Timeless Travels

FOR LOVERS OF TRAVEL, ARCHAEOLOG AND ART
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Curious City:
Zanzibar Prague
Exploring Stone Town’s
Swahili style
Interview
with
azer
Dr. EstellCehaLnnel 5’s
as seen on Cambodia: ancient
jungle secrets revealed
Last Days of
Pompeii
TAN ANIA ALES CAMBODIA AE C ECH REP BLIC PORT GAL

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EXPERT LED ART, ARCHAEOLOGICAL & HISTORY TOURS
Tailor-Made and
Escorted Holidays
For Groups & Individuals
VIETNAM INDIA GEORGIA
Selection of scheduled tours The Archaeology of Western & Central Bulgaria: 12th August
departing in 2019 The Gold of Thrace and Rome with Prof Andrew Poulter
Natasha’s Dance: 12th September

A Cultural History Tour of Russia with Prof Orlando Figes
The Romans in Portugal 6th April 2020

& Extremadura with Dr Andy Fear
THE
For help arranging your group or escorted tour or to request a brochure

visit theculturalexperience.com or call 0345 475 1815
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22:04
Welcome Summer 2019
T
FOR LOVERS OF TRAVEL, ARCHAEOLOG AND ART
his is a very special issue for Timeless Travels, as the magazine will
ravels
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be five years old in August. Those years have rushed by and the
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Curious City:
Zanzibar Prague worldwide. I want to say a huge heartfelt thanks to all my contributors and
Exploring Stone Town’s
Swahili style
advertisers over the years, without whom there would be no TT magazine,
and everyone else involved in making the magazine what it is today. To
celebrate we have produced a special bumper issue to mark the occasion.
There are numerous special features in this issue. One is by Dr Damian Evans,
Interview
with
Dr. Estelle Lazer Cambodia: ancient who has been carrying out the most exciting ground-breaking research in
Channel 5’s
as seen on
Last Days of
Pompeii
jungle secrets revealed
the Cambodian jungle for years, and now we have an exclusive update on his
TAN ANIA ALES CAMBODIA AE C ECH REP BLIC PORT GAL
research. Another exclusive scoop in this issue is an interview with Colonel

John Waddy, a 99-year-old veteran involved in Operation Market Garden, which
features in the second of our 'Europe Remembers' articles, commemorating the
forthcoming 75th anniversary of the end of World War II in Europe. We hope you
enjoy his memories of WWII as much as we did. Finally we are excited to have a
special interview with Dr Estelle Lazer, who studies the bones from Pompeii, and
whose work was recently highlighted on Channel 5's Last Days of Pompeii.
There are visits to colourful Zanzibar, picturesque Wales,
ancient Al Ain and stunning central Portugal, plus lots
more. We hope you enjoy our special birthday issue very
much. Happy travelling!
Editor-in-Chief, Founder & Publisher: Fiona Richards
Editor: Judith Casey

Design: Louise Wood
With grateful thanks to: Damian Evans, Steve Tierman, Stuart Norman and Robert Veel
Contributors: Paul Beston, Sarah Crake, Damian Evans, Linda Falcone, Neil Hennessy-Vass, Matilda Hickson,
Matt Hoorspool, Lynn Houghton, Alice Norman and Theresa Thompson
Distribution Enquiries: Magazine Workshop Advertising: Judith Quiney Social Media: Inking Miles
Digital distributors: Goldkey Media, Press Reader Printers: CPUK Print Publishing Distributor: Pineapple Media
Website:www.timeless-travels.co.uk
Editorial: [email protected]
Advertising: [email protected]
General enquiries: [email protected]
Tel: +44 (0)1747 870017
Timeless Travels Magazine is
Timeless Travels Magazine (ISSN 2056 - 659X) is published four published by FPE Media Ltd
times a year on 1 March, 1 June, 1 September & 1 December. © 2019 FPE Media Ltd. All rights reserved. Whether in
whole or in part, in any form or by any means, this
Subscriptions: Available through the website, publication may not be reproduced, stored in a
www.timeless-travels.co.uk or call +44 (0)1747 870017 retrieval system or transmitted without the written
permission of the publisher.
Timeless Travels Summer 2019
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Contents
37
ART ROUNDUP:
Latest news and exhibitions
18 CURIOUS CITIES:
Praque, Czech Republic
56 TRAVELLER'S TALE:
Ethiopia 34
48
EUROPE REMEMBERS: QUICK GUIDE:

Special feature Newcastle-upon-Tyne
8 TANZANIA:
Zanzibar's Stone Town 84
4 Timeless Travels • Summer 2019
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Summer 2019
70 CAMBODIA:
Jungle Secrets Revealed 80 112
EXHIBITION FOCUS:
BOOKS Mary Rose Museum
26
POSTCARD FROM...:
Wales
98 PORTUGAL:
Monasteries, castles and cave art
INTERVIEW WITH:
Estelle Lazer 20
ITALY:
The Innocents of Florence 52
84 UNITED ARAB EMIRATES:
The Oasis of Al Ain
96 107
PHOTO DELIGHT: ARCHAEOLOGICAL

Kyrgyzstan NEWS
Timeless Travels • Summer 2019 5
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Contributors Summer 2019
Paul Beston Sarah Crake

