Cyprus Museum is unique!

Posted on September 1, 2025 by wordpressgrethe

Cyprus Museum is unique! Visitors will feel surprise by the variety of objects shown. Many of them are specific for the island. You can spend hours here, but you can also walk in for just some minutes, to see the gold for example – always one of my favorites 🙂 Entrance is free.

The statues in the two pictures above formed my biggest surprise in Cyprus Museum. Had I known about their existence, I would have paid a visit already years ago. I found out by accident because many visitors came just for these statues. Archaeologists dug them up at the sanctuary of Agia Irina (700-600 BC), 2000 (!) statues all around the altar. Cypriots dit the work together with a Swedish team and part of the findings were donated to the Swedes. You will find them in Stockholm.

The art of exposition
Is Cyprus Museum unique? Yes, already just for this. However, Cyprus Museum can expose these statues so much better. Having such a treasure, originating from your own island deserved a huge room and museum lay-out, just like the pieces in the Archaeological Museum of Amman, Jordan. Some pieces deserve the total headlights, like the Nachtwacht painting of Rembrandt van Rijn in the Rijksmuseum of Amsterdam.

Very old gold
Lots of hidden treasures to be discovered in Cyprus Museum. History starts very early here: for jewelry and gold at 7000 BC.

Unique representations
Look at the objects below: these are unique representations. I love them! Unclear what the one on the left is. On the right maybe the very first representation of child birth (Chalcolithic is 3900-2500 BC).

4000 years old plank shaped art
Moreover I was very impressed by the ‘plank shaped’ pottery. The human body is depicted as an entirely flat surface, schematically rendered, on which a variety of details are incised or rendered with paint (Bronze Age 2100-1600 BC). This is so artistic, it could be modern art also. In the Museum Shop they have some jewelry inspired by these plank shaped stuff.

2500 years old daily life
Unique in Cyprus Museum are also the Crypto-Archaic objects (750-475 BC) that show humans in daily life. They are moving in boats, resting on beds, giving birth to children with the help of other women, making bread and playing music. Isn’t that a wonderful look into daily life 2500 years ago!

And and and and and
And of course there is lots of pottery and pots and statues in bronze and cupper, masks, thrones, coins, funerary steles, funerary limestone lions and sphinxes and so on. It is all very old (as you know, I like very old much more than roman or medieval stuff) and worth watching.

Two last top pieces
I finish this blog with two objects I particularly lliked. Glass objects, especially the small and long one that has the top modelled as a pomegranate (1400-1200 BC). And the maybe oldest depicted cat ever, from the stone age. Even in those times they loved cats enough to make a piece of art for them 🙂

Interested in archaeology and museums? You may also like:
Musée National Luxembourg
Musée d’Angoulême France
Huis van Hilde Netherlands
Villa del Casale Sicily
Bardo Museum Tunisia
National Museum Serbia
Archaeological Museum Gaziantep Turkey

Larnaca Castle

Posted on August 10, 2025 by wordpressgrethe

Larnaca Castle is a beautiful spot. It forms a mixture of castle walls, a beautiful garden with great atmosphere and museum rooms with very different objects. Moreover you get delightful views over the city and the sea of Larnaca. Take an hour or so for an interesting visit.

Originally, Larnaca Castle dates from the 14th century. Later the Ottomans used it, as well as the English. During the English period one specific room was used to hang their convicts in colonial times.

Despite this one horror room, Larnaca Castle is a lovely place to wander around, over the walls and through the gardens. As a museum, it is really fun. It seems all objects that deserve a museum, are put into this museum. So you find 20th century historical pictures, 18-19th century metal houshold ustensils, 18th century guns, Byzantine – Venetian – Ottoman grave stones and even 20th century German cannons. You won’t be bored 🙂

And what I liked most of all was the medieval (12-14th CE) pottery in a side room in Larnaca Castle: with incredible pictures that could be 21st century art productions: absolutely adorable!
Later I found out that you can buy copies of them in the Cyprus Museum shop in Nicosia. A very good idea, because it is modern art as well as medieval art. Alas they do not send them by post so you have to find a way yourself to transport them.

