internal conversations is the experience of hearing voices when no one is present – often seen as a sign of severe mental illness (such as schizophrenia) but also associated with a range of other psychiatric diagnoses. Outside the psychiatric clinic, researchers are now beginning to understand that hearing voices is a part of everyday life for a significant minority of people who are not distressed by their experiences and who are not mentally ill. Casting the net even wider, somewhere between 5 and 15 per cent of the population will have occasional, fleeting voice-hearing experiences, such as hearing one’s name called when there is no one around.

Hearing voices is a part of human experience that crosses continents and historical periods. In my lecture as part of the public programme of events related to the exhibition, I will focus on a figure who left such a rich description of her experiences that it still resonates with us 600 years later. Margery Kempe was a colourful figure. A mother of fourteen who had failed in business twice, she took to the road in her forties to try to persuade princes and bishops that she was hearing the voice of God. It was a dangerous path to tread. Margery wrote about her experiences (by dictating them to an amanuensis) in a unique manuscript, The Book of Margery Kempe, now housed in the British Library. This extraordinary text is thought to be the first autobiography in the English language.

Andrzej Jackowski (b. 1947), Hearing Voices IV, 1993. Reproduced by permission of the artist.

In our Hearing the Voice project based at Durham University and funded by the Wellcome Trust, we are engaging with Margery’s text from a range of different disciplinary perspectives, using methods from the humanities to explore the nuances of her account and their significance for scientific theorising. Sometimes Margery hears the voice of God as clearly as if there had been another person in the room with her. At other times, the experience is more ambiguous – the Holy Spirit announces itself to her as a rushing sound, like a pair of bellows, or as the sound of a robin or a dove. On one occasion a voice counsels Margery to travel to the nearby city of Norwich – then the second biggest city in England – to take advice on her experiences from ‘Dame Julian’. This is a reference to the celebrated mystic Julian of Norwich, author of Revelations of Divine Love, the first book in English known to have been written by a woman. Just as voice-hearers today – often inspired by the international Hearing Voices Movement – get together to discuss their experiences away from the diagnosing eye of psychiatry, so these two literary giants spent ‘many days’ together in ‘holy dalyawns’ in and around Julian’s anchorite’s cell. I like to think of the meeting in Norwich, somewhere around the year 1415, as the first hearing voices group.

Interdisciplinary research is sometimes put forward as the sole pathway to a higher truth. The reality is that it frequently fails, for reasons such as the time and effort involved in bringing researchers from different disciplines into a shared body of understanding, while at the same time respecting and valuing disciplinary expertise. I can honestly say that reading and thinking about Margery Kempe, along with the works of her commentators such as Corinne Saunders, Barry Windeatt and Anthony Bale, has changed the way I think scientifically about inner speech and voice-hearing. In her account of her ‘wondirful revelacyons’, Margery Kempe gives us a resonant image of what her modern editor Barry Windeatt has called ‘a praying mind talking to itself’.

Charles Fernyhough is the author of The Voices Within: The history and science of how we talk to ourselves (UK: Profile Books/Wellcome Collection; US: Basic Books).

The exhibition Living with gods: peoples, places and worlds beyond is on from 2 November 2017 to 8 April 2018.
Supported by the Genesis Foundation. With grateful thanks to John Studzinski CBE.

The accompanying BBC Radio 4 series was broadcast between 23 October and 6 December 2017 and is now available to download as a podcast.
Living with the gods by Neil MacGregor will be published by Allen Lane in March 2018.

Stiff competition: an evening of comedy with the Z List Dead List

The British Museum Membercast is a monthly podcast made available to ‘all studious and curious persons’. Comedian, podcaster and super-fan Iszi Lawrence (The Z List Dead List) presents snippets from exclusive Members’ lectures at the Museum, artfully woven together with interviews and her own musings.

Please share your comments and feedback about the podcast! You can talk to us on Twitter @britishmuseum using the hashtag #membercast or email friends@britishmuseum.org

Between the 19th century and the present day, many women collected objects during their travels around the world and either donated or sold this material to the British Museum. In this post, I look at four exceptional women who travelled and collected in South Asia, Siberia and Southeast Asia: Lady Florentina Sale, Kate Marsden, Susi Dunsmore and Shireen Akbar. Objects from the collections of Lady Sale and Shireen Akbar can be seen in the newly refurbished Sir Joseph Hotung Gallery of China and South Asia (Room 33).

Lady Florentina Sale (1790–1853)

Lady Sale travelled to different parts of the British Empire across the world with her husband, Sir Robert Sale (1782–1845), who was a British army officer.

Richard James Lane (1800–1872) after Maria Moseley, Portrait of Lady Sale. Lithograph on chine collé, 1845.

Sir Robert fought in many military campaigns, including the First Anglo-Afghan War (1839–1842). During this war, Lady Sale and others were taken hostage in Kabul for some nine months by Afghan forces, before she bribed the guards to release them in 1842. During her captivity, Lady Sale kept a diary which she later published as A Journal of the Disasters in Afghanistan (1843), and it became a bestseller. Her diaries and letters are now held at the British Library. While she was in Afghanistan, Lady Sale acquired some ancient coins and donated 20 of them to the British Museum. One is on display in the South Asia section of Room 33.

Coin of Agathocles. The square coin has an Indian goddess with a Brahmi inscription on one side, and a panther and a Greek inscription on the other side. Greco-Bactrian. c. 190–180 BC.

Kate Marsden (1859–1931)

Marsden was a nurse, traveller and author who was elected one of the first female Fellows of the Royal Geographical Society. She also founded Bexhill Museum in East Sussex. Kate Marsden dedicated her life to help and care for those suffering from leprosy. She received the support of Queen Victoria and Maria Feodorovna, the Empress of Russia, to travel to Siberia so that she could help the lepers living there.

Wooden choron used to hold kumis (fermented mare’s milk). Made by Yakult. Siberia.

Her journey and work there was described in her book, On Sledge and Horseback to Outcast Siberian Lepers (1892). During her travels in Siberia, she acquired some objects which she later donated to the British Museum.

Fur and leather mat from Siberia.

Susi Dunsmore (1927–2017)

Dunsmore was a writer and lecturer specialising in textile crafts. She lived and worked in many places around the world, including Nepal, Sarawak and Belize. In eastern Nepal, Susi Dunsmore learned about spinning and weaving allo (Himalayan giant nettle) from local women.

Woven cotton textile to be made up into a cap (topi). Nepal, 1980–1990.

In turn, Marsden helped them to develop their skills and introduce money-making, handwoven products.

Beaded baby-carrier. Sarawak, 19th–20th century.

She collected many textiles and objects (mostly woven) from both Nepal and Sarawak and donated over 100 of them to the British Museum.

Embroidered bamboo hat. A note inside the brim reads, ‘Ahmad Zaini your ever obedient ex-student.’ Sarawak, 19th–20th century.