Paul studied ancient history at King’s Sarah studied history of art and publishing
College, London. Alongside lecturing at university. After five years as a press
posts at King’s and Royal Holloway, officer, she travelled extensively around
University of London, he acted as an India and Asia, before editing books at a
historical adviser for HBO’s Fire from local publishing house in Galle, Sri Lanka.
Heaven. He spent over a decade teaching A stint working in Oriental Studies at the
Classics in Hertfordshire before being lured away University of Oxford further fuelled her passion and
from academia to join Peter Sommer Travels as a full- interest in Asia and the Islamic World. Berkshire-
time member of staff and tour guide. He has a lively based, Sarah is a keen photographer and especially
interest in all periods and regions, but a particular enjoys writing about, and photographing, historical
passion for Late Antiquity, Roman Britain and the Near architecture.
East.
Damian Evans Linda Falcone

Damian is a Canadian-Australian Linda is Director of Advancing Women
archaeologist with the École Française Artists in Italy and author of two non-
d’Extrême-Orient, the French research fiction books, Italians Dance and I’m a
institute that has led work on the Angkor Wallflower and If They Are Roses: The
monuments for more than a century. His Italian Way with Words, as well as the
work involves using advanced geospatial novel Moving Days. Her latest publication
technologies to explore traces of human activity in written jointly with Jane Fortune, When the World
tropical landscapes from the deep past to the present Answered: Florence, Women Artists and the 1966
day. In the course of a twenty-year career he has Flood was published in October 2014.
written widely about Southeast Asian archaeology,
and his work at Angkor has been profiled extensively
in print and broadcast media.
Neil Hennessy-Vass Matt Hoorspool

After a career in broadcasting Neil took Matt is a freelance photographer born in
the itinerant route of travel, food and arts South Korea and raised in rural NSW. He
writer. Also a photographer he’s never now lives and works in Northern Sydney
without a camera to capture the world’s working on a variety of national and
wonders. Neil has worked with Our Man on international projects. With a passion and
the Ground, Families, Darling, Black & White focus on adventure travel content, his work
and Mojo magazines and BBC, ITV, Channel 4 and explores the natural world ranging from ocean
the World Service. He also enjoys polishing off a few depths, soaring remote mountain ranges and aerial
glasses for wine publication The Buyer. When not bird’s-eye views. His photos have featured in various
on a plane, Neil can be found on the edges of Kent, print and online publications and have won multiple
perusing an atlas and planning the next trip. online awards.
Lynn Houghton Theresa Thompson

Lynn has travelled extensively over the Theresa is a freelance journalist based
last 15 years, visiting countries in Asia, in Oxford. After working in health
Africa and the Americas, writing about education in the UK and in Namibia with
- and photographing - a range of travel VSO, followed by a year at the Cheetah
and cultural topics. An early trip to Malawi Conservation Fund near Otjiwarongo,
and Zambia focused on learning to sketch Namibia, and previously as press officer for the
animals in the wild, but the highlight was the incredible environmental charity Earthwatch, she now writes for
interactions with the people in those countries. Lynn newspapers and magazines on visual art, archaeology,
is published in magazines, on-line and in newspapers wildlife conservation, and travel - subjects that are all
in the UK and is a member of the British Guild of Travel close to her heart.
Writers.
006 CONTRIBUTORS.indd 6 15/05/2019 16:17

CULTURAL TOURS
& PRIVATE VIEWS
Our visits are led by experts whose
passion and authority on their
subjects are equal to their sense of
hospitality, attention to detail and
above all, their sense of fun.
SELECTED TOURS
ETERNAL SPLENDOURS: THE UNIVERSAL ARTIST:

AQUILEIA, RAVENNA LEONARDO & THE
& TORCELLO COURT OF MILAN
1 - 5 OCTOBER 2019 3 - 7 DECEMBER 2019
WITH CHARLES FREEMAN WITH TOM DUNCAN
ROMAN, MEDIEVAL & SUGAR PLUM FAIRIES:

MODERNIST: CHRISTMAS
THE HERITAGE OF IN ST PETERSBURG
CATALONIA 22 - 27 DECEMBER 2019
13 - 19 OCTOBER 2019 WITH TOM DUNCAN
WITH GLORIA LOMAS
STRADIVARIUS TO VERDI:
To request a
MUSIC & ART IN brochure please
CREMONA & PARMA call 01869 811167,
email or visit
15 - 20 OCTOBER 2019 our website
WITH PETER HILL
Gallery of Ancient Paintings, Winter Palace, State Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg

CONTACT US
+44 (0) 1869 811167 | [email protected] | www.ciceroni.co.uk
City guides for independent

