Category Archives: Heritage

Greece in ‘preliminary’ talks with British Museum about Parthenon marbles

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Officials say they have met with George Osborne, and are keen to see the masterpieces back in Athens

Senior Greek officials have been in “preliminary” talks with the British Museum in what could amount to a tectonic shift in resolving the world’s longest-running cultural dispute: the repatriation of the 5th-century BC Parthenon marbles to Athens.

Revelations about the negotiations were first reported on Saturday by Ta Nea, which said that officials including the Greek prime minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, had met George Osborne, the chair of the British Museum, in a five-star London hotel as recently as Monday.

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Ancient barn conversion with steam room found at Roman villa in Rutland

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Fresh evidence of owners’ lavish lifestyle discovered at same site as rare Iliad mosaic

If you thought barn conversions were a relatively recent development for the property-owning classes, you’d be wrong – probably by 16 or 17 centuries.

Archaeologists at the site of a Roman villa complex in the east Midlands have discovered that its wealthy owners converted an agricultural timber barn into a dwelling featuring a bathing suite with a hot steam room, a warm room and a cold plunge pool.

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French team to build replica of William the Conqueror’s warship

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Viking-style vessel is based on the one that launched invasion of England in 1066 and its makers hope to sail it across Channel

On 27 September 1066, William, Duke of Normandy, set sail in La Mora, the flagship of a huge fleet that would invade and conquer England. Now a historical society on France’s Normandy coast is going to re-create the ship that launched almost 1,000 years of cross-Channel enmity.

The Bayeux tapestry, a 70 metre-long (230ft) embroidered account of the Norman Conquest, depicts La Mora as a Viking-style longship with a striped red and gold sail flying the papal banner on its masthead. On board was William, his most trusted knights, their entourage and horses, and 60 oarsmen.

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‘It’s as if we found oil’: Tuscan town savours discovery of spa trove

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San Casciano dei Bagni’s fortunes expected to change after opulent Etruscan-Roman sanctuary found

Since she was a child, Martina Canuti has been venturing down the steep hill flanking the Tuscan town of San Casciano dei Bagni, known by residents as “the sacred mountain”, to take a dip in the two ancient hot springs famed for their therapeutic benefits.

Little did she know that just a few metres away lay a sanctuary built by the Etruscans in the second century BC, containing a trove of treasures that could now reverse the fortunes of this relatively isolated town of 1,400 inhabitants near Siena.

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Digital Benin project reunites bronzes looted by British soldiers

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Comprehensive database of Benin bronzes held by museums raises questions about where they belong

Cheerfully gnashing their magnificent fangs as they stand side by side, the two bronze leopards look back on a journey that was as adventurous as it was cruelly absurd.

Looted by British soldiers on a punitive expedition to the west African kingdom of Benin in 1897, the bronzes were shipped to the UK, where they spent some time guarding the fireplace of army captain George William Neville’s Weybridge home. They were later put in display at Moma in New York and bought by a French art collector – who eventually sold them back to the colonial administration in Lagos in 1952 with a considerable mark-up.

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John Singer Sargent sketch to return to National Trust house where it was created

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Oil sketch of Elsie Palmer to go on display at Ightham Mote in Kent after being acquired by trust

An oil sketch by John Singer Sargent of one of his most famous models will be returned to the English country house where it was painted after being acquired by the National Trust.

Sargent’s sketch of Elsie Palmer, which was done in preparation for his masterpiece A Lady in White, will go on display at Ightham Mote in Kent, where the Palmer family lived and hosted artistic and literary gatherings for the likes of the actor Ellen Terry and the novelist Henry James in the late 1890s.

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‘Holy moly!’ drought-hit Mississippi River reveals 19th-century trading ship

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Baton Rouge resident Patrick Ford discovers sunken Brookhill trading ship as lack of rainfall creates record-low water levels

Remains of a 19th-century ship were found in Louisiana’s capital as widespread drought creates record-low water levels in the Mississippi River.

Baton Rouge resident Patrick Ford discovered the trading ship during one of his daily searches of the Mississippi riverfront for artifacts, the local news station WBRZ reported.

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NSW redevelopment plan poses ‘very real threat’ to Sydney’s Central station, National Trust says

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The Trust’s state conservation director wrote letters to the public and organisations citing concerns over the plan’s scale and impact

The National Trust has criticised the New South Wales government’s plan to revamp and reimagine Sydney’s Central station, claiming that the scheme “presents a genuine and very real threat to Australia’s greatest station”.

The trust’s NSW conservation director, David Burdon, wrote to members of the public and organisations for “help in saving the iconic Sydney Central station”, citing concerns over the scale and impact of the plan that would build over a portion of the heritage-listed site.

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English Heritage to host ghost story tours at five monasteries

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Tours at sites in north of England aim to be academically rigorous and shed light on the ruins’ deeper histories

“It is autumnal isn’t it, you can feel the death and decay,” said the clearly delighted historian Michael Carter as he prepared to embark on a new venture at some of England’s most spectacular and atmospheric ruins.

English Heritage will this weekend begin a new series of ghost story tours at five of its northern monasteries.

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Tintagel among castles at risk unless England can hold back the tide

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English Heritage identifies six most vulnerable sites as climate change intensifies coastal erosion

The wonderful wildness of the spot, a rocky Cornish headland pounded relentlessly by Atlantic breakers, has inspired poets, artists and dreamers for many a century.