Shireen Akbar (1944–1997)

Living in Tower Hamlets, Akbar worked with the Bangladeshi diaspora community – particularly women and children – from the 1970s onwards. She formed successful collaborations between the local community, art galleries and museums, and also co-curated some exhibitions. Ms Akbar amassed a large collection of over 300 rickshaw paintings, a rickshaw, posters, household objects and other material from Dhaka in Bangladesh, which she sold to the British Museum.

Rickshaw panel painting from Dhaka, Bangladesh.

The rickshaw paintings and the rickshaw were displayed in the exhibition ‘Traffic Art’ at the Museum of Mankind between 1988 and 1991.

Rickshaw made in Dhaka, Bangladesh.

One of these rickshaw paintings and a photograph of the rickshaw are on display in Room 33.

Figure of a deer made in Dhaka, Bangaldesh.

The Sir Joseph Hotung Gallery of China and South Asia was reopened in November 2017.

The British Museum Membercast is a monthly podcast made available to ‘all studious and curious persons’. Comedian, podcaster and super-fan Iszi Lawrence (The Z List Dead List) presents snippets from exclusive Members’ lectures at the Museum, artfully woven together with interviews and her own musings.

Please share your comments and feedback about the podcast! You can talk to us on Twitter @britishmuseum using the hashtag #membercast or email friends@britishmuseum.org

The British Museum Membercast is a monthly podcast made available to ‘all studious and curious persons’. Comedian, podcaster and super-fan Iszi Lawrence (The Z List Dead List) presents snippets from exclusive Members’ lectures at the Museum, artfully woven together with interviews and her own musings.

Please share your comments and feedback about the podcast! You can talk to us on Twitter @britishmuseum using the hashtag #membercast or email friends@britishmuseum.org

Last year the UK saw an impressive range of programming across the cultural sector to mark the 50th anniversary of the partial decriminilsation of homosexuality in England and Wales. It seems likely that more Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender and Queer (LGBTQ) themed projects took place last year than in any year since the passing of the Sexual Offences Act in July 1967. Although the anniversary year is now behind us, work is ongoing at many organisations, including the British Museum, to ensure that these temporary projects leave a lasting, permanent legacy.

The objects in this blog post featured in our Desire, love, identity: exploring LGBTQ histories special display and trail in 2017. With this, we highlighted some particularly important objects in the Museum’s collection that provide glimpses into what the English novelist E M Forster described as a ‘great unrecorded history.’ Here we take a look at some of the objects from the trail that feature in our new audio commentary tour and the Desire, love, identity: exploring LGBTQ histories touring exhibition, which will be visiting venues around the UK from this August.

Vase depicting Sappho

Greek water-jar (hydria). c. 450 BC.

Evidence of real female sexuality is difficult to find in ancient Greek and Roman objects as they usually reflect male perspectives. In ancient Greece women were generally excluded from public life and politics, but they did take part in domestic and religious rituals. The poet Sappho (630–570 BC), who lived on the isle of Lesbos, gave a voice to women and female desire that has resonated throughout history. She is probably the seated figure on this water jar.  By the 19th century her poetry had made the word for an inhabitant of Lesbos a term for a woman who loves women. Little is known for certain about Sappho’s life but her poetry has been an inspiration to many women living in later eras.

This vase can be seen in Room 69.

A Maya ruler

Cast of Stela H from The Great Plaza, Copan, Honduras. Cast made by Lorenzo Giuntini 1881-1894, copied from an original dating from 730 AD.

This image of a male Maya ruler was once assumed to be female, as he is wearing a netted jade skirt worn by elite Maya women. He is, in fact, dressed as a youthful maize god whose gender can be both male and female. When gender is being read cross-culturally, there can be confusion or misunderstandings. There are many instances of early European explorers, researchers and collectors initially being unable, or perhaps unwilling, to make sense of values that differed from their own.

This plaster cast can be found on the ground floor of the East Stairs (between Room 1 and Room 27).

The Warren Cup

The Warren Cup. Roman, c. 10 AD

Decorated with two scenes of male lovers, this Roman wine cup couldn’t be displayed publicly for most of the 20th century. Homosexuality was illegal in England and Wales until July 1967. However explicit sexual images were not unusual in the Roman world. Relationships between men were part of Greek and Roman culture, from slaves to emperors, most famously the emperor Hadrian and his lover, Antinous. Today such ancient images remind us that the way societies view sexuality can differ widely. The Warren Cup was acquired by the Museum in 1999 and, with the exception of short periods of time when it has been loaned to other institutions, has been on display ever since.

The cup can be found in Room 70.

Native American ‘winter count’ 

North American ‘winter count’.

‘Winter counts’ were kept as historical records by some North American plains tribes. This is one of many surviving versions of a Sioux count showing events for the winters of 1785-6 to 1901-02. The year 1891 includes an image representing the suicide of a winkte, a Dakota word literally meaning ‘wants to be a woman.’ Among some Native American tribes such individuals were considered to be endowed with special spiritual powers because they bridged gender differences. Among the Dakota Sioux there were, at any given time, up to ten recorded individuals belonging to this class of people in the same tribe. The arrival of Anglo-Americans led to repression of cross-dressing by such individuals. Today there has been a revival of this tradition among younger generations of LGBTQ Native Americans.

This object is not currently on display but will be part of the UK touring exhibition Desire, love, identity; exploring LGBTQ histories.

N’domo mask from Mali

N’domo mask. Mali, early 20th century.

In many African cultures gender and gendered roles are fixed through rituals. N’domo masks are used by the Bamana people of Mali. They are worn by men but the masks can be male, female or androgynous. The number of horns is significant – male masks have 3 or 6 horns, female masks have 4 or 8, and androgynous masks have 2, 5 or 7.

Gender and sexual diversity was often suppressed by colonial administrators in Africa and this has sometimes been forgotten, creating the impression that it never existed. Partly as a result of this colonial history and the introduction of Christianity, ‘homosexuality’ was made illegal in many African countries. Anti-apartheid and civil rights movements have often run parallel to those for LGBTQ people around the world. In 2012 Archbishop Tutu commented: ‘I have no doubt in the future, the laws that criminalise so many forms of love and human commitment will look the way apartheid laws do to us now – so obviously wrong.’

This mask is currently displayed in Room 25 and it will be part of the UK touring exhibition Desire, love, identity; exploring LGBTQ histories.

The Ladies of Llangollen

Chocolate cups and saucers. 1779-81 and 1790.

Lady Eleanor Butler and Sarah Ponsonby fled Ireland together in 1778. They set up home in North Wales, challenging the conventions of the era and living the life of their choice for 50 years. Eleanor’s diary gives us an insight to their lifestyle. She writes on Thursday 22 September 1785:

Up at Seven. Dark Morning, all the Mountains enveloped in mist. Thick Rain. A fire in the Library, delightfully comfortable, Breakfasted at half past Eight. From nine ‘till one writing. My Beloved drawing Pembroke Castle – from one to three read to her – after dinner Went hastily around the gardens. Rain’d without interruption the entire day – from Four ‘till Ten reading to my Sally – She drawing – from ten ‘till Eleven Sat over the Fire Conversing with My beloved. A Silent, happy Day.