Larnaca Castle has opening hours until late – so paying a visit at 17.30 when the sun is not so hot anymore is recommendable, also because the early evening light gives your visit a special beauty. Another possibility is to visit one of the cultural activities offered in the courtyard during the summer.

Other interesting castles or castle-like spots:
Gaziantep castle and museum
Aubeterre underground church

Lovely time in Pafos Zoo

Posted on July 22, 2025 by wordpressgrethe

Pafos Zoo is a very nice place to spend a lovely time, with or without kids. It has beautiful trees and flowers, lots of different animals, a real bird show and it houses 3 popular museums! Worth a visit.

I love to go to zoos in different countries, as they usually tell a lot about the national culture. Pafos Zoo in Cyprus tells us that they deeply care about nature, animals and cultural traditions. This Zoo finds a way to bring animals close to human beings while still very thoughtful about animal welfare. Although the day I visited was a very hot day, Pafos Zoo is made in a way that it made the heat more bearable.

Animals vary from snakes and the amazing frog you see on top, rhinoceros, austriches or lions, they are all there. One of Pafos Zoo’s specialties are birds. Many species from all over the world, in all colours, like these 2 birds from China. Photographing was difficult because of the wire but in reality you see them very clearly, better than on the photos.

I was thrilled by the bird show, where they show many birds very close to the public, most birds only shortly and with strict instructions to the public. Lots of educational stuff in this show too, all presentations in English. The owls were particularly amazing!

The three museums are small and very interesting. Just the right size and amount of object to keep zoo-visitors interested and informed. Going there along the paths is a joy as everything is so well taken care of.

Indirectly these museums tell about the moving history of Cyprus, for example pottery in the Traditional Art Museum. You’d think, ah, they show some pottery of the (near) past. But the dates matter.
Here is a collection of Canakkale (Tsanak Kale) pottery until 1922. Canakkale is in actual Turkey, on the coast, where terrible fighting took place in WO1. After 1922, Greek communities in Turkey and Turkish communities in Greece were ‘exchanged’ in an attempt to create mono-ethnic countries and end ethnic fighting. So that’s where the Greek pottery of Canakkale stopped….
There is also a collection of Lapta (Lapithos) pottery until 1974. Lapta lies on the northern, now Turkisch-Cypriot side of the island. The Turkish army took over on that side in 1974 and the Greek Cypriots fled to the southern, now Greek-Cypriot side. So that’s where the Greek pottery of Lapta stopped…
The tragedy can be reconstructed by the attentive visitor only, as there is no explanation in words. A moving history full of loss.

In the Clothing Museum they show the different wedding clothes of Turkish Cypriots and Greek Cypriots. of urban Cypriots and Village Cypriots. These are clothes from an island where differences existed since many centuries. It was not ‘peace on earth’ all the time but they did not need a wall to keep ethnic groups away from each other. Also quite moving!

So you understand, I highly recommend a visit to Pafos Zoo. It is a bit off-site, way out of town so a car would help. There is a bus leaving from Pafos center but I didn’t test it. It’s worth the trip as you can easily spend some hours there – they even have a nice restaurant. The fact that it is off-site gives the Zoo and animals and nature space – the air is pure and the atmosphere is lovely!

National Museum Serbia

Posted on January 7, 2024 by wordpressgrethe

National Museum Serbia in Belgrad has a great archaeological collection and very beautiful presentation. Visitors get good insight in (pre)historic life in this region where rivers dominate the landscape and many different tribes shaped the local customs.

Do not go to the National Museum Serbia, people told me. Apparently, it is a prominent project of the actual president that many citizens of Belgrad hate. However, archaeological findings house in this ‘Narodni Muzej Srbije’ so I went there anyway and I did not regret. The enormous hall on the ground floor has a nice atmosphere and good overview over the ages, starting in the 9-7th millenium BCE with the extensive findings of Lepenski Vir – like the figurines on the photograph above. Mesolithic artists shaped sandstone boulders from the river into sculptures and altars.

The National Museum Serbia contains many other precious objects and they know how to show them as you can see here. It is a joy to walk and look around.

Fortunately, always great to see, they have ancient jewelry! I was particularly intrigues by the ‘wristband’, an ornament that people wore 1500-1000 years BCE. I’d loved to try it for myself. More in general, why are jewelry makers not more often inspired by ancient times and the often spectacular ideas of our ancestors? The silver jewelry shown here date from 500-400 BCE.

