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Winter 2017
FOR LOVERS OF TRAVEL, ARCHAEOLOGY AND ART
Lahore: Akbar’s great city | Passau to Vienna: history and art along the Danube Discovering art treasures in North Korea | Intrepid Traveller: Rosita Forbes Museum Focus: Fabergé Museum, St. Petersburg | Book reviews Latest archaeological and arts news and exhibitions
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Contents
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ART ROUND UP: Art and exhibition news
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ITALY: The Sage Princess
TRAVELLER'S TALE:
Carol Faenzi
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INTREPID TRAVELLER: Rosita Forbes
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TT LOVES: The AWA Foundation BELGIUM: Park Abbey, Leuven
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MUSEUM FOCUS: Fabergé, St Petersburg
AUSTRIA: History & art along the Danube
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NORTH KOREA: Undiscovered art treasures
PAKISTAN: Lahore: Akbar's great city A WEEKEND IN... Doolin, Ireland
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ying on the outskirts of Leuven is a green and tranquil oasis. Just ten minutes by bus or a half an hour walk from the city centre will bring you to the twelfthcentury Park Abbey estate. The Abbey today sits in 42 acres and is made up of its church, living quarters, farmlands, lakes and meadows. What makes Park Abbey special is that it hasn’t changed since the eighteenth century, although the layout of the buildings, the watermill, barn, stables, coach house and cultural landscaping date back to mediaeval times. The Abbot’s palace, gates and church date to the seventeenth century and the church spire was added in 1730. The Abbey is in the process of being restored, and phase one is now
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completed. Throughout its long history, the abbey was spared from serious war damage or natural disasters, which means it is one of the best preserved abbeys in the Low Countries.
Park Abbey’s history
In the twelfth century, the area around Leuven was ruled by Godfrey the Bearded, Duke of Brabant. Founding monasteries all over Brabant was part of a general policy put in place by the duke and the Brabantian nobility between 1125 and 1150, as it helped them develop large tracts of land in the duchy. In 1125, the duke founded a Benedictine abbey by the Vlierbeek monks north of the city of Leuven, and a few years later he wanted to do something similar south of
the city. This time the duke looked to the abbot of the Norbertine abbey in Laon in Northern France to help with his estate. And so in 1129/30 a small number of Norbertine monks arrived in Heverlee (the area south of Leuven), where Godfrey gave them the run of his hunting park - and this is how the abbey got its name: abdij van Park. There is a document, complete with a sumptuous large ducal seal, dating to 1129, which confirms the founding of the abbey, which can still be seen today. The number of Norbertine monks Timeless Travels • Winter 2017
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Park Abbey, Leuven A 12th century abbey comes back to life
Matilda Hickson travelled to Leuven to see the newly restored Park Abbey monastery which offers over 800 years of history to be enjoyed by everyone
quickly rose to 12 and the abbey gained its independence from its mother abbey in Laon in 1131. In line with the aims of Norbert (see box page 26), the monks dedicated themselves to a life of contemplation, evangelisation, poverty and land development: by 1154 they had more than 350 acres of forest, farmland and meadowland in a dozen Brabantian villages. The fortunes of the abbey and its inhabitants ebbed and flowed over the years, with prosperous years followed by others less happy. After the French Revolution, for example, the regime abolished all monasteries and abbeys and in February 1797 the abbey was closed, its residents driven away and its property confiscated by the government. But the Timeless Travels • Winter 2017
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Above: Park Abbey in winter Far left: The document confirming the founding of Abbey Park in 1129 Left: An eighteenth century drawing of the abbey and its estate (All images courtesy Visit Flanders)
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INTREPID TRAVELLER
Rosita Forbes
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With her remarkable stamina and a penchant for hats, Rosita Forbes blazed a trail from Africa to Afghanistan, writing a series of books about the people and places she encountered. Travel writer Duncan J.D. Smith follows in the footsteps of this now largely-forgotten lady explorer