This pair of chocolate cups belonged to Eleanor and Sarah. The ladies acquired a celebrity-like status and the Museum also has several prints depicting them in its collection.

The cups are on display in Room 47. One of the cups will be part of the UK touring exhibition Desire, love, identity; exploring LGBTQ histories.

Statue of Ganymede

Statue of Ganymede. Roman, 100-200 AD.

In Greek myth the god Zeus (Jupiter to the Romans) was overcome by desire for the beautiful youth Ganymede. He took the form of an eagle to abduct Ganymede, who later became the god’s cupbearer. There are many depictions of Ganymede in the Museum’s collection – this particular one is Roman. Ancient Greece exerted a heavy influence over Rome, including an acceptance of sexual relationships between men within certain boundaries. The adoption of Christianity marked a significant change in attitudes. During the medieval period the term Ganymede became a term of abuse. The Renaissance led to a renewed interest in classical mythology, including subjects that offered a legitimate way to depict sexual stories. Statues such as this were popular with wealthy European collectors during the 1700s and 1800s.

You can see this statue in Room 1.

Following the trail and the exhibition in 2017, we wanted to find a find a way to ensure these objects’ stories were still told when the interpretation was removed. In response to feedback from visitors, we have created a Desire, love, identity: exploring LGBTQ histories audio commentary, narrated by Simon Russell Beale and Fiona Shaw, which you can listen to at the museum or from home. There’s also a new downloadable map, which will help you find the objects in the museum. It should take between 75–90 minutes to visit all the objects and listen to the commentary. You can download the commentaries or stream them via iTunes, Google Play Music, and Spotify. Follow the links here or search ‘Desire, love, identity: exploring LGBTQ histories’.

In 2019 we will also be introducing volunteer-led LGBTQ gallery talks that delve into even more detail and look at objects that aren’t in the audio commentaries. If you’re interested in participating and helping shape and/or deliver these tours, and be part of our incredible team of volunteers, please check the volunteer section of the Museum’s website for further details, which will be released soon.

The national touring exhibition, Desire, love, identity: exploring LGBTQ histories, will visit the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford (25 September – 2 December 2018), the National Justice Museum, Nottingham (14 December 2018 – 3 March 2019), Bolton Library & Museum Service (14 March – 26 May 2019), and Norwich Millennium Library (8 June – 31 August 2019).

I want to thank all the incredibly generous people who have contributed to these projects. The LGBTQ activity that has taken place to date would not have been possible without Professor Richard Parkinson (Oxford University), Camden LGBT Forum, Gendered Intelligence, LGBT History Month, London Metropolitan Archives, the Network, Schools Out and Untold London. I’d also like to thank Dan Vo and his colleagues at the V&A for generously and enthusiastically sharing their experiences of developing volunteer-led LGBTQ tours with us.

A Little Gay History: desire and diversity across the world by Richard Parkinson is available from the Museum shops.

The British Museum Membercast is a monthly podcast made available to ‘all studious and curious persons’. Comedian, podcaster and super-fan Iszi Lawrence (The Z List Dead List) presents snippets from exclusive Members’ lectures at the Museum, artfully woven together with interviews and her own musings.

Please share your comments and feedback about the podcast! You can talk to us on Twitter @britishmuseum using the hashtag #membercast or email friends@britishmuseum.org

The British Museum Membercast is a monthly podcast made available to ‘all studious and curious persons’. Comedian, podcaster and super-fan Iszi Lawrence (The Z List Dead List) presents snippets from exclusive Members’ lectures at the Museum, artfully woven together with interviews and her own musings.

Please share your comments and feedback about the podcast! You can talk to us on Twitter @britishmuseum using the hashtag #membercast or email friends@britishmuseum.org

In 2003, the Metropolitan Police raided a now defunct London antiquities dealer, seizing valuable objects that have since been identified at the British Museum as coming from the site of Tello in southern Iraq.

The temple of the Sumerian god Ningirsu at Tello.

Tello, the modern Arabic name for the ancient Sumerian city of Girsu, is the southern site of the British Museum’s Iraq Emergency Heritage Management Training Scheme (Iraq Scheme), where the Museum has been conducting archaeological excavations since 2016. It is one of the earliest known cities of the world, revered in the 3rd millennium BC as the sanctuary of the Sumerian heroic god Ningirsu.

In 2015–2016, a potential crime scene was recorded as part of an initial survey at Tello that consisted of dozens of shallow pits. These pits can be traced back to a period of looting at this historical site at the beginning of 2003, with the missing objects likely transferred quickly for sale in London.

They were seized in a police operation on 2 May 2003, when the dealer failed to supply proof of ownership, subsequently ceased trading and the objects passed to the Crown. They were recently brought to the British Museum for analysis by the Art & Antiques Unit of the Metropolitan Police.

One of three votive cones being returned to Iraq. They are inscribed in ancient cuneiform script which helped British Museum experts identify them as originating from the site at Tello.

Three of the objects are fired clay cones with Sumerian inscriptions in cuneiform script (a language formed by using small wedges to make up symbols) which identify their origin as the Eninnu temple, sacred to the god’s patron deity Ningirsu. The inscriptions read: ‘For Ningirsu, Enlil’s mighty warrior, Gudea, ruler of Lagash, made things function as they should (and) he built and restored for him his Eninnu, the White Thunderbird’.

The other items consist of a broken gypsum mace-head with an Old Sumerian inscription, a polished river pebble with a cuneiform inscription, a white marble amulet pendant in the form of a reclining bull dating to the Jemdet Nasr period (c. 3000 BC), a red marble stamp seal or amulet pendant representing a pair of stylised animals, and a white chalcedony stamp seal which dates to the Achaemenid period (c. 550–330 BC). All of these resemble objects known from excavations at Tello and are therefore most likely to originate from the same site.

Objects looted from the site of Tello in 2003 are being returned to Iraq.

Recently, these objects were handed over to the Iraqi authorities at a small ceremony held at the British Museum, and will be returned to Baghdad where they are likely to go on display in the Iraq Museum.

Speaking of the Tello find, Dr Salih Husain Ali, Ambassador of the Republic of Iraq to the UK, said ‘I would like to express my thanks and appreciation for the British Museum and the staff for their exceptional efforts in the process of identifying and returning looted antiquities to Iraq.’

Sebastien Rey working with Iraqi state police in 2015 to identify areas of looting at Tello.

The site of Tello is now protected and the ongoing British Museum excavations have not only recorded the old looting pits but are revealing the full plan of the Eninnu temple, reconstructing how the fired clay cones were originally set within its walls and the extent of the occupation there in other periods.

