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Gladiators on tour
A major new touring exhibition is set to explore archaeological evidence for gladiators in Roman Britain, and to illuminate the experiences of the people who fought and died in the arena.
Launching early next year, Gladiators of Britain is a British Museum Partnership Exhibition with Colchester + Ipswich Museums. It will visit four venues in 2025 and 2026: Dorset Museum & Art Gallery, Dorchester (25 January- 11 May 2025), Northampton Museum & Art Gallery (24 May-7 September 2025), Grosvenor Museum, Chester (20 September 2025-25 January 2026), and Tullie House Museum & Art Gallery, Carlisle (7 February-19 April 2026).
Image: © 2024 The Trustees of the British Museum
Displays will combine items from each local museum partner with 25 objects from the British Museum and Colchester Museums collections, including the Colchester Vase, vividly decorated with gladiatorial scenes (see CA 402); the 1st-century Hawkedon Helmet, which is the only confirmed piece of gladiatorial armour found in Britain; and a bone figurine from Colchester depicting the type of gladiator known as a murmillo (above).
See http://www.britishmuseum.org/our-work/national/uk-touring-exhibitions-and-loans/gladiators-britain for more details.
Scenting the past
Visitors to the Tall Ship Glenlee in Glasgow can now enhance their experience of exploring the 127-year-old vessel thanks to an interactive series of historically inspired aromas that can be accessed within its various spaces.
Supported by a grant from the Museum Development Fund of Museums Galleries Scotland, and working with heritage scent experts AromaPrime (see CA 399 and http://www.aromaprime.com), the attraction now offers seven evocative odours that can be triggered with the push of a button, filling the whole room. These include old-fashioned soap in the captain’s bathroom, tobacco and alcohol in the captain’s saloon, putrid dirty linen in the deckhouse, oil and smoke in the engine room, potatoes in the galley, and antiseptic fluids in the hospital.
Each system is activated by a brass doorbell integrated into interpretation panels, inviting visitors to ‘Smell me’ on pressing the button – but to avoid too much potency and to ensure sustainability and the comfort of visitors with sensory sensitivities, the button will only release the scent a maximum of once every 20 minutes.
For more information about the museum and its displays, see http://www.thetallship.com.
New exhibitions
Bronze Age Offerings in the River Trent
University of Nottingham Museum
Until 5 January 2025
http://www.lakesidearts.org.uk/exhibition/bronze-age-offerings-in-the-river-trent
Display of Objects from Roman Bath
Pump Room, The Roman Baths, Bath
Until 31 December 2024
http://www.romanbaths.co.uk/event/display-objects-roman-bath
Last chance to see
Introducing Must Farm, a Bronze Age Settlement
Peterborough Museum
Until 28 September 2024
http://www.peterboroughmuseum.org.uk/events/exhibition-introducing-must-farm-a-bronze-age-settlement
Petitioning for peace
St Fagans National Museum of History, Cardiff
Until 15 September 2024
http://www.museum.wales/stfagans/whatson/12152/Petitioning-for-Peace
Six Lives: the stories of Henry VIII’s queens
National Portrait Gallery, London
Until 8 September 2024
http://www.npg.org.uk/whatson/exhibitions/2024/six-lives
Athelstan 1100 exhibition
The Athelstan Museum, Malmesbury
Until 30 September 2024
http://www.athelstanmuseum.org.uk/athelstan-1100
