Museum news

This article is from Current Archaeology issue 437

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Reimagining medieval wall paintings

New insights into medieval wall paintings have emerged from two castles in the care of English Heritage.

Routine conservation work in the chapel at Goodrich Castle – near Ross-on-Wye, Herefordshire – has revealed the delicately painted face of a male figure, thought to date to the late 13th or early 14th century.

Traces of medieval paintings were known to survive in the chapel, but this find indicates that its interior was more elaborate than previously thought, and that these decorations included azurite, an expensive blue pigment.

Over at Chester Castle, fragments of 13th-century wall paintings have formed the basis of a digital reconstruction of the interior of the chapel in the Agricola Tower (below), which was once adorned with scenes depicting miracles and Old Testament prophets.

We will bring you more detailed coverage of both sites in a future issue of CA.

Genghis Khan visits Leeds

A major touring exhibition exploring the complex legacy of Genghis Khan and the Mongol Empire has opened at the Royal Armouries Museum in Leeds.

Genghis Khan: how the Mongols changed the world brings together 248 objects from Mongolia’s national collections – many of which have never left the country before – spanning the 1st to the 14th centuries. Highlights include ancient saddles, ceramics, inscribed coins, and the largest spearhead found in Mongolia. The exhibition will run until 1 November 2026; see https://royalarmouries.org/leeds/whats-on/genghis-khan for more details.

Let’s do the TIMEWALK

A new immersive exhibition illuminating ancient civilisations through full-scale cinematic storytelling, multi-sensory environments, and cutting-edge technology is set to open at Immerse LDN at ExCeL Waterfront, east London, later this month.

Produced by DEM Museums, TIMEWALK will begin with the early Neolithic monuments of Göbekli Tepe (in modern Turkey), before travelling through Babylon, ancient Egypt, the lands of the Maya, and Rapa Nui. The experience will explore how different peoples built, believed, and belonged, and how their ideas fed into the shared story of humanity and continue to shape the world in which we live today.

See https://timewalkexhibition.com/london for more details.

Unique Roman brooch revealed

A unique Roman brooch, discovered near Pathhead in Midlothian in 2022, is set to go on display for the first time in an upcoming exhibition at the National Museum of Scotland.

Measuring 6cm long (2.4in), the colourfully enamelled bronze artefact combines Roman and British artistic ideas, and is thought to have been made in northern England – though it was found just south-east of Edinburgh. Archaeological evidence from the surrounding area hints at the presence of an Iron Age settlement whose inhabitants had contact with the Roman world.

The brooch will form part of Roman Scotland: life on the edge of empire, which will be at the National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh from 14 November 2026 to 28 April 2027; see http://www.nms.ac.uk/exhibitions/roman-scotland-life-on-the-edge-of-empire for more details.

New exhibitions

Treasure! Lost and found
Dorset Museum & Art Gallery, Dorchester
Until 13 September 2026
http://www.dorsetmuseum.org/whats-on/treasure

The Virtual World of Stonehenge
Online
Permanent
https://research.reading.ac.uk/british-museum-partnership/world-of-stonehenge

Living by the Rule: contemporary meets medieval
Sainsbury Centre, University of East Anglia, Norwich
Until 4 October 2026
http://sainsburycentre.ac.uk/whats-on/living-by-the-rule-contemporary-meets-medieval

We Go Way Back
Francis Crick Institute, London
16 July 2026 – 4 October 2027
http://www.crick.ac.uk/way-back