Director of the British Museum, Hartwig Fischer, said, ‘The British Museum is absolutely committed to the fight against illicit trade and damage to cultural heritage. This is an issue which concerns us all. I am delighted that we are able to assist in the return of these important objects to Iraq, via the Embassy of the Republic of Iraq in London. It is a symbol of the very strong working relationships we have with our Iraqi colleagues, developed over many years and extended through the British Museum-run Iraq Scheme’.

Find out more about the Museum’s work in Iraq, including the Iraq Emergency Heritage Management Training Scheme here.

The British Museum Membercast is a monthly podcast made available to ‘all studious and curious persons’. Comedian, podcaster and super-fan Iszi Lawrence (The Z List Dead List) presents snippets from exclusive Members’ lectures at the Museum, artfully woven together with interviews and her own musings.

Please share your comments and feedback about the podcast! You can talk to us on Twitter @britishmuseum using the hashtag #membercast or email friends@britishmuseum.org

This month Iszi presents Ian Hislop’s discussion with Philip Attwood, Keeper of Coins and Medals at the British Museum, on the history of protest and poking fun at authority. Later, Iszi takes us on a tour of the Museum’s latest show, the Citi exhibition I object: Ian Hislop’s search for dissent.

Please share your comments and feedback about the podcast! You can talk to us on Twitter @britishmuseum using the hashtag #membercast or email friends@britishmuseum.org

Gardens fit for a king

Assyrian kings built on a lavish scale. Ashurbanipal’s capital at Nineveh was a vast metropolis and the palaces were a symbol of the King’s wealth and power. However, it wasn’t just the architecture that made the royal residences impressive. Surrounding the palaces were orchards, game parks and lush and exotic gardens that evoked a paradise on earth.

Relief depicting a harpist and lyre player with tame lion beneath palms and pine trees. 645–640 BC. North Palace, Nineveh, Iraq.

The Assyrian kings boasted in inscriptions about collecting plants and animals from across the empire for the gardens. Orchards were planted with a plethora of plants, alongside pomegranate, pear, fig and olive trees. In creating these idyllic settings, rulers demonstrated their ability to bring abundance and harmony to the world.

Ashurbanipal claimed:

I planted alongside the palace a botanical garden, which has all types of trees and every fruit and vegetable. 

A feat of engineering

The gardens at Nineveh were irrigated by an immense canal network built by Ashurbanipal’s grandfather, Sennacherib. He brought water to the city over a great distance using channels and aqueducts to create a year-round oasis of all types of flora.

The canals stretched over 50km into the mountains, and Sennacherib boasted about the engineering technology he used. A monumental aqueduct crossing the valley at Jewan, which you can still see the remains of today, was made of over 2 million stones and waterproof cement. The aqueduct was constructed over 500 years before the Romans started building their aqueducts, and was inscribed with the following words:

Sennacherib king of the world king of Assyria. Over a great distance I had a watercourse directed to the environs of Nineveh, joining together the waters… Over steep-sided valleys I spanned an aqueduct of white limestone blocks, I made those waters flow over it.

A scene from a palace relief shows aqueducts in lush parkland near the city. The orchards and gardens are watered by several channels that cut across the landscape. The panel would have originally been painted with rich colours, which have been recreated in the representation below.

Relief showing orchards and gardens watered by an aqueduct. Nineveh, Iraq.

The royal menagerie

Assyrian kings stocked their game parks and pleasure gardens with animals, including deer, gazelle and even lions. On this relief, a lioness and lion with a magnificent mane relax in an idyllic garden. For the Assyrians, lions represented all that was dangerous in the world, so the placid lions on this relief may demonstrate the kings’ abilities to control the wild forces of nature.

Lions were also hunted in the royal game parks. Assyrian kings proved they were worthy of protecting the empire by killing these fearsome beasts as part of drama-filled public spectacles. The Assyrian lion hunt is famously represented in the reliefs from King Ashurbanipal’s palace.

Carved panel depicting a lion and lioness relaxing in a lush garden setting. 645–640 BC. Nineveh, Iraq.

A symbol of peace and prosperity

The gardens of the Assyrian kings weren’t simply beautiful spaces; they demonstrated the ability to maintain peace and prosperity in the empire. One scene from a palace relief shows Ashurbanipal reclining on an elaborate couch in a garden beside his queen. Musicians entertain the royal couple and food is served by attendants. A lush backdrop of pine trees, date palms and grapevines evoke fertility and regeneration. However, if you look carefully, you can see that in one of the trees hangs a war trophy – the head of Ashurbanipal’s enemy – a reminder that this paradise was attained through a long and bloody war.

Carved panel depicting Ashurbanipal and his queen in a garden. The head of Ashurbanipal’s enemy hangs from a tree on the far left. 645–640 BC. Nineveh, Iraq.

The real Hanging Gardens of Babylon?

The Hanging Gardens of Babylon represented in a 1572 print by Philips Galle.

Some scholars have argued that the legendary Hanging Gardens of Babylon – one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World – were actually those at Nineveh. They claim that later writers had confused Nineveh and Babylon, which may help to explain why excavations at the site of Babylon have never yielded any evidence of raised architectural gardens there. Drawings of a now lost relief from Nineveh show trees growing on a roofed colonnade, similar to those described in classical accounts of the Hanging Gardens. Even if it isn’t the case that the Hanging Gardens were those at Nineveh, they may have inspired later gardens at Babylon and elsewhere.

Drawing of a now lost relief depicting gardens. The top right part of the relief appears to show trees growing on a roofed colonnade.

The British Museum Membercast is a monthly podcast made available to ‘all studious and curious persons’. Comedian, podcaster and super-fan Iszi Lawrence (The Z List Dead List) presents snippets from exclusive Members’ lectures at the Museum, artfully woven together with interviews and her own musings.

Please share your comments and feedback about the podcast! You can talk to us on Twitter @britishmuseum using the hashtag #membercast or email friends@britishmuseum.org

The British Museum Membercast is a monthly podcast made available to ‘all studious and curious persons’. Comedian, podcaster and super-fan Iszi Lawrence (The Z List Dead List) presents snippets from exclusive Members’ lectures at the Museum, artfully woven together with interviews and her own musings.

Please share your comments and feedback about the podcast! You can talk to us on Twitter @britishmuseum using the hashtag #membercast or email friends@britishmuseum.org

The royal lion hunt was a very ancient tradition in Assyria and the wider region of Mesopotamia. The earliest depiction of a ruler hunting lions is found on a carved basalt monument that dates to before 3000 BC. It shows two bearded figures wearing diadems (a type of crown) who can be identified as ‘priest-kings’. One kills a lion with a spear and the other shoots at a lion with his bow and arrow. In Assyria, the lion hunt was an important symbol of royalty and the Assyrian royal seal showed a king slaying a rampant lion.

Clay sealing with stamp-seal impression showing Assyrian king in combat with a lion. 715BC.