he stereotypical gentleman adventurers of the early 20th century met their match in Rosita Forbes (1890-1967), one of England’s first and most flamboyant lady-explorers. She was born Joan Rosita Torr on 16 January 1890 at Riseholme Hall, north of Lincoln, and was the eldest of five children. Her father Herbert James Torr was a landowning squire who failed in a bid to become a Liberal MP (unlike his father John Torr who was successful). Joan’s exotic middle name – often shortened to Sita – came from her mother Rosita Graham Torr, whose father, Duncan Graham, had married a half Spanish woman “with enormous blue eyes... and blue-black hair”. Fireside tales of her crossing the Andes with her father, Joan’s great grandfather, had a powerful effect on the young Joan, inspiring her to want to make her own mark on the wider world. Another inspiration was her great uncle, William Torr, a cattle-breeder so renowned that he was asked to advise the Farmer King, Louis of France, on his own herd. William rode all the way from the Lincolnshire fens to Paris on horseback to dispense his knowledge! At school Joan proved herself good at examinations and demonstrated a gift for foreign languages. She also loved the outdoors, horses, hunting and maps. As she wrote in her book Adventure, one of the rare books in which she provides any autobiographical details, “I always collected maps, and I preferred the kind decorated with stiff little ships,
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sails bellying in a breeze which looked like a comet, with unicorns or savages to decorate the wilderness...The curly red lines across African deserts had the fascination of a magnet, and I hoped
fervently that the pioneers who were writing their names over the blank spaces would leave just one small desert for me.” She left home at seventeen and on 5 October 1911 married her first husband,
Left: Rosita Forbes, studio shot, 1919 Right: Forbes as ‘Khadija’ for her Libyan desert trip (All images (except left) courtesy of Margaret Bald, From the Sahara to Samarkand: Selected Travel Writings of Rosita Forbes, 1919-1937)
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INTREPID TRAVELLER
That is the charm of a map. It represents the other side of the horizon where everything is possible. It has the magic of anticipation without the toil and sweat of realization. The greatest romance ever written pales before the possibilities of adventure that lie in the faint blue trails from sea to sea. Rosita Forbes, From Red Sea to Blue Nile (1925)
Colonel Ronald Foster Forbes, a soldier bound for the east. Unfortunately, although the marriage took her to China, India and Australia, she disliked not only garrison life but also the colonel’s terrible temper, and in 1917 the pair were divorced. After parting Forbes went home via South Africa, where she attempted to ride north from Durban across the Zambezi. Although the authorities forbade her attempt, and she was forced into using a more orthodox route to England, it would be her first taste of lone travelling. Back in England she joined an ambulance going to France on war service, and between 1915 and 1917 served as a driver at the Front for the Société de Secours aux blessés militaries. The French government awarded her two medals for her efforts. She then came back to London and drove an official car for the British Government – but was soon bored. Before long she was looked up by a girlfriend called Undine, recently released from hospital, who said she too was tired of London, and that they should go around the world together. As Forbes confessed in her account of the thirteenmonth journey (1917-1918), Unconducted Wanderers (1919), the pairing was a
good one: “With another girl, equally undismayed by official restrictions, I had wandered round the world, mostly off the map, borrowing what we needed in the way of horses, the floor of a native hut as a bed, the pirogue of the Indo-Chinese customs or the New Guinea government yacht ... The Times, reviewing my first book, said we had asked for everything we wanted with the assurance of well-bred children who had never been refused.” Starting in New York and moving to California and Hawaii the two behaved like regular tourists but once in the Pacific and East Asia they were getting into one scrape after another, including being captured by the Southern Army in China whilst trying to go overland by river junk and sedan chair from Canton to Hankow. They escaped by shooting the notorious Sian River rapids in the wet season, when no other boat would take them. All in all, they visited some thirty different countries, including Samoa, Tonga, Fiji, New Guinea, Java, Sumatra, Malay States, Siam, Cambodia, China, and Korea. With its strong feminine point of view Unconducted Wanderers garnered a laudatory review in the Times Literary Supplement – but didn’t sell particularly
well. Unlike later books it lacked Forbes’ trademark acute observations of a land and the real life of its inhabitants.
