TREASURES: ADVENTURES IN ARCHAEOLOGY | ART PREVIEW
National Museum & Gallery, Cardiff
Tue 26 Jan-Sun 30 Oct
Start packing your backpack and get your map at the ready: 2016, Wales’ Year Of Adventure has arrived! Kicking off this exciting year is the National Museum Wales, who are host to the Treasures: Adventures In Archaeology exhibition and is bound to bring out everyone’s inner explorer. Get ready to step back in time at this specially created exhibition where you are invited to enter the world of famous explorers and discover an array of fantastic treasures from around the world.
Join the National Museum on their year of adventure and learn the stories behind great archaeological discoveries from ancient civilisations, including Greece, Rome and pre-Columbian America, some of which have never been seen in Wales before. The archaeological investigations of people such as Giovanni Belzoni (Italian explorer and pioneer archaeologist of Egyptian antiquities), Flinders Petrie (Egyptologist) and Adela Breton (archaeological artist and explorer) will be showcased. This will be contrasted with similar adventures today and the impact of archaeological discoveries on popular culture, fiction and film.
Fans of Indiana Jones will be excited to hear that National Museum Wales will be paying homage to the famous movie adventurer. The archaeological legend’s hat, whip and jacket are just a few of the items that will be at the exhibition, reminding fans of the fantastic film franchise. Visitors will also be able to view the crystalline cranium that formed the centrepiece of Indiana Jones And The Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull.
A variety of the other gems that will be on show at the Museum. These include Inca gold, Roman treasures and another crystal skull – 19th century this time, from the Musée du Quai Branly Paris. Visitors will also get to see items dug up on Welsh soil, as human skulls from Viking-age burials at Llanbedrgoch, Anglesey will be on display. Egyptian enthusiasts will be excited to hear that some early items including mummies will be displayed, making for slightly creepy but fascinating viewing.
Tickets: £7/£5/free under-16s. Info: 029 2057 3500 / www.museumwales.ac.uk
words LOUISE HEATH
photos EVA BLUE, DAVIDD