These are just a few impressions. I really recomment that you go and see for yourself as there is so much more than what I show. The National Museum Serbia houses in a former bank and they use that as an advantage by housing a numismatic collection in two former bank vaults. Here you see pictures of a coin of Emperor Valentinian 1 (364 BCE) – of the oldest Serbian coin (1230 AD) with Christ blessing King Radoslav – and of a beautiful Yugoslavian banknote (1931). If you like ancient coins, the numismatic collection alone is rich enough to pay a visit to.

The first floor has lots of medieval objects, many of them religious. The top floors have paintings – I spotted quite some Dutch ones among many international famous names. For this blog, I think the Serbian painter Uros Predic (1857 – 1953) is interesting to show with some very fine Realistic paintings: ‘An orphan at his mother’s grave'(1888) and ‘Fugitives from Herzegovina'(1889). I was deeply moved while watching them.

Interested in archaeology and museums? You may also like:
Musée National Luxembourg
Musée d’Angoulême
Archaeological Museum Amman
Archaeological Museum Gaziantep

Villa del Casale – a must-see

Posted on August 18, 2023 by wordpressgrethe

Villa del Casale in Sicily is a wonderful heritage from Roman times. It has a unique mosaic that proves women were exercising for different sports as well as men. What makes Villa del Casale a must-see in Sicily are the many mosaics still in place. The villa with numerous rooms, courts and halls contains more authentic mosaics on their original spots than museums can offer. My visit was amazing and breathtaking as there are not just many mosaics. They are also storytelling mosaics, full of action.

Historians have searched: who would have been rich enough in ancient times to build a place like this? So many rooms (see the villa-plan below) and litterally every floor had mosaics (remaining), wall paintings and marble (mostly lost). In his excellent book about the history of Sicily, Fik Meijer suggests that it could have been Maximinianus, co-emperor of Diocletianus in the 3rd century AD but there are also other theories.

Villa del Casale was well in use for at least 7 centuries and probably disappeared underground in the time of the Normans (12th century. Farmers re-discovered it in the 18th century. Restauration followed in the 20th century. And it is very much worth your visit.

Mosaic of Circus Maximus
Not only the mosaic with the sportgirls is unique. In a spectacular corridor, you can see the Roman Circus Maximus projected, with horses running around the track, and other scenes that belong to this horse racing event. It is an incredible and very vivid mosaic, although a little bit difficult to see for the visitor. But even with some distance, it impresses well enough. At a certain point in your visit, you can look into this room also from the other side.

Mosaic Colosseum animals
Very impressive is also the 100 (!) meter long corridor. This corridor is like a film that shows how Romans catch wild animals that must fight in the Colosseum, and how they transport them. This is storytelling mosaic in its best form, not to be found anywhere else in the world. A great variety of animals is put into ships towards Rome: from springbok, buffalo and ostrich to lion, tiger, rhino, elephant. The places depicted are Carthago, Alexandria, the Nile delta, India and the harbour of Ostia. Apparently animals had to be taken from far away to feed the hunger of the Colosseum public in Rome.

Where should I start to describe the rest of Villa del Casale? There are many more storytelling mosaics. A last one that I like both for the scene and for the way the mosaic was placed in a ‘semi-circular portico’ around a small courtyard that connects various rooms.

Mosaic about the art of fishing
This mosaic shows are many boats, all of them with two fishermen using different methods to fish. It reveals in detail the secrets of fishing with a net, a creel, a trident and a fishing line with a hook.
The sea is full with an immense variety of fish. Alongside of the sea you see beautiful maritime villas with different forms but all with long arcades that open out onto the sea.
Most probably this is one of the ‘North-African’ mosaics present in Villa del Casale as it looks a lot like mosaics found in the Bardo Museum in Tunis.

Mosaic floors for servants
Were you only a servant in the Villa del Casale? Well, even for you the floors would be covered with mosaics and the walls with frescos and marble. It might not be a storytelling mosaic but I would not mind to have that kind of floor in my room!