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SRI LANKA
Image: © Nick Johanson/shutterstock
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Zanzibar
Exploring Stone Town’s Swahili Style
Stone Town, the historic area of an ibar City, is filled with narrow
alleyways, ancient architecture and ornate doors. Sarah Crake discovers that
this popular tourist destination is full of colour and utterly charming
F
ringed by coral reefs, shimmering ocean other, stopping frequently to chat.
and spectacular beaches, the tropical After the Zanzibar Revolution of 1964, Stone
island of Zanzibar is one of the world’s Town’s ancient buildings fell into disrepair. Some
most enchanting holiday destinations. Just still remain derelict, reclaimed by vines and
30 miles from Dar es Salaam - Tanzania’s creepers; their crumbling coral-stone walls are a
coastal capital – this 83 km-long slice of East African poignant reminder of eras past. And there have
paradise has been shaped by centuries of Indian been many – spanning nearly two millennia.
Ocean migration and trade. Stone Town, the historic Phoenician, Yemeni, Chinese, Portuguese, Indian,
bazaar area inside its modern capital Zanzibar City, Persian, Omani and British have all landed in
is a captivating place with a unique mix of ancient Zanzibar’s safe harbours. Propelled by monsoon
architecture. Merchant houses, mosques, temples winds (you’ll feel the strength if you stand on
and churches are all shoehorned into the winding an east coast beach) and lured by the trade
alleys that dissect the city, their corrugated iron roofs opportunities opened by maritime roads, over
fused by tangles of power lines and bougainvillea, the centuries their cultures have slowly become
pierced by the occasional minaret. stratified onto the original Swahili bedrock.
At every twist and turn of the narrow lanes – From the 10th century, traders from Shiraz in
designed when donkey carts were the only form of Iran and Hadramaut in Yemen settled along the
transport you’ll find ornate carved doors, old Arabic Swahili coast, known as Zanj, unifying it under
lanterns or steps to an ancient mosque — clues to Islam. Yemenis built the earliest mosque in 1107
Image: © Nick Johanson/shutterstock
the rich history of this UNESCO World Heritage in Kizimkazi (60km from Stone Town). But it was
Site. The hum of pedal-powered sewing machines, the Omani Arabs that were the most in uential,
Left: Aerial view a sudden blast of the call to prayer and the chime of establishing Zanzibar as a vital trading port in 1698
of Stone Town, bells from the Hindu temple provide an atmospheric and building a defensive fort at Forodhani Gardens.
Zanzibar City sound track. These close-knit quarters have led to a Such was the importance of the island’s trade that
Images by Sarah neighbourly and friendly feel. Men gather on stone around 1832 they shifted their seat of power from
Crake unless benches called baraza, as they have done for time Muscat. The first Sultan Said established expansive
otherwise indicated immemorial, and everyone seems to know each clove plantations, followed by cinnamon, cumin,
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TANZANIA
ginger and black pepper. The rich scents became

synonymous with Zanzibar, and the archipelago
came to be known as the Spice Islands. Said’s
enormous land ownership, as well as trade treaties
with Britain, France and Germany and even the
States, brought huge wealth to the island.
But the success came at a terrible cost to human
life. Zanzibar became a major trading hub for
slaves and it was their labour that fuelled the
plantations and enabled the spice trade. With the
Sultan controlling Zanj, as well as interior trade
routes as deep as Congo, around 50,000 African
slaves a year were tra cked back to Stone Town’s
markets. Conditions were brutal and many died
in transit. Survivors were put to work on the
plantations or packed into trading dhows alongside
shipments of cloves and ivory and exported to
Persia and Arabia, as well as to the Ottoman
Empire and Egypt. From 1822, the Sultan was put
under pressure by the British to curb the trade, but
although the slave trade was abolished in 1876, it
wasn’t until 1897 that it became illegal on Zanzibar.
The British exiled Sultan Barghash to Bombay,
where he remained for the duration of his brother,
Sultan Majid’s rule. In 1870 he returned, inspired
by the Indo-Saracenic style of The Raj and built
himself a fine collection of palaces. Overlooking
the seafront, The House of Wonders (Beit al Ajaib),
his ceremonial palace (currently under extensive
renovation), was an architectural showcase for
visitors, and distraction from the insalubrious
conditions in the congested lanes behind. The
only building in East Africa to have running water
and electricity, the interiors were replete with vast Museum known as Beit el Amani (House of Peace)
chequerboard oors, sweeping teak staircases, (192 ) was heavily in uenced by the Hagia Sofia in Above, top: Stone
ebony furniture and colossal chandeliers. The front Istanbul, and the facade of the Bharmal Building, Town souvenir shop
door was wide enough for the Sultan to ride his which Sinclair built for an Indian businessman, Above, bottom: Beit
elephant through. now an ibar’s Municipal Council o ce (192 ), is el Amani, House of
But Stone Town’s most distinctive oriental unmistakably Saracenic. Peace
buildings actually date from the 20th century, Both Swahili and Arabic houses were designed Right, top: Aerial
when Zanzibar was under British protectorate. J inwards around a central courtyard. The exteriors view showing the Old
H Sinclair (1871-1961) was a young architect who were plain - almost modernist in their white Fort, Stone Town,
the amphitheatre
was passionate about eastern design and lavished cube simplicity – disguising the often elaborate and Beit al Ajaib, the
his buildings with Moorish and Indian details. decor inside. Number 831-832 Kiponda Street, House of Wonders
Sinclair built several landmarks in Stone Town, now Zanzibar Palace Hotel, was an Arab house,
Right: The
including the British Residency, High Court, Bank purchased in 1904 by Abdulali Waliji, a Gujarati amphitheatre built
of India and the Post O ce. His Peace Memorial trader from Mandvi in Kutch – an important Indian within the Old Fort
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TANZANIA
Image: © Malo shutterstock
Image: © Pajac Slovensky/shutterstock
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TANZANIA
Image: © Mehmet Akdemir/shutterstock
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TANZANIA
008-017 ZANZIBAR.indd 13 16/05/2019 15:03