Into the Libyan desert Back in Europe in 1918 Forbes went to Paris in the hope she might pick up work as a journalist at the forthcoming Peace Conference. After little or no success she was contacted by an editor who wanted a series of articles on French colonisation in northern Africa – and was dispatched to Casablanca. Taking Undine with her, the two drifted slowly eastwards, with Forbes picking up copy as she went, until they arrived a thousand miles away in Massawa in Eritrea, on the Red Sea. Here Forbes’ partnership with Undine came to an end, the latter wanting to continue “seeing things” whereas the former now wanting to “know things”. This thirst for knowledge, combined with a penchant for stylish clothes and wide-brimmed hats, would over the next twenty years be the making of Rosita Forbes as both serious author and celebrity. Forbes went through Abyssinia to Khartoum and thence to Cairo, where the British authorities (effectively the secret service) asked her to continue on
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AUSTRIA
Passau to Vienna history and art along the Danube
Matilda Hickson breezes along the Danube to discover castles, art, ancient legends and the joy of riding an electric bike
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ART ROUNDUP sponsored by
Rubens: Power of Transformation Kunsthistorische, Vienna, Austria Showing until: 21 January 2018
Latest news
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Image © Kunsthistorische, Vienna
he exhibition focuses on little-studied aspects of Rubens’ creative process, illustrating the profound dialogue he entered into with works produced by other great masters, both precursors and contemporaries, and how this impacted his work over half a century. His use or referencing of works by various artists from different periods is generally not immediately apparent, and the exhibition invites visitors to discover these sometimes surprising correlations and connections by directly comparing the works in question.
Image © Welt Museum, Vienna
Smartify, is a free app which helps people make meaningful connections with art. Using image recognition technology, the app allows gallery visitors to scan and identify artworks in multiple venues using their smartphone or tablet, to access rich interpretation and build a personal collection. See more information at www.smartify.org
Never seen before Munch in USA
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2017 Artists Rights Society,New York. Photo © Munch Museum.
lthough Norwegian artist Edvard Munch (1863–1944) attained notoriety early in his career for his haunting depictions of human anxiety and alienation that reflected modern experience, he believed that his artistic breakthrough occurred around 1913 at the age of 50. Throughout his career, Munch regularly revisited subjects from his earlier years, exploring them with renewed inspiration and intensity. Self Portrait: Between the Clock and the Bed (1940–43) was one of his final such works and it serves as a lens to reassess Munch’s oeuvre. The exhibition will feature 43 of the artist’s compositions created over a span of six decades, including 16 self-portraits and works that have never before been seen in the United States.
Welt Museum, Vienna: After three years of reconstruction, the world-famous collections are now on display again. Strung together like a chain of pearls, the 14 galleries of the new permanent collection reveal a series of stories about the relationship between Austria and the world. Five special exhibitions complement and extend the programme. Image: ©Tate St Ives
Met Breuer, New York, USA Showing until: 4 February 2018
Edvard Munch. Self Portrait between the Clock and the Bed, 1940–1943 Oil on canvas
Tate, St Ives: After 4 years, a new building was opened at Tate St Ives in October, which has doubled the space for showing art and created new studios for learning activities. This gives Cornwall’s most popular gallery enough space to accommodate the quarter of a million visitors it welcomes each year, a number who bring £11 million annually to the local economy. 58
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Pablo Picasso: Nude, Green Leaves and Bust, 1932
Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam Showing until: 7 January 2018
Image: Courtesy of Access Bank Collection
Enwonu working on his sculptures commissioned for the Daily Mirror
Nigeria’s most famous artist has been exhibited in his home country for the first time. Art X Lagos, West Africa’s biggest art fair, exhibited the sculptures in November. The seven wooden sculptures were made for the Daily Mirror newspaper’s head offices in 1960, shortly after Ben Enwonwu made his sculpture of the Queen in 1957. The works mysteriously went missing in the 1960s, but were found in 2012 under a pile of rubbish in Bethnal Green.