How to get there?
Villa del Casale lies in the country-side, a few kilometers from Piazza Armerina about one hour drive from Catania. There is a public bus (Interbus) going from Taormina – Catania – Piazza Armerina. The total ride is about 3 hours (a lot shorter if you start from Catania of course). Tickets are rather cheap (return ticket 18 euros in 2023). Next to the busstop in Piazza Armerina is also the stop of the shuttle to Villa del Catale (2,50 return ticket in 2023, only 10 minutes drive). If you have time left between bus and shuttle, Piazza Armerina has a nice historic centre. Although a bit in neglect, it is worth some of your time.

Do you like mosaics?
Find more places to visit mosaics in these blogs:
House of Dionysos in Paphos (Southern Cyprus)
Zeugma Museum Gaziantep (Turkey)
Mosaic Museu m Sanliurfa (Turkey)
Musée National Luxembourg
Bardo Museum (Tunisia)
Salamis (Northern Cyprus)

Musée National Luxembourg

Posted on August 4, 2022 by wordpressgrethe

Reconstruction of Gallic house (1st century BD – based on Oppidum Titelberg)

Musée National Luxembourg offers 5 floors of archaeology, presented in a beautiful way. The collection is rich and a visit feels like a discovery of old times. Also children can have a great time in this museum; there is plenty of space, interaction and objects presentations that can attract their full attention.

skull rhinoceros musée national luxembourg — Skull of prehistoric rhinoceros

Musée National Luxembourg was built in the rocks: when you enter in the ground floor, there is a nationalistic presentation about Luxembourg: since when is it a country and how does it develop it’s own identity. Then you walk to floor -1 to find yourself in the first ages of our era. You can go down by stairs or slope (wheelchair accessible). and each floor you go back in time, to end on floor -5 with the oldest known history of Luxembourg. Here and there I lost my way through the logic of the route but that didn’t matter, it just added to the joy of the discovery.

mosaic floor from villa Vichten, Musée National Luxembourg — Mosaic floor with the Muses, found in Gallo-Roman villa in Vichten

The mosaic floor that was found in Vichten is a striking beauty – in reality better than in the picture above (difficult to photograph because of the specific lights above the floor). It depicts the 9 Muses in an impressive way. The complete floor is ca. 6 x 10 meters! You can read in this (French) article how it was found and unearthed, an interesting story. Other pieces from that period that drew my attention are the altars with indigenous fertility godesses; they have fruit baskets on their lap and small animals or children on their side. They made me think of the altar findings at the coast in the Netherlands (see the blog: Meet Nehalennia!).

Indigenous fertility goddess, most probably a home altar

Apparently there was an exposition in the Henan Museum in Zhengzhou, China, under the title ‘Luxembourg: small country, rich history’. Indeed Luxembourg is small compared to China. In lots of vitrines, like here in the midst of special glasswork (left photo) and wonderful accessories from the 1st-4rd century AD (right photo), there were signs of objects gone to China. Very nice to see this special cultural exchange!

There is a lot more to tell about Musée National Luxembourg, I will limit it here to 2 more items – just go there yourself to see and live it all! 1, I did like this piece of glasswork from 40-50AD, found in graves ‘Hellange – Belsaker’:

2. Finally, real amazing, the facial reconstruction of ‘the man of Loschbour’ based on a skeleton that dates from about 6000 BC, called the Mesolithic Period – these are the oldest finding of humans on Luxembourg’s soil – Loschbour is a small stream in Heffingen – Müllerthal, in the east of Luxembourg. These kind of video’s next to the representation of original findings make the neutral past so much more alive and close to our own lives. Well done, Musée National Luxembourg!

Celtic graveyard at Bourdange

Posted on July 30, 2022 by wordpressgrethe

A Celtic graveyard can be found at Bourdange, Nospelt, at walking distance from a gallo-roman villa complex. To be fair, there is not a lot to see at the former Celtic graveyard itself: all pieces that were found there in archaeological research – and there were many – are exhibited in the National Museum of History and Art in Luxembourg City. However, the 0,5 kilometer walk towards this Celtic graveyard is nice. Moreover, arriving on the spot after a small path through the woods gives a good look and feel of the place. The Celts were amazing in finding spots for mystic purposes. Please follow 2 minutes of my path to the Celtic graveyard in this happy video-recording July 2022.