Image: © In Green/shutterstock TANZANIA
Image: © Pearl-diver/shutterstock
Previous pages: Ladies

in colourful saris on a
Zanzibar beach
This page: Examples of
doors in Stone Town.
The metal spikes are an
in uen e om In ia
where they were used to
keep out elephants
Right: Colourful artwork
in the narrow streets of
Stone Town
008-017 ZANZIBAR.indd 14 16/05/2019 15:03

TANZANIA
”
Richard Burton, the British explorer commented: “the higher the
house the bigger the door the heavier the lock the mightier the studs,
the more pretentious the owner”
port on the trade routes. He set about converting of the house, doors were commissioned even
the ground oor for his import-export business, before land was bought and then passed down
extending the upper oors into living quarters - through generations. The more ornate designs
known as niche duhan - and adding Indian details, expressed the wealth and status of the owner.
such as latticework balconies. These balconies Richard Burton, the British explorer commented:
allowed women to move around outside, yet still “the higher the house the bigger the door the
remain private. heavier the lock the mightier the studs, the more
This blend of vernacular and overseas artistic pretentious the owner.”
traditions is most visible in Zanzibar’s iconic The wealthiest Indian trader on the island
doors. Indian craftsmen developed existing Swahili was Tharia Topan, Sultan Bargash’s financial
and Arabic traditions adding intricate lotus and customs chief. An Ismaili known for his
blossom motifs and jewel-coloured stained glass, business integrity, in 1887 he commissioned The
reminiscent of the havelis (mansions) of north- Old (Ithnashiri) Dispensary as a hospital to mark
west India. Enormous brass spikes, used to deter Queen Victoria’s Golden Jubilee. A wonderfully
elephants in India, became a design statement. opulent building with several stories of wooden
A chain design running around the edges of a verandas and loggias, the mint-green lattice
doorway, symbolised security – or, as several local facade is exquisite when bathed in sunlight.
guides explained – were a sign that the owner of Topan’s house, now a restored boutique hotel
the house was in the slave trade. Craftsmen also called Emerson on Hurumzi, has an impressive
drew on seafaring themes such as wave designs 80-foot pavilion from which Topan could have
and fish scales, or Arabic geometric patterns and comfortably kept his eye on the port’s activities.
Quranic inscriptions. As the most important part Many Indians who emigrated to Zanzibar, were
Image: © Sun-shine/shutterstock
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TANZANIA
Recommended things to
see or do in Stone Town
WALKING TOURS
Getting lost in the atmospheric maze-like lanes
is an exciting experience, but as night falls,
dimly lit alleys can start to seem eerie. Although
Stone Town is cosy and safe, first timers
should consider hiring a guide to point out key
landmarks and help establish bearings. Hotel
sta are often happy to walk with you and help
find a restaurant in the evenings.
PRINCESS SALME MUSEUM

The Museum is tucked away next to Emerson on
Hurumzi Street. Princess Salme was an Omani
princess, who had an illicit a air with a German
merchant, then ed to Hamburg via Aden.
Her captivating story is diarised in her book
Memoirs of an Arabian Princess.
Above: Slave
memorial at Christ DARAJANI MARKET
Church Anglican
A visit to this photogenic and colourful local
Cathedral
market is not to be missed, but do go early to
Right: View from avoid the heat. It’s one of the best places to buy
the Tea House at
colourful African wax fabrics, as well as spices
Emerson on Hurumzi
with the Shiv Shakti and souvenirs. Do check before taking any
Hindu temple in the photographs of people.
foreground
FORODHANI GARDENS
NIGHT MARKET
Every evening, food vendors set up their stalls
Shi’a Muslims from the Ismaili sect. If you look selling spicy kebabs, Indian chapattis, samosas
around, bright red and green Ismaili colours are and the famous ‘Zanzibar pizza’, drawing
visible in the stained glass lintels of many houses tourists and locals alike.
and even replicated in African wax fabric designs.
From these kaleidoscopic fabrics – called kanga PRISON ISLAND
and kitenge – to abstract canvases lining the One of the most popular half-day excursions
lanes, Stone Town has firmly established itself as from Stone Town, a small motorboat will take
one of Africa’s artistic hubs and now hosts major you across glistening turquoise waters, to the
annual cultural events. Wandering the streets, tiny island of Changuu where giant tortoises
you’ll see many art studios selling Swahili crafts, roam. Once a prison for unruly slaves – the
colourful oil paintings and delicate watercolours of British bought the island in 1893 and used it as a
the city’s iconic doors and dhows. Make sure you quarantine station for yellow fever cases.
stop by Capital Photography Gallery, a veritable
treasure trove of old black and white photos and a CHRIST CHURCH ANGLICAN
fascinating insight into Stone Town’s past. CATHEDRAL AND SLAVE MARKET
A place where history seems as vibrant and Christ Church’s construction was timed to
relevant as the present, Zanzibar still entices commemorate the abolition of slavery and is
thousands of visitors from all over the globe, its built on the site of Stone Town’s biggest slave
magical appeal undimmed. Perhaps in a way market. Memorial statues depict humans in
nothing has really changed since the dhows of the chains – a sobering depiction of the island’s
first traders landed on the same white sand beaches dark past.
centuries before.
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TANZANIA
Travel tips for visiting Zanzibar, Tanzania
Flying The Essentials i Cultural information

