By Alice Devine Wilson – Wander into the enormous Roman sculpture galleries of the National Archaeological Museum in Naples, Italy and a strapping man carrying the weight of the world on his muscled shoulders may arrest your attention. In his crouched position on bended knee, his arms raised overhead to […]
Artifacts of Material History
Napoleon Superstar
by Andrea M. Gáldy, with Stefanie Fricke, Sabrina Kessler, Felicitas Meifert-Menhard War and Peace Bayerische Landesausstellung 2015 Napoleon und Bayern” Ingolstadt Neues Schloss, Bayerisches Armeemuseum, Paradeplatz 4, 85049 Ingolstadt [Bavaria,Germany] 30 April to 31. October 2015, every day 9.00 am to 6.00 pm Organisers: Haus der Bayerischen Geschichte (www.hdbg.de/napoleon/), Bayerisches Armeemuseum […]
Art and Science in Southern Germany: Hidden Gems II
By Andrea M. Gáldy – Southern Germany offers more than skiing holidays and the Oktoberfest, nice though they are. Traces of ancient Celtic and Roman settlements in the former Province of Raetia can still be admired, while during the mediaeval and early modern period the imperial free cities, bishoprics and […]
The Antikythera Mechanism – Identifying its Place of Origin?
By Douglas McElwain Antikythera Mechanism The Antikythera Mechanism was discovered in a shipwreck off the Greek island of Antikythera (just south of the Peloponnesus) between 1900-02. Over a century of study by researchers has determined that it is the remains of a two thousand year old astronomical computer. It is […]
Egyptian Kingship and Animal Husbandry
By Patrick Hunt – What is the relationship between ancient Egyptian kingship and animal husbandry, specifically the practice of owning, tending and herding animals like cattle? Ancient cattle pens have been found in Nilotic contexts going back at least eight thousand years into the Neolithic, possibly the earliest examples of […]
The Museum as Search for the Past: a Visit to the “New” Museum of Egyptian Art at Munich
By Andrea M. Gáldy – Prepare to get lost in ancient Egypt. Actually, prepare to get lost constantly for this is a museum cleverly hidden within the Munich Kunstareal (Fig. 2). As you approach the Museum of Egyptian Art you turn from a normal visitor into an archaeologist discovering a […]
Volcano Lovers: Exhibition review, Hypo Kunsthalle, Munich, November 2013 – 23 March 2014
By Andrea M. Gáldy, Exhibitions and Museum Editor – When life was suddenly brought to a halt and encapsulated in 79 AD, the people caught up in the catastrophe cannot have been entirely surprised by Vesuvius erupting. The earthquake of February 62 AD alone might have been a wake-up call. […]
Medieval Seals and Manuscripts from the Great St. Bernard Monastery
By LiHe Han and Derek DeRoche – The following article is written by two Stanford undergraduates who, thanks to the generosity of the Institute of Alpine Archaeology, were given the chance to travel to the Great St. Bernard monastery in Valais, Switzerland to study and catalogue medieval seals and documents […]
Medieval Guild Signs and Emblem Traditions: Zunftzeichen
By Patrick Hunt – Hanging over narrow cobblestone streets, guild signs or emblems (zunftzeichen) left over from medieval tradition are eye-catching rewards appreciated in many old walking streets of mostly German-speaking regions of Europe, including Germany itself as well as Austria and eastern Switzerland and even Tyrolean Italy. This is especially […]