The Celtic graveyard was used during a few centuries, from the 1st century BD till problably the 3rd century AD. Archaeologists suppose that this graveyard belonged to the inhabitants of the nearby gallo-roman villa complex. All the objects were dug up by volunteers who were able to reconstruct especially the 5 large tumulus: the last resting place of 4 men and 1 woman, all of them probably in powerful positions. Both the men and the woman received the same kind of attributes in their tumulus: lots of pottery, weaponry and horse equipment. Apart from that, there was a mirror for the woman and 2 special statues of mother figures. On the photograph of the information board at Bourdange, you can see these statues lying in spot 1 and spot 2, somehow in the middle of a number of objects.

celtic graveyard at bourdange - statues of mother figures

On the other picture, you can see the statues in the permanent exposition of the National Museum of History and Art in Luxembourg.

2 statues found in celtic graveyard at bourdange

Around the grave of the Celtic woman, many coins were found and also specific bones. Apparently people worshipped her after her death. From the date of the coins, we know that the worship lasted over 150 years! She must have been very important and maybe one day we will know more about her. In the picture below you can see the presentation of the grave gifts in the Museum: it was a rich treasure that was donated to her in her tumulus in the Celtic graveyard. The Museum also shows the gifts given to the men.

woman's grave in celtic graveyard at bourdange

One thing puzzled me, apparently there is a museum in Nospelt where findings of the Celtic graveyard and the gallo-roman villa are exposed. I went to Nospelt and indeed there is a house-like building with a sign that it is a museum, but nothing shows when it is opened or how it can be visited. That is a pity because all on the site indicates that such a museum would have a story. Fortunately there is the Museum in Luxembourg. Maybe the future will also bring volunteers for the Nospelt Museum (or the marketing of it).

Anyway, the Celtic graveyard in combination with the gallo-roman villa will give you a very nice experience; worth the trip!

Gallo-roman villa at Bourdange

Posted on July 28, 2022 by wordpressgrethe

The site of the gallo-roman villa at Bourdange (Nospelt, Luxembourg) is very interesting. Clearly there is a lot of care both for the findings of the gallo-roman (celtic-roman) villa and the information given to visitors. It is a pleasure to go and see around.

In the woods at the verge of Bourdange, Nospelt, lies a most interesting Celtic site. The road signs call it a ‘Roman villa’, locals call it ‘Miecher’. Anyway it dates from the period where Celts were adapting more and more to Roman laws and lifestyle (‘gallo-roman period’). What you see is a group of foundations, scattered around in field and forest, remnants from a large villa with many side-buildings. The foundations were dug up and made accessible so that you easily have an overview and a good impression of the extent of the wealth here in the first centuries AD. Also you can see the traces of wooden fences, made in the 3rd and 4rd century when German tribes attacked Roman sites.

Volunteers have run this project that the local pastor Kayser started in 1964. Pastor Kayser followed up on the local rumors that there was a lot to find in the forest. There were talks about a hidden treasure. Together with the locals, he started the first serious archaeological search, with success. What happened before when following up on local memories, happened here again: a real hidden treasure was found! Imagine to find a pot filled with 2772 ‘antonian’ coins! Alas it is not on the site of the gallo-roman villa in Bourdange but in the National Museum of History and Art in Luxembourg city. The treasure stood within a wall in one of the side building – maybe the administrator of the property? There is no side note on the owner or the meaning of this treasure so that is one of the secrets of history.

gallo-roman villa at bourdange - treasure

His initiative was the basis of a large archaeological movement in the region that is remarkable and that obtained government recognition and permission as per 1991. What an achievement! Every year, more than 10.000 volunteer hours are spent in ancient sites. They also do projects with young people to increase interest and love for archaeology. You can feel that when you visit. Not only were several people working there to clean the site and make it more perfect, also the proof of regular research activity is visible on several spots. The information boards are excellent – I could follow every step of the project and it is exciting. There is way to much information to mention here so go there yourself and take your time.

gallo-roman villa at bourdange - information boards

Most of the foundations at the gallo-roman villa of Bourdange were former houses or buildings, except for 2 structures: 1 is a small temple, I loved that: to have your own temple next to the house! This, of course, was only for the very rich. 2 is a former monument for the death, a small round tower. The fact that the monument was situated at the doorstep of the house, means that ancestors and death have been very present for the living.