But Tintagel, immortalised in British mythology as the place of King Arthur’s conception, is one of a string of castles at risk of tumbling into the sea as climate change increases the pace of coastal erosion.

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Posties’ paths: Britons who delivered mail by foot sought for new book

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Author Alan Cleaver collecting stories of rural postal workers who walked miles each week, and the routes they took

The last surviving rural postal workers who delivered mail by foot are being sought for a forthcoming book celebrating their lives and mapping their often arduous daily journeys.

Delivering mail by foot ended in the countryside in 1970 with the adoption of postal vans, and it is now feared that the postal paths and the history of those who trod them are disappearing from living memory.

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Volunteers sail Roman boat replica along Danube to Budapest

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Boat built by Friedrich-Alexander University as part of EU-funded history project visits Hungary’s capital

A replica of a Roman-era boat of the kind that once sailed along the Danube from Germany to the river’s delta at the Black Sea is cruising in Hungary this week, stopping along its journey in the Hungarian capital, Budapest.

The Danuvia Alacris is crewed by volunteers wearing Roman tunics and the expedition is part of an EU-funded project to raise awareness of the region’s Roman past.

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Researchers decode metal-making recipes in ancient Chinese text

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Study identifies mystery elements in Kaogong ji, shedding light on how early bronzes were produced

Researchers have deciphered enigmatic recipes for metal-making contained in an ancient Chinese text, revealing unexpected complexity in the art at the time.

Six chemical formulas are given in a Chinese text from 300BC known as the Kaogong ji. The manuscript, known as The World’s Oldest Encyclopedia of Technologies, forms part of a detailed archive of early imperial rule, which archeologists have been trying to decode since the 1920s.

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London museum to return 72 Benin treasures to Nigeria

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Horniman museum is first government-funded institution to hand back artefacts looted by British forces in 1897

A London museum is to return 72 treasured artefacts, including its collection of Benin bronzes, to Nigeria in what experts described as an “immensely significant” moment.

The Horniman museum said it would transfer the ownership of the historic objects to the Nigerian government after an unanimous vote by its board of trustees.

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Is British Museum’s stance shifting on Parthenon marbles return?

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Changing public attitudes have made issues of repatriation and decolonisation harder to ignore

“Stolen goods”; “Looted by the Brits”; “Did you steal this like the Parthenon marbles?”

A glance at the social media channels of the British Museum underlines why, when it comes to the long-disputed Acropolis sculptures, it is so eager to “change the temperature of the debate”.

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‘Park in sky’ to open in former Grade II-listed Manchester viaduct

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National Trust garden at Castlefield Viaduct is inspired by New York public park and features 3,000 plant species

A “park in the sky” at a former viaduct in Manchester is to open at the end of the month, the National Trust has announced.

Situated along the Grade II-listed Castlefield Viaduct, the 330-metre temporary park is inspired by New York’s High Line public park, and features 3,000 plant species in gardens created by architects and community groups.

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Ukrainian borscht recognised by Unesco with entry on to safeguarding list

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UN body adds Ukrainian borscht-making to list of intangible cultural heritage that includes Neapolitan pizza-slinging

The UN’s cultural body has added the cooking of Ukrainian borscht to its list of endangered cultural traditions, accepting Ukraine’s petition to fast-track its application following the invasion by neighbouring Russia.

Ukrainian borscht-making “was today inscribed on Unesco’s list of intangible cultural heritage in need of urgent safeguarding”, Unesco said in a statement on Friday.

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Group of British MPs and peers say Parthenon marbles must return to Greece

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Six legislators call for return of cultural treasures held by British Museum ‘to their Athenian home’

More MPs and peers have expressed support for the repatriation of the Parthenon marbles to Greece as protesters in London mark the 13th anniversary of the opening of the Athens museum where they believe they belong.

Calls for the reunification of the antiquities, removed by Lord Elgin from the Acropolis in controversial circumstances more than 200 years ago – and regarded as vital to the nation’s cultural memory – mounted on Saturday with six UK lawmakers telling the Greek daily, Ta Nea, that restitution was the only proper thing to do. The British Museum acquired the sculptures from the diplomat in 1816.

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Tanya Plibersek urged to protect Indigenous rock art up to 50,000 years old by blocking fertiliser plant

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Previous environment minister, Sussan Ley, declined to issue emergency protection to halt $4.5bn development on Western Australia’s Burrup peninsula

The incoming federal environment minister has been urged to block the construction of a fertiliser plant on a world heritage-nominated site in Western Australia, and to act swiftly to stop the multinational company behind the plans from removing Indigenous rock art.

Perdaman is planning a $4.5bn plant on the Burrup Peninsula, in the Pilbara region. The plant, which is strongly supported by the state government and was backed by the former federal government, will require the removal of Aboriginal art produced over a period starting about 50,000 years ago.

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Prague’s Orloj clock at centre of row over artist’s ‘amateur’ restoration

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Artist accused of putting likenesses of friends and acquaintances on 15th-century clock, possibly as a joke

One of Prague’s most famous landmarks, a 15th-century astronomical clock, is at the centre of an embarrassing row amid claims that an artist endowed it with likenesses of his friends and acquaintances in an expensive restoration project, possibly as a joke.

The 600-year-old Orloj – long a magnet for tourists who gaze up in wonder as the 12 apostles are set in motion by the clock striking the hour – reopened in a blaze of fanfare in 2018 after a £2.1m refurbishment to the city’s medieval old town hall that included an upgrade to the clock’s intricate machinery.

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