Conservator Peter Mitchelson removes the varnish from the surface of the Blaeu Map using a scalpel under UV light
A 1663 map of New Holland, the map on which all subsequent mapping of Australia is based, will soon go on display in the Treasure Room at The National Library in Canberra. The Library acquired the rare map in 2013 after it was discovered in a storage facility in Sweden where it is believed to have been left, forgotten, for hundreds of years. More than $100,000 was raised for specialist conservation treatment. Timeless Travels •Winter 2017
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his autumn the Rijksmuseum honours the first Northern Netherlandish painter: Johan Maelwael (Jean Malouel, Nijmegen, c. 1370 Dijon, 1415). This uncle of the legendary Limbourg Brothers was active as a versatile, pioneering and productive artist at the courts of the Dukes of Guelders and Burgundy around 1400. Johan Maelwael became one of the most successful and best paid artist of Western Europe in the Middle Ages. The show is organized with the exceptional support of the Musée du Louvre that lends Maelwael’s most famous painting ‘La Grande Pietà ronde’ that has never left Paris since 1962.
Image: © 2009 Musée du Louvre, Erich Lessing
T Tate Modern: visitors next spring will be offered a unique opportunity to view some of the most important paintings Picasso ever made. It includes three dazzling works featuring the artist’s lover Marie-Thérèse Walter which have not been shown together since 1932, the year they were created. Each painting is an exceptional loan to Tate Modern, originating from private collections across the globe, offering a once-in-a-lifetime chance to experience these outstanding works together.
Image: © University of Melbourne
Rijksmuseum stages first show of northern Netherlandish painter Maelwael
La Grande Pietà ronde, Johan Maelwael, c. 1400
Fabergé comes to East Anglia Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts, University of East Anglia Showing until: 11 February 2018
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here is a special connection between Fabergé and Norfolk. In 1907 Edward VII, on a suggestion from Alice Keppel (the Duchess of Cornwall’s greatgrandmother), commissioned Fabergé to produce portrait sculptures of dogs and horses at Sandringham to please Queen Alexandra. Later the project was extended to other animals on the Royal estate. The best sculptors went to Norfolk to make wax models which were then taken to Russia to be rendered in hardstones, gemstones, gold, silver and platinum. Royal Fabergé’ reveals how the exquisite creativity of the Fabergé workshops ranged from St Petersburg and the Romanov court to a dairy on Norfolk’s Sandringham Estate, through the patronage of two sisters – Danish princesses who, as Alexandra and Maria Feodorovna, became queen consorts in Britain and Russia, and who strove to bring their adopted countries together. Fabergé’s London store was the only one outside the Russian Empire. Image: © Royal Collection Trust / © Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II 2017
Image: © Succession Picassio/ DACS 2017
ART ROUNDUP sponsored by
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Discovering art treasures in
North Korea Did you know that art is North Korea’s main export? When Hilary Bradt visited the country she discovered a thriving art scene – although somewhat different from ours – and had many preconceptions overturned
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NORTH KOREA
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hen I visited North Korea last year I didn’t expect to come home with two pieces of art. It was yet another surprise in a country full of surprises. During the course of my 18-day trip it became obvious that in a country where everyone has a job, however mundane and unrewarding, artists do not do too badly. Provided, that is, that they have the skill to portray heroic postures and happy faces in a wide variety of media. Everywhere you go in the DPRK (Democratic People’s Republic of Korea) there are giant statues and war memorials. You can’t miss them: you bow in front of them, at least if they portray the Great Leader Kim Il Sung, and the Dear Leader, Kim Jong Il. Kim Jong Un is, so far, absent. “He’s very humble” we were told. The smiling leaders, surrounded by happy peasants and profitable endeavour (steel works, agriculture and, of course, soldiers) pop up all over the place and in a vast scale. The two famous bronze