When you visit the gallo-roman villa at Bourdange, it is just a short walk to go to the Celtic graves further into the woods. I went there and will tell more about them in the next blog.

Rijksmuseum van Oudheden – Meet Nehalennia!

Posted on July 3, 2022 by wordpressgrethe

Rijksmuseum van Oudheden is the Dutch National Museum of Antiquities in the city of Leiden. I always thought that our country, the Netherlands, only had antiquities from foreign countries like Greece or Egypt, and that Dutch findings were rather recent. So I visited many archaeological museums especially in the Middle East (see below). How could I be so ignorant? Rijksmuseum van Oudheden has spectacular, really ancient findings from Dutch soil. Also I learned about local gods that I never heard about before. So nice!

The altars shown above are dedicated to the goddess Nehalennia. Many merchants who crossed the sea from the Netherlands to London from 150 – 250 AD erected an altar to thank her for a safe journey. People completely forgot about her until a temple and many altars were discovered in the dunes of Domburg in 1647 AD. Nehalennia is a goddess of fertility, often pictured with fruits and/or a dog, but also with (elements of) a ship. Her origin should be Germanic or Celtic. If you also never heard about her, that in itself makes it worth a visit to Rijksmuseum van Oudheden!

Rijksmuseum van Oudheden has a large collection with antiquities from many countries. It’s easy to spend many hours there! In this blog, I concentrate on the Dutch ones. Things I particularly liked:

bandkeramiek uit Elsloo - rijksmuseum van oudheden

Pottery from a settlement at the river Meuse in the south, dating from 5000BC.

The Ommerschans Sword and the Jutphaas Sword, unique pieces of bronze casting from 1500BC. The museum calls them ‘exceptional artefacts’. They were used as gifts in sacrifices. Center and northeast of the Netherlands (that didn’t exist as a country in that time yet).

bronzen nekringen - rijksmuseum van oudheden

Both men and women wore bronze neck rings. These date from the early iron age, 800-500BC. Found in the center of the country but most probably imported. Also used as offers. I particularly liked the twisted one.

This woodcarved figure was probably a ritual object. It was found in a well in Oss in the south and dates from 400BC. It is rare to find wooden antiquities. This one is in oak.

Spearhead, put in wooden shaft and then thrown to the enemy, apparently a real killer. Dating from
1-300BC, found in Alblasserdam, middle-west of the country. A masterpiece!

The golden helmet found by turf-cutters in the Peel (southeast), dating from 320AD. More precious objects were found but there is no info about context (owner, offering?). An absolute wow-piece!

The Viking Hoard of Wieringen, north-west of the country, 850AD. 1,6 kilo of silver, most probably from a Danish owner. It was buried in spring. So maybe the owner was hiding it when he left and he never came back…

Interested in archaeological museums? You may also like:
Archaeological museum Sanliurfa
Archaeological museum Haarlem
Huis van Hilde – Hilde’s House
Archaeological museum Gaziantep
Archaeological museum Amman
Musée d’Art et d’Archaeologie d’Orléans
Muséum of Art and Archaeology Périgord
Saint Barnabas Icon and Archaeological Museum

Musée d’Histoire et d’Archéologie in Orléans

Posted on October 14, 2021 by wordpressgrethe

The Musée d’Histoire et d’Archéologie in Orléans houses the great bronze treasure of Neuvy-en-Sullias – 33 art pieces from the gallic and gallo-roman period in the begin of our era. There is much more to see in this museum but the bronze treasure alone is already worth your visit.

bronze treasure neuvy-en-sullias wild boar Musée d'Histoire et d'Archéologie Orleans

Top pieces in the Musée d’Histoire et d’Archéologie in Orléans are the horse (54 kilos without the bronze pedestal) and the wild boar (125 cm long). You better bring a chair to sit in front of them for a while and admire this art that is unique in Europe. Let the refined craft work and the beauty sink in…

Musée d'Histoire et d'Archéologie in Orleans
trésor bronze neuvy-en-sullias horse

The bronze artefacts were found 1861 in Neuvy-en-Sullias in a hidden place next to the Loire river – most probably an offer to celtic gods like Rudiobus. Recent studies reveal that they were partly restaured at that time and not always in the right way.