There are no direct flights to Zanzibar Time difference: GMT + 3 Dhow Countries Music Academy
from the UK. Ethiopian Airlines flies from promotes the traditional music heritage
About: Zanzibar is a semi-autonomous
Addis Ababa daily (10.30 via Kilimanjaro of Zanzibar and the Indian Ocean and
region of Tanzania, placed in the Indian
/ return 16.00). There are also daily Gulf countries – known as the ‘dhow
Ocean, 25–50 kilometres off the coast region’. An evening listening to traditional
connections on Turkish Airlines via
of the mainland. It is made up of the taaba music is recommended. Visit the
Istanbul, Oman Air via Muscat, Qatar
Zanzibar Archipelago and consists of website www.zanzibarmusic.org/en/ for
Airways via Doha and Fly Dubai. Kenya
many small islands and two large ones: the calendar of events.
Airways and Precision Air fly via Nairobi. Unguja (the main island, referred to
informally as Zanzibar) and Pemba Island. Stone Town’s Cultural Arts Centre (at
It’s easy to get a pre-paid taxi at the
Hamamni Street) supports sustainable
airport, but most of Stone Town’s hotels Language: English is widely spoken arts and crafts and hosts exhibitions from
will send an airport driver (then add it on and people who work in tourism often local Zanzibari and Tanzanian artists.
to your hotel bill as a flat cost). It is about know European languages too. The
a 20-30 minute drive through the suburbs local language is Swahili (also known as Zanzibar’s International Film Festival
to Stone Town. Kiswahili). It’s a beautiful language which (ZIFF) (venues across the island) is the
draws on Arabic and indigenous African, largest cultural event in East Africa. It is
but there are English, Portuguese and on between 6-14 July.
Visas German root words embedded too. Sauti za Busara is a major African music
Most tourists obtain visas at Zanzibar’s Electrical current/ plugs: 220 AC volts. festival that is held every year in February
airport, but you can apply by post to the Plugs are rounded two-pronged variety. in Stone Town. For more information see
Tanzanian High Commission in London www.busaramusic.org.
Water: Travellers are recommended to
around a fortnight before departure drink bottled water. Jahazi Jazz and Literary Festival held
and avoid long queues on arrival. (Visas in Stone Town is a weekend of open-air
currently cost c.£40) Dress: Zanzibar is 99% Muslim. The jazz concerts, poetry readings and story
majority are Sunni with smaller telling. See www.jahazifestival.com for
communities of Ismaili and Shi’a. more information.
Getting around Therefore modest dress is recommended
Stone Town is a great place to wander

when wandering the lanes and suburbs i Don’t miss
of Stone Town. Tourists are warmly
around on foot. welcomed on Zanzibar, so swim wear is With their opulent restored interiors,
Taxi prices are fixed across the island. For fine along the beaches. All the hotels serve Emerson on Hurumzi Street and Emerson
a real island experience you can try the alcohol and are open to non-guests too. Spice are tourist attractions in their
mini buses (dala-dalas). Most depart from own right. These historical merchant
Darajani Market. Weather houses-turned boutique hotels were the
brainchild of Emerson Skeens, a New
Zanzibar is a year-round destination but Yorker who was incredibly passionate
Money June-October and January-February are about Zanzibar and its heritage.
ideal dry periods to visit. The rainy season
Non-guests can enjoy the Emerson
Currency: The Tanzanian Shilling is the lasts from March until around May.
experience at The Tea House Restaurant
official currency of Tanzania, but US Shorter rains happen in November and
at Hurumzi – probably the most famous
dollars are also widely accepted in tourist December, but they usually clear quickly.
place to dine on the island. Dinner is
areas. You can exchange money at many served at 7pm for a maximum of 35
authorised dealers, banks and bureaux de guests. The Persian and Omani recipes
change. It is advised to get a receipt after are inspired by Zanzibar’s culinary
each transaction. heritage and are made with locally
sourced ingredients. Arrive early to
ATMs: Are easy to access in Stone Town.
enjoy the unforgettable view of Stone
You can also pay for taxis and hotels in
Zanzibar City Town’s rusty rooftops burnished by the
US Dollars. To minimise the risk of card ZANZIBAR
setting sun.
cloning, only use ATMs located within a INDIAN
OCEAN
bank. Traveller’s cheques are not widely The roof terrace of the old English
accepted and non-Bank of England Club, now the Africa House Hotel, is
sterling notes may be subject to less another perfect spot to relax and enjoy
favourable exchange rates. Zanzibar’s dazzling sunsets. Or you can
TANZANIA book a dhow cruise at your hotel to
Credit cards: Are accepted in larger fully immerse yourself in the timeless
Dar Es Salaam
hotels and restaurants. seascapes of the Indian Ocean.
008-017 ZANZIBAR.indd 17 16/05/2019 15:03