Representing the hunt

Royal lion hunts were depicted on the bronze bands that decorated monumental gates, stone obelisks that recorded the king’s achievements and on the carved wall panels that adorned the interior rooms of Assyrian palaces.

Some of the most spectacular depictions of the hunt were found in the palace of king Ashurnasirpal II (883–859 BC) at the city of Nimrud (in the north of modern-day Iraq). They show the king hunting lions and wild bulls from his chariot, followed by a ritual scene where the king poured an offering of wine over the dead animals. More than 200 years later, King Ashurbanipal revived the royal lion hunt and decorated his North Palace at the city of Nineveh (also in the north of modern-day Iraq) with brilliantly carved reliefs that show his prowess as a brave hunter.

Wall panel relief depicting a lion hunt. The figure holding the bow maybe Ashurnasirpal II or his son Shalmaneser III. Assyrian, 875–860BC.

Warrior king

Ashurbanipal presented himself to the world as a heroic king, claiming that the gods had given him outstanding strength and virility. As part of his military training the young crown prince was taught to drive chariots, ride cavalry horses and develop skills such as archery. Unlike earlier Assyrian rulers, however, Ashurbanipal rarely, if ever, led his troops on campaign.

Wall panel relief depicting Ashurbanipal hunting a lion from his chariot. Assyrian, 645–635BC.

Ashurbanipal instead proclaimed his prowess as a warrior on a series of carved alabaster panels from his North Palace, depicting him hunting lions. Here Ashurbanipal is portrayed as the complete action hero as he slays ferocious lions on horseback, on foot or from the back of a chariot using a variety of weapons. He wanted to show the gods and his subjects that he was a heroic warrior.

Relief depicting Ashurbanipal hunting a lion. Assyrian, 645–640 BC.

Creatures of chaos

Assyrian texts record stories of plagues of lions obstructing the roads, and harassing herdsmen and shepherds by attacking cattle and sheep in the plains. Ashurbanipal records how he set out to the steppe (plains) in his royal chariot to confront the lions but was surrounded and attacked. Fulfilling his role as the heroic hunter, Ashurbanipal boasts how he scattered the pride and killed each lion with a single arrow to restore peace to the plains.

In the steppe, a widespread place, raging lions, a ferocious mountain breed, attacked me and surrounded the chariot, the vehicle of my royal majesty. By the command of the god Ashur and the goddess Ishtar, the great gods…I scattered the pack of those lions.

Copper alloy lion weight. Assyrian, 858–824 BC.

As the divinely appointed protector of Assyria, it was the king’s duty to maintain order in the world by defeating the forces of chaos, which included foreign enemies and dangerous wild animals such as the lion. Assyrians thought of their world as encompassing a civilised heartland, situated in Assyria’s cities, which was surrounded by a hostile, untamed periphery. Wherever the king ruled, peace and prosperity abounded, whereas foreign lands were afflicted by chaos. By hunting lions, creatures of the untamed hinterland, Ashurbanipal showed how he could extend his control over the wilderness. Laden with ritual symbolism and heroic drama, the royal lion hunt was a particularly effective means of publicising the king’s ability, as the shepherd of his people, to protect his flock.

Ivory lion’s head carved in very high relief. Phoenician, 900–700 BC.

Staged spectacles

Frederick Arthur Bridgman (1847–1928), The Diversion of an Assyrian King. Oil on canvas, 1878.

Although Ashurbanipal represented himself hunting animals in the wild, in reality lion hunts were usually staged events within the grounds of the city. These were public spectacles, reminiscent of Roman arena games. A scene from a wall panel shows a small boy releasing a lion from its cage, which has been brought for the purpose of the hunt.

Detail of a relief showing a lion being released from a cage. Assyrian, 645–640 BC.

On another panel the hunting arena is formed by a circle of guards with spears and shields, behind which is a row of archers and additional guards hold fierce looking mastiffs on leashes to stop the lions from escaping the arena.

Details from a relief showing guards with spears and dogs securing the lion hunt arena. Assyrian, 645–640 BC.

Excited spectators run up a nearby mound to get a better view of the action. Some carry skins, perhaps selling water to the crowds.

Details from a relief showing spectators watching the lion hunt from a hill. Assyrian, 645–640 BC.

The lions themselves may well have been relatively tame. The Assyrians kept lions along with other animals such as deer and gazelle in their game parks and pleasure gardens. In a relief from Ashurbanipal’s palace, a lioness and a lion with a magnificent mane relax in an idyllic garden and, in another scene (below), a seemingly tame lion walks alongside musicians.

Relief depicting a harpist and lyre player with tame lion beneath palms and pine trees. Assyrian, 645–640 BC.

Whatever the reality of the hunt, Ashurbanipal was sure to claim a courageous victory! In one scene, an Assyrian horseman, guarded by spearmen in a chariot, distracts a crouching lion. Ashurbanipal (shown below) approaches from the left and grabs the lion by its tail, preparing to strike it over the head with a mace. The accompanying caption states:

I, Ashurbanipal, king of the world, king of Assyria, while carrying out my princely sport, seized a lion that was born in the steppe by its tail and, through the command of the gods… shattered its skull with the mace that was in my hand.

Relief depicting Ashurbanipal hunting a lion. Assyrian, 645–640 BC.

A political and religious message

This section from a larger wall panel shows the climax of a royal lion hunt. A lion has been mortally wounded by an arrow, which pierces its body just above the shoulder. It squats on its haunches, tensing every muscle in an attempt to stay upright as blood gushes from its mouth. The artist has captured the lion’s agony, not out of pity, but to powerfully symbolise the king’s triumph over the dangerous and chaotic forces that the lion represented.

Detail of a relief showing a dying lion. Assyrian, 645–640 BC.

The king’s power to defeat these enemies of civilisation was part of his divine prerogative and the scenes also have religious significance. The lions could be a sacrifice to the gods. In this relief Ashurbanipal can be seen pouring a wine offering to the goddess Ishtar over the lions that he has slain. The inscription reads:

I, Ashurbanipal, king of the world, king of Assyria, to whom the god Ashur and the goddess Ishtar have granted outstanding strength, set up the fierce bow of the goddess Ishtar — the lady of battle — over the lions that I had killed. I made an offering over them and poured a libation of wine over them.

Detail of a relief showing Ashurbanipal pouring libations on the bodies of four lions. Assyrian, 645–640 BC.

You can discover more about Ashurbanipal and his empire in the BP exhibition I am Ashurbanipal: king of the world, king of Assyria, at the Museum until 24 February 2019.

Supported by BP

Logistics partner IAG Cargo

The British Museum Membercast is a monthly podcast made available to ‘all studious and curious persons’. Comedian, podcaster and super-fan Iszi Lawrence (The Z List Dead List) presents snippets from exclusive Members’ lectures at the Museum, artfully woven together with interviews and her own musings.