Probably the top of this wild boar was placed on the wrong animal and must have belonged to the other wild boar. The rings on the pedestal of the horse, that probably served to carry the horse around in religious ceremonies, might not be the right ones but the other 4 ones in the showcase…

Amazing is also the series of small figurines: with gestures and movement and mostly nude. They do not look like roman art and their signification is unknown. One assumption is that they represent the naked dancing that came with gallic carnaval.

Musée d'Histoire et d'Archéologie in Orléans bronze figurines gallic period

A guide in the Musée d’Histoire et d’Archéologie in Orléans was very enthusiastic about the treasure himself and most willing to show all the details. He also gave me the website address of JF Bradu who made scientific studies about the artefacts and published his findings. It made my visit even more interesting.

There is some more to see, first of all the Hôtel Cabu that houses the Musée d’Histoire et d’Archéologie in Orléans: built in 1548 in renaissance style.

Some objects in other parts of the museum I liked:

The intriguing statue of Saint Denis, the first bishop of France who was sent by pope Clemens to convert the Gauls and was decapitated by the Romans in 205. The story tells that he made it all the way from Montmartre to Saint Denis while carrying his decapitated head in his hands.

Nice plagues – very different in style and theme.

monster wild animal Musée d'Histoire et d'Archéologie in Orléans

The drawing of a wild animal that wreaked havoc around Orléans, with a poem-like text next to it. An intriguing story, what kind of animal was that? When you stand there you can feel the fear people had for the cruelty of nature.

alexandre joseph caboche painted by mademoiselle schmitt Musée d'Histoire et d'Archéologie in Orléans

The Loire had tremendous inundations in the past. Signs in the city remind people to that: nothing new in nowadays high waters, showing that we are not yet on the level of the old days. In 1846 Alexandre Joseph Caboche saved paintress Mlle Schmitt from the flood and she painted his portrait with the cross of the Légion d’Honneur that he received.

Did you like this blog? Then you may also like:

Vesunna Museum Périgueux

Musée d’Angoulême

Archaeological Museum Gaziantep

Archaeological Museum Amman

Archaeological Museum Haarlem

Huis van Hilde / Hilde’s House

Museum van Loon Amsterdam

Posted on August 2, 2021 by wordpressgrethe

Portrait of Wilhelmine and Henriette van Loon 1826, by A.j. Dubois-Drahonet — Portrait of Wilhelmine and Henriette van Loon, by A.j. Dubois-Drahonet 1826

Museum Van Loon is a special canal house in Amsterdam built in 1672 and owned by the Van Loon family since 1884. The visit is a mixed experience of beauty, amazing details and an overdose of portraits. Did people actually live here, is a question coming up when walking around.

Many rooms are beautiful in Museum Van Loon. This photograph is the Blue Saloon on the ground floor. The woman with the red dress is Thora van Loon-Egidius who worked for Queen Wilhelmina. The museum shows more royal connections of the Van Loon family during the ages.

More recently, President Obama had dinner in the dining room of Museum van Loon when he visited Amsterdam. These kind of high profile contacts are clearly very important for the Van Loon family, but they do not communicate why. This leaves the visitor with the impression that it is about ‘belonging’, being part of societal circles as a value in itself.

Intriguing is the fact that the insignia of Van Loon has 2 black heads in it and they do not know where that came from. Ancestor Willem van Loon was one of the co-founders of the VOC in 1602. The black heads were added later to the original 15ht century insignia of the three crosses (‘mill irons’) and suggest a link with slavery and colonialism.

But a fundamental explanation has not been found yet. Museum Van Loon is open about the family’s connections with slavery in the 18th and 19th century and had a big project on the subject – keeping the details for an online visit here: https://www.museumvanloon.nl/programma/archief/120.

When I entered the sleeping room – the Sheep Room – I felt cosiness and private life for the first time. Much of the canal house is beautiful but impersonal. The Sheep Room is different; a place where humans live and enjoy themselves – maybe also because of the bookshelves and the fact that chaos is more dominant than order there.

Some particular highlights I like to show you here:

The Red Saloon, an amazing room full of portraits.

The most recent portraits of women in the family – they chose a different style, very nice.

The kitchen – just adorable

The garden, at the ‘back side’ of the canal house.

