Cultural Heritage

Taj Mahal

Heritage from home: June

As museums and heritage sites reopen, we’re looking forward to visiting our favourite spots as soon as possible – but there are still plenty of resources available online from historical, archaeological, and cultural institutions and sites around the world, as well as podcasts, TV shows, social media content, and more. Current World Archaeology's Amy Brunskill has put together another selection of options, as well as summarising some of the places that have recently reopened.

BELOW The earthquake and tsunami of 2011, which caused damage to many archaeological sites across Japan, is the subject of a new museum that opened in Fukushima this spring.

Ten years on from disaster

Urajiri is in the town of Minami Soma, impacted both by the tsunami and the meltdown, evacuated as it was in the exclusion zone around the stricken power plant. Archaeology is providing a focus for rebuilding community identity.

This week: Ancient Iran

Epic Iran is the appropriately grand title of the Victoria & Albert Museum’s ambitious new exhibition, which explores 5,000 years of Iranian history through 350 objects that represent the country’s art and culture – taking us from the beginnings of civilisation, via the ancient palaces of Persepolis, right up to the present day.

Museums and monuments

World news stories covering the restoration of the Mausoleum of Augusts (Rome), the restoration of the Ghent Altarpiece (Belgium), and a sculpture of the capital of the Kingdom of Ghana.

Heritage from home: April

With the arrival of spring and the promise of lockdown restrictions lifting over the next few months, we are looking forward to visits to museums and heritage sites in the not-too-distant future. For now, though, there are still plenty of things to keep you busy at home, whether you are looking for online exhibitions, craft ideas, or even some of the talks from Current Archaeology’s annual conference! Amy Brunskill has put together another selection of the latest options.

Dewlish leopard

Discovered during excavations at Dewlish in 1974, the leopard mosaic is considered one of the most realistic depictions of an animal by a Romano-British artist to survive in any artistic medium.

Sailing to Ithaca?

Is Ithaca, in fact, Odysseus’ island, where Penelope faithfully weaved, steadfastly waiting for her mischievous prince in their well-appointed palace?

Saving Tigray’s painted churches

Over the past few years, the Ethiopian Heritage Fund has been scaling cliffs and mountains to study and conserve the remarkable rock-hewn painted churches of Ethiopia’s Tigray region, currently in the grips of conflict. Blair Priday, Stephen Rickerby, and Lisa Shekede guide us through their work.

Sutton hoo helmet Wikimedia Geni

Heritage from home: March

Last March, museums and heritage sites across the world closed because of the COVID-19 pandemic. In response, we created ‘Heritage from Home’ to share the many wonderful ways that you can get your fix of archaeology, history, and culture without leaving the house. Amy Brunskill has put together a roundup of highlights featured so far.

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Heritage from home: February

As we find ourselves back in lockdown, the vast quantity of resources available online seems more valuable than ever. Amy Brunskill has put together a selection of some of the many ways you can get involved in archaeology, history, and heritage from home, to help you explore the past until museums and heritage sites are able to open once more.

Chris Catling new alt2

Preserving and presenting heritage

Today, 757 synagogues are deemed to be at risk, which illustrates the scale of the task facing the FJH in its mission to ‘celebrate and honour Europe’s lost Jewish communities’ and rescue these emblematic buildings as ‘powerful places of education’ offering ‘valuable insights into Jewish life and its impact on wider society’.

News in brief

Funding for Strictly ballroom The Blackpool Tower Ballroom, home to Strictly Come Dancing’s annual ballroom special, has received £764,000 from the Government’s Culture Recovery Fund to help enable repairs to be made to the venue, including its historic plasterwork ceiling.…

RIGHt This sculpted stucco Maya head excavated at Uxmal, Mexico, may have once decorated the House of the Governor.

Infinity of Nations

Around 700 objects from more than 200 Indigenous communities give a glimpse of the people who have interacted across these diverse environments over thousands of years.

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Appointing Pompeii’s Director

Beyond the island I saw the thin campanile of Santa Maria in Cosmedin, which houses the Mouth of Truth, a bucket- list ‘must’ thanks to the incomparable Audrey Hepburn and Gregory Peck in Roman Holiday (1953).

A sense of place

Using the unlikely site of Butrint in Albania as a prime example, Richard Hodges explains how the work of archaeologists defines them as placemakers

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Travels to Malta

At the far end of Valletta, within the massive angular bulwarks of the fortress of St Elmo poking out at the entrance of the Grand Harbour, is a museum devoted to the town’s history and its struggle for survival.

Tidal wave: the day Japan shook

Following the devastating earthquake and tsunami that struck Japan in Spring this year, archaeologist Simon Kaner insists there is much to celebrate about the country’s heritage – and much to mend.