Please share your comments and feedback about the podcast! You can talk to us on Twitter @britishmuseum using the hashtag #membercast or email friends@britishmuseum.org

It’s our 260th birthday! The Museum is the oldest national public museum in the world, and has been free to visit for ‘all studious and curious persons’ since 1759. To mark the occasion, instead of cutting cake, we’ve been crunching numbers – scroll down for some truly spectacular stats.

We’ve welcomed 350,404,179 visitors to the Museum over the last 260 years – that’s more than the entire population of the USA! The first visitors walked through the doors of Montagu House – the original Museum building, shown above – on 15 January 1759 and, as they say, the rest is history. If you’re one of the 350 million, thanks for visiting!

8,000,000 objects

There are a staggering 8,000,000 objects in the collection, housed across multiple sites. It expanded from Sir Hans Sloane’s original collection of around 71,000 objects, bequeathed to the nation upon his death in 1753. The Museum’s collection is still growing, and Curators continue to acquire new objects – you can see some recent acquisitions from our Prints and Drawings department in our free exhibition until 27 January 2019.

2,000,000 years of history

These chopping tools are among the oldest objects in the collection, made by early humans around 2,000,000 years ago and found in the Olduvai Gorge in Tanzania. They represent the world’s first technological innovation and could be used in multiple ways – chopping branches, cutting meat and smashing bones. You can get your hands on similar tools made millions of years ago at the object handling desk in Room 2.

A clowder of cats

Between the 1970s and 1990s the Museum had between 4 and 7 cats, depending on the year, which were kept to deter mice and rats. There was even a ‘Cats’ Welfare Society’, set up to help look after the feline population. You can read the full story of cats at the Museum here.

A royal visit

You can see exactly 2,774 objects in our wonderful Sir Joseph Hotung Gallery of China and South Asia, which spans from prehistory to the present. The gallery was reopened after refurbishment in 2017 by Her Majesty The Queen, 25 years after Her Majesty initially opened the gallery. The Queen was given a tour by our curators and even signed the guest book!

High voltage

You might not know the Museum has its own X-ray imaging laboratory, hidden deep underground in the World Conservation and Exhibitions Centre. The laboratory operates at 450,000 volts which is 90,000 times more than your phone charger! Up to 2,000 individual X-ray images are used to create one of the 3D pictures shown above. This finely decorated ewer is on display in our new Albukhary Foundation Gallery of the Islamic world.

Careful conservation

The Museum’s newly acquired suit of Samurai armour took 260 painstaking hours of conservation work to get it ready for display in our recently refurbished galleries. It’s a complex object made of many different materials, so it presented a unique challenge for our conservation teams. You can read more about the process in our Conservator’s blog post.

From the ancient to the modern

There’s a 4,400-year span of history on display in The Asahi Shimbun Displays No man’s land. The show features objects made around 2400 BC relating to the first recorded border dispute – between the city-states of Lagash and Umma (now both in modern-day Iraq). Also on display is contemporary photography of this area of the Middle East by German artist Ursula Schulz-Dornburg.

The Great Gold Buckle

This stunning Anglo-Saxon buckle was made in the early 7th century AD.
At 413 grammes it’s quite weighty – roughly the same as a can of baked beans! It was found as part of the Sutton Hoo ship-burial in the east of England – one of the most important archaeological discoveries ever made. The intricate designs contain 13 creatures – can you spot them?

Crosstown traffic

In the early 1880s, it took 394 trips by horse and cart over 97 days to transport the zoological specimens from Bloomsbury to their new home in South Kensington at the then new ‘British Museum (Natural History)’. You might know it better as the Natural History Museum – uncover the shared history of the nation’s natural history collections here.

A museum of the world, for the world

Over the last 10 years, the Museum has opened 92 international touring exhibitions in 21 different countries. More than 10,000,000 people around the world have seen one of our touring shows – that’s more than the population of London!

Silky skills

This Ming dynasty (1368–1644) ink painting illustrates a story about the 8th-century Chinese painter Wu Daozi, who is said to have painted a dragon so realistic that it came to life the moment he completed it. It took three conservators 491 hours to remount this silk painting during recent conservation work in the Museum’s Hirayama Studio.

Leafing through the pages of history

There are 500 clay tablets on display in our current exhibition about King Ashurbanipal of Assyria. Over 2,600 years ago, Ashurbanipal collected a library of 30,000 tablets inscribed with cuneiform script – an ancient type of writing made up of wedge-shaped marks. The tablets in the Library cover all kinds of topics, from magic to medicine, politics to palaces. You can find out more about the king’s Library in this blog post.

Awe-inspiring architecture

The Great Court forms a spectacular centrepiece to the Museum. At two acres, it’s the largest covered square in Europe – bigger than a football (soccer) pitch. There are 3,312 uniquely shaped panels of glass in the roof, which stands 26.3 metres above the floor at its highest point.

Can’t get enough Museum trivia? Discover 29 things you might not have known about the British Museum in this blog post.

People often ask me if I ever thought Pussyhat Project would be big. When I co-created and designed it to become a sea of pink on the Washington Mall for the 2017 Women’s March, I didn’t anticipate how the Pussyhat itself would become an international icon of resistance… Or that it would take its place alongside so many important objects of protest in the British Museum.

In 2016 and 2017, I was recovering from an injury. I knew I wouldn’t be able to physically attend the Women’s March, but I was desperate to take part. Earlier that year, I learned to crochet and discovered a thriving community at The Little Knittery, a tiny yarn store in Los Angeles. It was here that I became friends with fellow knitter Krista Suh. We crafted and talked about politics, women’s rights, and the upcoming march. A marcher and non-marcher came together. The idea of the Pussyhat was formed. And the first Pussyhat was knitted. Here’s how the story unraveled…

The idea

Most marches are photographed from above— and we wanted to utilise that. We wanted to create a cohesive and distinct image so that the Women’s March would be remembered and make an impact. The Pussyhat, like this one on display in the British Museum’s exhibition, is shaped like an abstract pussycat, and was a play on Donald Trump’s words, “You can do anything. You can grab ‘em by the pussy.”

Creating the hat and wearing the hat were physical ways to refute this claim by re-taking ownership and declaring body autonomy. On a practical level, it provided the marchers with warmth, and it was also a way for the maker – as well as the person marching – to be physically represented at the march. There are always people who cannot join the demonstrations, who have to stay behind and support from afar.

We also provided an option and template for Pussyhat makers to include a note about a women’s rights issue important to them.

When I see images of the Women’s Marches, I see all the marchers, all the people who support them, and their shared cause.

The hat

The hat had to be cheap and easy to make. Kat Coyle designed an incredibly simple pattern, which used inexpensive materials, and it was easily adaptable to other crafts and all levels of ability. It was essentially a rectangle, folded on its side, and stitched from the crease. When put on, the “pussycat ears” naturally peaked out. Wearing a hat with cat’s ears is a playful statement on a historically taboo word and concept. Rooted in humour, the Pussyhat allows us to talk about serious topics because of its accessibility.