CURIOUS CITIES...
PRAGUE
ASTRONOMICAL CLOCK
Visitors can’t resist gathering in front of
the Old Town’s Astronomical Clock to
watch its mechanical parade of figures.
Few understand the mass of dials and
symbols though, nor the static figures
that act as a medieval morality tale.
CUBIST LAMP
Prague is famous over for its Gothic,
Renaissance and Baroque architecture
but less so for its contribution to
FAMOUS SAINT Cubism. As well as several Cubist
No visit to Prague is complete without houses dotted around the city, Prague
a stroll across Charles Bridge. The boasts the world’s only Cubist lamp
16-arched medieval crossing is lined post on ungmannovo n m st .
with Baroque statues, most famously
that of Saint John Nepomuk, a priest
drowned by royal decree for not BAROQUE GARDEN
divulging secrets from the confessional. During the 17th century, Catholic
aristocrats transformed the area
beneath Prague Castle into a district of
Baroque palaces. Many had Italianate
gardens attached, including the
magical Vrtba Garden (Vrtbovská
zahrada) on Karmelitská.
VELVET REVOLUTION
The Velvet Revolution of 1989 marked the
end of Czech Communism. This striking
memorial of outstretched hands is
located where the revolution began, in an
arcade at N rodn t da 16, where police
forcibly broke up a public march.
GOLDEN STREET
Prague Castle is in reality a walled
palace and cathedral complex founded
a thousand years ago. One of its most
charming corners is Golden Lane (Zlatá
uli ka), a street of tiny houses tight
against the ramparts occupied first by
goldsmiths and later by artillerymen.
“Straddling the banks of the Baltic-bound River

Vltava, the Czech capital is compact, storied and
achingly beautiful.”
018-019 CURIOUS CITIES.indd 18 13/05/2019 10:44

CURIOUS CITIES
Unique locations, hidden corners and unusual objects as recommended by…
ALCHEMIST'S QUEST
Colourful King Rudolf of
Bohemia was a devotee
of astrology and alchemy,
considered mainstream
scientific fields in
Renaissance Prague.
He never found the
Philosopher’s Stone but
his mysterious obsession
is recalled in this fresco in
Old Town Square.
“The iconic skyline was created by a roll-call of

e il em erors an firebran leri s ro al al hemists
and obsessive astronomers.”
FIRST MONASTERY
LENNON'S WALL One of Prague’s suburban gems is
Following the death of John Lennon the B evnov Monastery (B evnovsky
in 1980, anti-Communists daubed klašter). Bohemia’s oldest, it was
an image of the peace-loving Beatle established in AD 993 by the
on this wall in Grand Prior Square Benedictines, with its present Baroque
(Velkop evorsk n m st ). Fans and incarnation dating from the first half
activists still come here to add their of the 18th century.
own slogans and sentiments..
CZECH HOLLYWOOD
Prague’s Barrandov film studios have
rightly been dubbed the ‘Hollywood of the
East’. Established in the early 1930s, they
have survived both Nazi and Communist
regimes and more recently played host to
both Tom Cruise and James Bond.
JEWISH GRAVES
The Jews arrived in Prague during the 12th Discover more with
century and stayed in the Josefov district Only in Prague
by Duncan JD Smith
until the 1890s, when the area was cleared.
Published by
What remains is a handful of historic
The Urban Explorer
synagogues and an ancient cemetery filled www.onlyinguides.com
with higgledy-piggledy gravestones.
018-019 CURIOUS CITIES.indd 19 13/05/2019 10:44

Interview
with...
Estelle
Image: © Alfonso de Tomas/Shutterstock
Lazer
020-024 INTERVIEW.indd 20 17/05/2019 09:21

INTERVIEW
Three decades ago, Australian archaeologist Dr Estelle Lazer gained international attention by
taking a rigorous, scientific approach to the human remains at Pompeii. More than any other aspect
of the site, the skeletons of victims of the eruption of Mount Vesuvius have piqued our interest.
But, according to La er, the value of human remains was not appreciated as a scientific resource .
Rather they were subject matter for myth and fiction.
S
ince the early 18th century there undertaking new research, participating in This work represents the first scientific
has been a steady stream of prose, television documentaries on Pompeii and research that has ever been performed
poetry, television, film and even speaking to audiences around the world. on these ama ing finds that re ect the
an opera about the lives of Pompeians, We caught up with Estelle to ask her about disaster that destroyed settlements around
much of it inspired by the bones. The her latest work – using modern medical the Bay of Naples. It is non-invasive, which
creation of plaster casts of the victims imaging techniques on site at Pompeii. means that we can-do high-level research
from some skeletons in the 19th and early without damaging the casts.
20th century did nothing to reduce this Estelle, what are you working on
tendency for 'romancing the bones', as right now? Who is behind the new research?
she once put it. Estelle undertook the first My current project involves X-raying Who is funding it?
ever comprehensive and systematic study and CT scanning all the casts of the The Pompeii Cast project is being
of the bones (not the casts), painstakingly Pompeian victims that have been made conducted as a joint project between the
sorting, examining and classifying what to date. My initial work involved skeletal University of Sydney and the Pompeii
she found. “The human bones were not identification from individual bones Archaeological Park (PAP). We have a
discarded,” she says, “but stored in piles, from skeletons that had been poorly Memorandum of Agreement that was
along with other finds from Pompeii, in stored. In theory, the plaster casts of the initiated by the PAP in recognition of
ancient buildings on the site that were victims encapsulate entire skeletons. This the importance of this study and which
not accessible to the public. The bones indicated that there was the potential to makes us partners. Our team is multi-
became mixed up and were left largely significantly increase our knowledge of disciplinary and multi-national, with
unstudied for centuries.” the victims as making diagnoses from researchers from the University of Sydney,
Estelle’s research provided a unique complete skeletons is far more reliable the New South Wales Division of Forensic
snapshot of the people who were living in than from individual skeletal elements. Medicine, the niversity of Notre Dame,
Pompeii in 79 CE scientifically speaking
“a large sample of an ancient population
who all died of the same cause at the
same time”. She discovered evidence of
age-related disorders that suggested that
a significant proportion of the population
was reaching old age and she found that
the sample of victims appeared to re ect a
random sample of a normally distributed
population, not just the old and infirm
who could not escape the eruption.
While Estelle’s initial research remains
an important breakthrough in our
approach to studying the past, she has not
rested on her laurels. A typical year sees
her making several visits to Pompeii and
Left, insert: Estelle with the bones of