statues, 20 metres high, in Mansudae Square are a compulsory visit, usually on the first day of a tour. For us, this was the first of 22 bows (it is mandatory to bow in front of the statues of the glorious leaders). The statues are backed by a 70-metre wide mosaic of Mount Paektu which we would later visit. For us it was the opportunity to enjoy some of North Korea’s spectacular mountain scenery, but for North Koreans it has a far more spiritual significance: it’s where, so they are taught, the Great Leader had his secret camp and organised the successful defeat of the Japanese who occupied their country up to the end of World War II. Flanking the two statues, in semi-relief against a polished granite background, is
a mighty bronze army, 228 of them and five metres high, symbolising the struggle for independence and the socialist revolution. It is pretty aweinspiring, as it’s intended to be. In the vast Mansudae Art Studios in Pyongyang over 1,000 artists beaver away producing public works and commissions, and around 4,000 staff are employed to keep the whole operation going (the Bradt guide to North Korea points out that the artists are producing ‘work of such value that they
Artists here probably live a more secure life than in many countries. They don’t have to worry about selling their work and they receive a regular salary and privileges - providing they follow the rules. Abstract or semi-abstract art does not exist; it is all representational need picturesque guards with bayoneted-AK47s on the door’). Artists here probably live a more secure life than in many countries. They don’t have to worry about selling their work and they receive a regular salary and privileges - providing they follow the rules. Abstract or semi-abstract art does not exist; it is all representational. But once sculptors have honed their skills by assisting in the creation of Kim images they can take on commissions of giant portraits of foreign leaders. Two enormous statues of Robert Mugabe are still in the studios, prevented from reaching their destination in
Left: All natural scenery is enhanced by a heroic painting or two, as in this Mt Kumgang scene Above: A mosaic near the Arch of Triumph in Pyongyang depicting Kim Il Sung’s triumphant return to the city in 1945 (All images © Hilary Bradt unless otherwise stated)
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The Sage Princess Meet the woman who ‘made Florence’ at Il Fuligno, one of the city’s ‘secret’ gems. By Jane Fortune
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ocated on the far-too-busy Via Faenza, en route to the train station and just steps from the San Lorenzo district, you’ll find the little-known Il Fuligno complex whose deconsecrated baroque church Sant’Onofrio hosts an engaging theatrebased tribute to Florentine culture. ‘The Medici Dynasty Show’ is a two-actor extravaganza that spans three centuries and spotlights a question particularly close to my heart: Who can we thank for making Florence what it is today? Michelangelo and Pontormo. Leonardo and Brunelleschi. Donatello. Botticelli. Their art is paramount to the city’s identity. But most do not know is that none of their works would be in the city today if it were not for one woman, known as the Sage Princess, Anna Maria Luisa, the last of the Medici heirs. Anna Maria Luisa has been at the forefront of my thoughts since February of last year when a distant, modern-day branch of the Medici clan gifted her portrait commissioned in 1745 to Florence’s Palazzo Vecchio. Because of my work with Advancing Women Artists (AWA), a US foundation that researches, conserves and exhibits art by women in Florence, I was approached by Palazzo Vecchio’s curator who wondered if I’d like to personally sponsor a project that would restore the painting to its original dignity. Once finished, it will be displayed in Palazzo Vecchio’s Receiving Room, where the Mayor welcomes diplomats from all over the world. The Medici Dynasty Show is set on June 24, 1737, the day on which Anna Maria Luisa entered the Palazzo Pitti through a secret passage, for she had been banned from the palace for 14 years by Gian Gastone, her perennially inebriated brother, remembered almost solely for his wild abandon. As one of the two heirless children of Cosimo III,
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she insisted they devise a way to keep the Austrians from dismantling all that the Medici had achieved during their 300-year stint as Florence’s leaders. Anna Maria Luisa was indeed a forward-thinking individual, which may explain why their father had issued a decree that, after her brother’s death, she