We chose pink because it is the colour that society has traditionally assigned to females, and we wanted to reclaim a colour that is often perceived as feminine and soft, in a powerful statement.

We chose to create a sea of pink, with each individual choosing their own shade, yet being part of a collective. And it worked! Photos of the 2017 Women’s March show a distinct sea of pink. People and news outlets immediately shared them online and the march, with all its shades of pink, made its powerful mark. Clearly, the image is a strong currency in our digital world and, when the image went digital, it rapidly became a universal symbol of protest, positive demonstration and accessible activism.

The platform

Digital media provided the means to connect people, to create together and to discuss women’s rights. It offered easy access to activism to a global community of like-minded people.

We harnessed the power of the established international knitting community, both online (on Ravelry, a hybrid of Facebook and Reddit for knitters) and at local yarn stores and knitting circles. We used social media to reach out to first-time knitters, as well as those who didn’t consider themselves ‘crafty’. We encouraged people to share their takes on the pattern and directed them to our website, where they could find knit, crochet and sewing patterns, videos and translations.

Using the hashtag #pussyhat, makers and wearers of hats exchanged contact info and posted finished products and selfies at the march. People across the world took on Pussyhat Project as their own, forging relationships and exchanging ideas.

Our website was intentionally very easy to navigate with a printable manifesto, patterns and note template. It listed local resources (175 partner yarn stores) which offered a place where people could give and receive hats, buy yarn, and host knit-alongs.

Pussyhat Project went viral not only because it was an image that people could share, but also because it was something we all could do. It crossed gender, race, age, class, geography, and the space between the physical and the digital. This combination of relating in digital and physical spaces mirrors how most of us live today.

Crafting for good

Using everyday materials to create objects of protest is not new. Pussyhat Project is not the first craft-based protest project. Just in the history of the United States alone, women have used craft as a method of dissent starting with the American revolution. The use of harnessing digital media with craft at this scale allowed the idea of Pussyhat Project to spread and grow.

Every single person who participated in the project was a Pussyhat activist, able to represent and be represented. As a visual object, the Pussyhat gave a greater voice to those who believe in women’s rights. It continues to do so: people are gearing up for the 2019 Women’s Marches, knitting needles raring to go.

Check out our latest Instagram posts and see for yourself!

To find out more about the Pussyhat Project, visit their website, or check them out on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.

The Pussyhat is one of many objects of protest in the Citi exhibition I object: Ian Hislop’s search for dissent, which closes 20 January 2019. Find out more and buy tickets. 

Supported by Citi. 

2019 is packed with show-stopping exhibitions, brought to life with a programme of exciting events – from an Aboriginal Australian music response to the Reimagining Captain Cook exhibition, to Munch-inspired art workshops for young families.

Here is a run through of our major exhibition and free displays highlights – follow us on Twitter and Facebook for all the latest news.

Major exhibitions

Edvard Munch: love and angst

11 April – 21 July 2019
The Joseph Hotung Great Court Gallery, Room 35

The creator of art’s most haunting and iconic face. A radical father of Expressionism. Norway’s answer to Vincent van Gogh. But who was the artist behind The Scream? Discover this pioneering, subversive artist as we lift the veil on the life and works of Edvard Munch. Munch’s innovative techniques, bold use of colour and dark subject matter resonated with shifting attitudes – and mark him out as one of the first truly ‘modern’ artists. In this collaborative exhibition with the Munch Museum in Oslo, see how he mastered the art of printmaking and explore his remarkable body of work.

Book tickets

Supported by AKO Foundation

The Citi exhibition

Mangaマンガ

23 May – 26 August 2019
The Sainsbury Exhibitions Gallery, Room 30

Enter a graphic world where art and storytelling collide in the largest exhibition of manga ever to take place outside of Japan. Now a multimedia global phenomenon, manga developed after the Second World War, but its artistic roots can be traced back to the 12th century. A fascinating glimpse into Japanese culture, this immersive and playful exhibition explores manga’s cultural crossover, showcasing original Japanese manga and its influence across the globe, from anime to ‘cosplay’ dressing up.

Book tickets

Supported by Citi
Logistics partner IAG Cargo

Troy (title to be confirmed)

21 November 2019 – 8 March 2020
The Sainsbury Exhibition Gallery, Room 30

Tread the line between myth and reality in our epic exhibition, Troy. The ancient city of Troy holds an enduring place in our imagination. The Trojan War is central to Greek myth and inspired Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey, as well as works by Virgil and Shakespeare – and still inspires artists and writers today. From the judgment of Paris and the Trojan horse to the death of Achilles and the tragic love story of Troilus and Cressida, this exhibition will tell Troy’s legendary stories, with a diverse range of objects including archaeological discoveries that suggest there may be a real Troy behind the myth.

Tickets will be on sale later this year. Be the first to hear about our new exhibitions by following us on Twitter and Facebook.

Free exhibitions and displays

The World Exists To Be Put On A Postcard: artists’ postcards from 1960 to now

7 February – 4 August 2019
Prints and Drawings, Room 90

This exhibition highlights the largely unexplored way in which artists have used postcards as an artform since the 1960s. Featuring some of the most well-known contemporary artists from this period – including Carl Andre, Rachel Whiteread, Joseph Beuys, Yoko Ono and Gilbert & George – the show will reveal how the limited form of the postcard has been embraced as a hugely versatile and often transgressive medium.

Rembrandt: thinking on paper

7 February 2019 – 4 August 2019
Prints and Drawings, Room 90

Marking the 350th anniversary of Rembrandt van Rijn’s death, this exhibition presents rarely seen prints and drawings, offering a new view of this Old Master’s technical and creative ingenuity. The British Museum has one of the greatest collections of the Dutch artist’s works on paper and this exhibition of 70 works reveals the immediacy, ingenuity and personal nature of his prints and drawings.

Reimagining Captain Cook: Pacific perspectives

Until 4 August 2019
Africa, Oceania and the Americas, Room 91

250 years ago, James Cook left England on the first of three expeditions to the Pacific Ocean – a skillful navigator, his voyage accounts were widely read. Today, however, his legacy is debated both here and in the Pacific. This exhibition explores these perspectives and displays the work of contemporary Pacific artists alongside objects collected on the voyages themselves.

Supported by Stephen and Julie Fitzgerald

The Asahi Shimbun Displays

Feeding history: the politics of food

28 February – 27 May 2019
The Asahi Shimbun Displays, Room 3

Spanning thousands of years, the objects in this show explore the relationship between food and power. They range from an ancient Egyptian plough handle made more than 3,000 years ago, to contemporary North American sculpture responding to native communities’ access to vital food sources. The display highlights social inequality as one of the biggest challenges to feeding the world.