Pompeii. Left, main picture: A plaster cast
of a seated victim of the volcanic eruption.
Estelle scans these plaster casts to discover
what the bones inside can tell us.
Right: A cast enters the CT scanner
020-024 INTERVIEW.indd 21 17/05/2019 09:21

INTERVIEW
Left: A cast of one of the victims found in

the so-called ‘Garden of the Fugitives’
Above: A remarkable CT scan of the head
of one of the victims, inside a cast. The
colours are created by Philips
”
the Philips technology company and even
a local hospital in the region.
Much of the project has been supported
by a TV documentary jointly produced by We are using the most up-to-date medical imaging
the BBC, Smithsonian and the Franco-
equipment available to us. CT scanning provides us
German Arte network, and another for
Channel 5 in the UK. In April 2019 we also with the most comprehensive documentation of a
filmed a third documentary for National cast and its contents
Geographic, which involves the X-ray of 1
casts found in the so-called Garden of the
Fugitives at Pompeii. which the victims met their fate, they are by vibration during transportation.
often in positions that make it impossible Subsequently, we have been able to take
What kind of medical imaging for them to fit into a conventional CT some of the more robust casts o site to
equipment are you using? scanner. These casts are being examined the nearby hospital in specially designed
We are using the most up-to-date medical with state-of-the-art portable digital containers. The technology for portable
imaging equipment available to us. CT X-ray technology. This technology was digital X-rays has been improving since
scanning provides us with the most originally developed for large animals such we started the project and the equipment
comprehensive documentation of a cast as elephants or race horses. It is perfect has become smaller and lighter. The
and its contents. They provide us with a for Pompeii as it can be taken into tight X-ray generator can now operate with
series of X-ray slices that can be stitched spaces without compromising the unique batteries and without cables. Images can
together by computer programs and archaeological remains. be reviewed almost immediately on a
which then can provide images of the computer screen or tablet.
contents of the cast from any direction. How do you get X-ray equipment The casts cannot be manipulated. We
Post processing enables us to onto an archaeological site? You have to work around them. This can be
reconstruct both the outside and the can’t tell a plaster cast to hold its extremely challenging, especially when
inside of the casts. We can identify breath or turn around, so how do they are lying on the ground, as is the
di erent densities of plaster, which tells you perform the X-ray? case for the majority of the casts that are
us how the casts have been created and In 2015, Philips brought a 16-slice hospital displayed outside in or near their original
restored over time. We are able to isolate CT scanner onto the edge of the site by find spots.
individual elements within the casts so truck. It was set up just outside the ancient
that they can be studied both in detail wall at the southern side of Pompeii, near What has been your most
and from any angle. In addition, the data the amphitheatre. Casts were carried remarkable discovery to date in
we collect enables us to make a D print across the site to the machine by restorers this new research?
of the bones embedded in the plaster. on a stretcher that was specially designed It has become apparent that there was as
Unfortunately, because of the manner in to ensure that the casts were not damaged much art as science in the manufacture
020-024 INTERVIEW.indd 22 17/05/2019 09:21