It is thanks to Anna Maria Luisa that the city’s art was not sold off piece by piece to support the indebted Austrians. It is purely to her credit that Florence has become the tourist destination it is today
Left: Anna Maria Luisa in Portrait of Anna Maria Luisa de’ Medici with flowers by Antonio Franchi, c. 1682–1683
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ITALY
Above, top: Frescos by Neri di Lorenzo at Il Fuligno. Middle, above: Exterior of Il Fuligno Middle, right: Ceiling above the altar at the church of Saint Onofrius by Filippo Maria Galletti; Right: Close up of The Annunciation with Commissioner, Neri di Bicci, showing Ginevra de’ Bardi, the aristocrat who founded the convent, kneeling next to the Madonna
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IRELAND
A weekend in...
Doolin, Ireland Joshua J. Mark visits County Clare in Ireland and finds history, craic and stunning scenery, together with howling winds and famed Irish hospitality
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or anyone who has ever wondered, Ireland in winter is quite cold and, by the coast, the winds seem to actually shriek in rage. Pretty much everyone we met in our travels laughed and told us we must be daft to come in winter when, as one said, "even the trees ‘round here lay down and play dead till spring" but we loved it. The streets and sites so crowded with tourists in season are wonderfully quiet and peaceful in January and one has the opportunity to take in the landscape and talk to people without distraction. My wife Betsy and I travelled across the country from Shannon on up, down, and across to Dublin, seeing many memorable sites and having the pleasure of meeting many warm and welcoming people. Ireland is a country which embraces a visitor instantly and, everywhere you go, you find that same welcome. When I think back on the trip, however, the memories which linger longest are of the lovely village of Doolin where we spent our first weekend. We landed at Shannon Airport in the dark and light rain of early morning and took the rental car to the medieval town of Ennis. The city streets and sidewalks shimmered in the haze from the street lamps. Winding through the silent city in the pre-dawn darkness, we crossed over a stone bridge above the River Fergus, and parked near the thirteenth-century friary. Close by was a monument to the Easter Rising of 1916 where we paused to pay our respects then walked on. It was too dark yet to appreciate the friary so we went looking for breakfast. We stopped at a café for an excellent Irish breakfast – eggs, sausage, ham, tomatoes, mushrooms and black pudding on toast – with hot tea and coffee. Afterwards we visited the churches, shops, and the Franciscan Friary which dates from 1250 AD and was closed, along with all the others, under the reign of Henry VIII during England's Protestant Reformation. Ennis is a beautiful village and felt crisp and clean in the morning light, stone bridges arching over the swiftly running river. We both would have liked to spend more time there; especially at the Brian Boru Heritage Centre where interactive displays tell the story of early Ireland and the great hero who fought the Vikings and
their allies at the Battle of Clontarf in 1014. We had to move on, though, and headed for our first stop at the Cliffs of Moher. The journey up through the hills of Doolin towards the sea is its own adventure. The roads are the typical Irish rural paths where you're certain two cars cannot possibly pass each other without colliding. There are ruins of old stone houses and churches interspersed among the new homes of concrete or sitting alone out on green hilltops or pastures. Upon arriving at the cliffs, one pays six euros (cash only) per person for parking and
The word ‘exhilarating' does not even come close to describing the experience of the Cliffs of Moher in January. Standing with Betsy at the top of the stairs, the sea spray in the wind lashing at us, looking down at the rolling waves, I felt as though I were in another world, a greatly elevated world, where every sensation seemed sharper, the light brighter, each sound more resonant admittance. The wind was howling across the parking lot when we stepped out of the car and we struggled against it toward the visitor centre. Inside it was comfortably warm out of the wind. There is a short film on the cliffs’ history, and exhibits, rest rooms, a café, and gift shops. We were eager to see the cliffs but the wind was so cold and so fierce, coming off the sea at 80 km (50 miles) an hour, we needed time to warm up and so watched the film and explored the exhibits. Heading out the doors for the cliffs, security personnel cautioned us not to venture too close to the edge as there was a very real risk of literally being blown away. The Cliffs of Moher are justly famous, rising