Supported by The Asahi Shimbun

Playing with money: currency and games

18 April – 29 September 2019
Coins and Medals, Room 69a

The 20th century witnessed the transformation of money from precious metals to paper currency, from credit cards to digital crypto-currencies. These changes are chronicled in the evolution of childhood games which, in turn, shape the way we think about the world. This exhibition will explore these connections, drawing on the Museum’s rich collection of games, toys, gambling ephemera and money.

Portrait of an artist: Käthe Kollwitz

12 September 2019 – 12 January 2020
Prints and Drawings, Room 90

This show celebrates the humanity and enduring impact of one of the most influential 20th-century printmakers – Käthe Kollwitz. Featuring nearly 40 works from the Museum’s collection, this exhibition explores the work of the socially minded German artist through self-portraits and images of the poor and dispossessed.

Pushing paper: contemporary drawing from 1970 to now

12 September 2019 – 12 January 2020
Prints and Drawings, Room 90

Celebrating drawing in its own right, rather than its historic role as preparatory to painting, this display explores how contemporary artists as diverse as Tacita Dean, Richard Deacon, Imran Qureshi and Anish Kapoor have used drawing to examine themes including identity, place and memory. Collaboratively conceived by curators from across the UK, this exhibition follows on from our touring exhibition Lines of thought.

Supported by the Bridget Riley Art Foundation

Sir Stamford Raffles: views of Java, Sumatra and Singapore

19 September 2019 – 20 January 2020
Africa, Oceania and the Americas, Room 91

This exhibition presents the myriad objects from Java and Sumatra collected by Sir Stamford Raffles (1781–1826), the British statesman who founded Singapore and the British Malaya. From theatrical objects, to images of people from across social divides, this collection explores 19th century Javanese society and its Hindu-Buddhist traditions. It will address key questions about what Raffles collected and why, as well as what the collection can tell us about him, and about Java.

Supported by the Singapore High Commission

German emergency money 1914 –1923 (title to be confirmed)

3 October 2018 – 29 March 2020
Coins and Medals, Room 69a

Notgeld, or ‘emergency money’, from the early Weimar Republic, is a powerful illustration of German instability in and after the First World War. This exhibition will reveal how this temporary currency responded to a national crisis with distinctive designs featuring regional landmarks and folk narratives. Through the Museum’s collection of Notgeld, the show will explore how Germans viewed their homeland and identity during a period of intense turmoil, from the First World War to the hyperinflation of 1923.

With all these exciting exhibitions in 2019, it’s a great time to become a Member. You’ll get free unlimited entry to special exhibitions for a full year and a host of other benefits (including 10% off in the shop).

Stretching from West Africa to Southeast Asia, from the 7th century to the present day, the new Albukhary Foundation Gallery of the Islamic world looks at where Islam has had a significant impact as a faith, a political system, or as a culture rather than focusing on specific times or places.

The collection brings to life objects from diverse regions – and presents them in new and exciting ways.

Movement and exchange

Islam emerged in the seventh century as a major religion and political force, expanding from the Arabian Peninsula as far as Spain in the west and China in the east by the 8th century. This emergence allowed for the movement of goods, people and ideas over a huge area.

With the arrival of Islam, Mecca became the centre of the Islamic world, a place where everyone from Arabs and Persians to Ethiopians and Chinese met. At the same time, the rise and fall of different political powers gave fresh life to ancient cities such as Damascus in Syria – and created new cosmopolitan centres like Isfahan in Iran and Delhi in India.

Trade played a major role in these connections. The great port city of Siraf, on the south coast of Iran, was a hub for merchants from across the Indian Ocean between the 8th and 10th centuries. Objects found at the site include Chinese porcelain, semi-precious stones from Madagascar, Afghanistan and Sri Lanka – and even a complete Indian cooking pot – showing the enormous geographic and economic reach of Islam, from a very early period.

Science and technology

Scientists made massive strides in medicine, mathematics and astronomy – making the Islamic world a centre of knowledge. In the gallery, we focus on astronomy, looking at the ways in which astronomers and astrologers studied and interpreted the stars. The astrolabe (a handheld map of the skies) could be used for everything from navigation to determining the direction of prayer, and could serve both practical and decorative purposes. An example made for the Iranian ruler Shah Sultan Husayn in 1712, from  the Safavid dynasty, is a perfect example of both precise engineering and beautiful design.

Advances in ceramics and glass included lustreware – the technique of decorating objects with bright metallic colours. First used on glass in Egypt, the technique was perfected by Iraqi potters in the 9th century. With the migration of craftsmen, it spread to Syria, Iran, Spain and eventually to Italy.

People

During the creation of the gallery, we meet the people who created the objects, those who used them and those who valued them. The specially designed space allows us to display light-sensitive materials like textiles and works on paper for the very first time. The textiles are rich in human stories, such as this pistachio-coloured dress from the region of Baluchistan (part of Pakistan), embroidered in contrasting red silk. The pocket at the front would once have been used for thread, medicine or other everyday items – although nowadays it would probably be used for keys, a mobile phone or credit cards!

Creating, making, playing

The Islamic world has a rich history of storytelling. Originally inspired by performances in Egypt, shadow theatre has played an important role in the cultural traditions of Turkey since the early Ottoman period in the 16th century. A fabric screen illuminated from behind was the stage upon which a number of characters emerged to perform lively sketches and plays.

The plays themselves, part slapstick comedy, part serious dialogue, followed a set structure. At the same time they allowed the characters, particularly the principal two, Karagöz and Hacivat (above right), to comment on topics from the banalities of everyday life to more serious social and political matters (although topics such as the Sultan and religion were never discussed). The figures were made of coloured animal hide and were moved by means of sticks by a master puppeteer, sometimes with the help of an assistant. Performances occurred mainly during the evenings in Ramadan, or at weddings and circumcisions.

An entirely new aspect of this gallery is that it gave the British Museum the opportunity to commission its first site-specific artwork. Created by the British artist Idris Khan, 21 Stones evokes the jamarat (‘Stoning of the Devil’) ritual which takes place during the Hajj pilgrimage to Mecca. Each of the 21 pieces is unique, composed of the artist’s poetry stamped in blue ink onto paper.

As Khan says, ‘I have always imagined when a pilgrim releases a stone, and it hits the wall, the words, and prayers that the stone represents explodes into a physical language. The words themselves are a personal departure about me and my life to date and are mostly unreadable. For me, it is an abstract and meditative act. I do not want to be judged on the words that are used as I prefer the viewer to enjoy the image rather than try to understand its content.’

Within the gallery there is also a dedicated temporary display space, which will be used to showcase a regular series of free, temporary exhibitions. The first of these is a display of works from the Islamic Arts Museum Malaysia (IAMM), based around the development and use of the Arabesque, a common design feature in Islamic art.

Discover the making of the gallery, the story of the collection and how these fascinating objects were conserved before display here. The Albukhary Foundation Gallery of the Islamic world is supported by the Albukhary Foundation.