The char-à-bancs from the begin of the 20th century that was used for pleasure drives. Imagine that you sit in there or maybe even drive it yourself over the romantic canals of Amsterdam!

The stairwell that has its own particular charm.

All in all, I am not sure what to think of Museum Van Loon and that is maybe why I recommend a visit; it is intriguing, an elitist impression in an egalitarian city, a place where human touch has a challenge to break through the stiff upperlip while all seem to mean well.

Are Jews White?

Posted on June 16, 2021 by wordpressgrethe

Are Jews White?, is the name of a new exposition in the Jewish Historical Museum in Amsterdam. As an expert in diversity and inclusion, I went there almost immediately after the opening. Are Jews White? is an interesting and also a bit disappointing exposition. I explain you my mixed feelings in this blog.

When you enter the expo, there are a number of signs on walls and pillars, and a short introducton video. After that, you arrive in a former synagogue which is the religious part of the Jewish Historical Museum. I was surprised: was that all? Indeed it wasn’t. After the religious part, the exposition Are Jews White? continues. Video has a central place. The exposition makers have interviewed around ten persons with different background who reflect on the theme Are Jews White?. After some nice cutting and pasting, they produced a good series of interesting comments on the subject: many aspects of the theme are thus covered from different perspectives. A disadvantage however is that this production does not elevate the theme above the average ‘circus of opinions’. I could not discover where Are Jews White? rises above existing concepts. Are Jews White? rather shows how deeply we are imprisoned in boxes, unable to liberate ourselves from them.

To me, the concept of black and white is evidently not applicable to Jews (and many others). I remember how I visited a camp with Jews from Ethiopia in Tel Aviv who newly arrived, somewhere in the begin of this century. They had been health care workers in Ethiopia and were preparing for a similar job in Israel. They had a good selfconfidence of what they had to offer to Israeli Jews – for example, more respect for the elderly – but many of them felt underestimated and discriminated upon. Therefor I wondered how the exposition would work this out. Are Jews White? failed to do so, but shows clearly that the concept of black and white has strong limits and serves rather as a concept to divide people more than to unite them.

Professor Gloria Wekker is one of the persons interviewed in the video. Her concept of intersectionality has no answer to the Are Jews White? issue. Intersectionality (in my view) was an original concept encouraging us to leave a dualistic world and enter the multifaceted one. Especially when Gloria Wekker just started as a professor and called her concept ‘kruispuntdenken’ (crossroad thinking), it was much more open to the dynamics of diversity. Something went wrong during the years along the intersectional road. Not only did intersectionality create more boxes, these boxes are also more oppressive, there is no escape from them.

The result, and that is very clear in Are Jews White?, is that Jews would be called black or white for political reasons, or for the opinion people have about them, or that they have about themselves. The tragedy is that this limits Jews to be who they are. And indeed this may be true for all of us: the concept of black and white limits us all. Of course I understand that the concept of black and white serves to explain the construction of society but let’s be fair: watching the video in the exposition, it is clear that the concept of black and white is more than a methodology. It serves the need of many to be part of a group or to see others as such. It provides a safe world of boxes where skin color and other aspects are all well set and clear and can be explained in predictable terms. The exposition fails to explain this need at a deeper level: why do we need to put people into categories? Why do we get upset when Jews do not fit in?

Maybe the ambition to have more answers is too high. I remember my last visit to Israel when I discussed with a scientist in the Holocaust Museum: why is there antisemitism, and why does it seem to be always there? He admitted that as a scientist, he can prove it is there and describe it, but he can not explain it scientifically.

My guess is that the Jewish Historical Museum created Are Jews White? to open the discussion about (useless) boxes and to prevent that we lock ourselves in and that we try to lock Jews in. We have to live with a rather misty and multi-interpretable reality for ourselves and for others, even though that comes with uncertainties. All-in all, I recommend the exposition. For your notice, it is totally bilingual (English and Dutch).

And don’t forget to walk by the paintings I show on the picture here, that I adored above every object in the museum, especially the woman’s dress: Benjamin and Chaile (Kaatje) Cohen from the 18th century. There’s more info about them but you will find that when you visit…

Grethe van Geffen

culture and diversity

Category Archives: Museums and heritage