Left: The cliffs of Moher (Image: Christopher Hill/ Tourism Ireland)
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Image: © Institute of the Problems of Northern Development SB RAS
ARCHAEOLOGICAL NEWS The ‘polar princess’
Unique dog statue found in Gloucestershire Roman hoard
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single female mummy, aged 900 years old, has been discovered among three dozen adult graves dug up by archaeologists in the Zeleny Yar burial site near Salekhard, Russia (near the Polar circle). Aged around 35, she was the only woman buried around almost three dozen men, and the detail on her accidentally mummified remains is astonishing. Her impressive eyelashes and teeth are immaculately preserved as is her full head of hair. The green tinge on her face is from the fragments of a copper kettle that were placed over the face, apparently intended to protect her as she journeyed to the afterlife. The copper had the unintended consequence of mummifying her, archaeologists believe. She was a member of a mysterious medieval hunting and fishing civilisation that held sway in this polar region, but had connections to Persia (Iran). It could mean she was an elite member of her society which lived in this cold region, although apart from several temple rings close to her skull, there was no evidence of jewellery in her tomb. While her head is well preserved, the rest of her body was not. A small baby was found in a grave nearby – also probably female – but it is not believed to be related to this mummy. Archaeologist Alexander Gusev, from Russia’s Arctic Research Centre, said: “We clearly see from the face that she was a woman. This is an amazing discovery”.
A ‘licking dog’ statue found as part of an extraordinary Roman hoard.
Image: © Bristol City Council
Arctic mummy uncovered in Russia with hair and eyelashes still intact
Roman hoard dating to c. 318-450 CE and holding several hundred bronze objects has been found in Gloucestershire. Discovered by metal-detectorists in September, its contents included pieces of a large bronze statue, jewellery fragments, and a coin of ‘Crispus globe on altar’ type, dated to 321-324 CE and minted in Trier, Germany. It is thought that many of the objects in the hoard were deliberately broken before they were placed in the ground – perhaps by a local metalworker who was intending to melt and recast them later. ‘This Roman hoard dates to the 4th century and contains items ranging from small vessel fittings to a large bronze statue’, said Kurt Adams, Finds Liaison Officer for Gloucestershire and Avon. ‘Most amazing of all, though, is a complete and finely detailed standing dog statue, which is a unique discovery for British archaeology.’ The dog statue, with its tongue sticking out, is one of the best-preserved objects in the hoard. There are two holes on the animal’s upper left flank, where pins might have once mounted an object to the statue itself. The body of the animal is decorated with large asymmetrical ovals, some of which are filled with chevrons bisected by a vertical line, giving the appearance of layers of leaves or feathers.
Young Gazans unite to try to save archaeological site from bulldozers
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Excavations at Tell es-Sultan, Jericho
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oung men and women gathered at the ancient site of Tell es-Sakan to call on the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities in Gaza, the Palestinian Land Authority (PLA), as well as history experts and professors, to stop the works at the oldest archaeological site in Gaza. French archaeologist and consultant Jean-Baptiste Humbert acknowledged the urgent need in Gaza for residential buildings, but asked for time to conduct excavations at the site. However, a lack of funding and the decade-long siege imposed on the Gaza Strip has prevented international exploration missions from being able to conduct excavations.
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