INTERVIEW
Above: Cast of one of the dogs of Pompeii

in its last moments
Right: A CT scanning machine from a local
hospital on site at Pompeii
Below: Dr Estelle Lazer and members of
her team amid their research subjects
of the casts of the victims. We have 19th and early 20th centuries for the soon after fieldwork is completed. I
discovered that in a number of cases, enjoyment of visitors to the site. We have also been giving public lectures to
considerable numbers of bones were have also embarked on an oral history large audiences across the world since
removed prior to casting and reinforcing of people who have worked on the the project started, We also have a blog
rods and staples made of iron were production of casts or have at least spoken site, www.castprojectpompeii.org which
inserted to strengthen the casts. In the to restorers who are no longer alive. will be linked to the o cial Pompeii
case of the dog, which was found in the Archaeological Park (PAP) website. We
so-called House of Orpheus in 1874, There’s always enormous interest plan to publish a popular book at the
all the bones were removed prior to in Pompeii, both from the end of the project and hope to develop a
casting and much metal was introduced. academic community and the travelling exhibition with the PAP and the
Examination of the plaster tells us that general public. How is your work new museum at the University of Sydney.
it was constructed out of six or seven being disseminated to a broader
di erent pieces. audience? Of all the archaeological sites
This aspect of the project is extremely One of the advantages of working on known to us, Pompeii is perhaps
important as it is essential that we can television documentaries is that the the one most steeped in legend
identify what dates to the 1st century results of our research are disseminated and even fiction. Has your
CE and what has been ‘improved’ in the to large audiences across the world fairly recent, science-based research
overturned any widely held
beliefs about the ancient
Roman world, or at least given
them a nudge?
The casts have spawned their own
mythology and stories have been invented
about these victims, purely on the basis of
superficial inspection and circumstantial
evidence. For example, pretty much every
cast with a vaguely distended abdomen
was interpreted as a pregnant female.
Our research does not support this
and in some cases indicates that these
individuals are not even female.
Similarly, a cast that was said to have
been a crippled old beggar turns out
to be a sturdy young individual with a
miscast hand that had previously been
020-024 INTERVIEW.indd 23 17/05/2019 09:21

INTERVIEW
An aerial shot of the Garden of the

Fugitives, with Mount Vesuvius in
the background
interpreted as a begging bag. We aim to I imagine the casts you work

use the skeletal evidence to return their with, and indeed the entire Dr Estelle Lazer is an archaeologist
actual lives, not those superimposed on archaeological site of Pompeii, with an international reputation for
the casts by scholars and purveyors of is rather fragile. What kinds of her work on the human victims of
popular culture, who have essentially risks to their ongoing survival are Pompeii. Her PhD studied the site’s
used the casts as props for storytelling. posed by our very interest in the human skeletons, and her current
site? Is there a need for urgent project is to CT scan and X-ray the
We know that non-Italians have action? What do we stand to lose? unique casts of these victims. Estelle’s
been fascinated by Pompeii for Pompeii is a remarkable site. It is the best book, Resurrecting Pompeii, was
centuries. Are the Italians equally known of all the ancient sites that were published by Routledge and her
interested in the sites, or in preserved in the 79 CE destruction layer. work forms a core part of the Ancient
recent research? Maintaining and preserving a huge above History syllabus for the NSW Higher
The Vesuvian sites have captured the ground site of about 66 hectares – and School Certificate in Australia.
popular imagination since they were that is just the area within the walls – is an
first exposed to a fascinated world in the endless task and requires constant vigilance Estelle is an Honorary Research
18th century. They have attracted visitors to ensure that problems are recognised and Associate in the Department of
and scholarship from all over the world. dealt with before they become disasters. Classics and Ancient History at the
There have been teams doing research The site is exposed to the elements and University of Sydney. In October
in Pompeii from nearly every nation, requires constant conservation work. It 2017, the University of Sydney and
including Finland, Sweden, Holland, hosts somewhere between two and a half the Pompeii Archaeological Park
America, Australia, Japan, England and and three million visitors a year and risks signed an historic Memorandum
Germany. being loved to death. Visitor education of Agreement to partner in an
The level of Italian interest in the is one of the keys to ensuring that the important new scanning project led
nation’s cultural heritage is extremely site is preserved for future generations by Estelle. Her research has received
high, with teams from many areas of to enjoy. Visitors need to appreciate considerable media attention in
the country conducting research on the that the ancient remains are fragile and print, radio and television, with two
site. It’s a prestigious site of undoubted that touching wall paintings, climbing documentaries (one for the BBC and
national significance. Much of the recent on ancient structures and taking tiny Smithsonian, the other for Britain’s
research on the site is Italian led. And souvenirs, like fragments of mosaics, will Channel 5) ensuring a wide audience
there certainly is real interest in our result in the destruction of this unique for her fascinating findings.
current project as demonstrated by the piece of our world’s cultural heritage.
request of the Pompeii Archaeological
Park for us to have a Memorandum of Dr Estelle Lazer will lead the upcoming Pompeii & Cities of Vesuvius tour for
Agreement that makes us partners with Academy Travel in November 2019. For more information please contact
[email protected] or call 0207 6109 926.
them for the Pompeii Cast Project.
020-024 INTERVIEW.indd 24 17/05/2019 09:21

Stourhead
Visit Stourhead in Wiltshire, a
world-famous landscape garden,
where you'll find magnificent
views, towering trees, a magical
grotto, classical temples and a
glistening lake.
Stourhead House is a grand family

home, shaped by generations of
the Hoare family, with a regency
library, Chippendale furniture and
inspirational paintings.
Call 01747 841152 for details

nationaltrust.org.uk/stourhead
When you visit, donate, volunteer or join the
#nationaltrust
National Trust, your support helps us to look
after special places for ever, for everyone.
© National Trust 2019. The National Trust is an independent registered charity, number 205846. Photography ©
National Trust Images\Clive Nichols.
025 ACADEMY /NT.indd 25 15/05/2019 15:08

Postcard from…
WALES
of the Silk Route
Above: The wall

stretches out for
many miles
Right, top:
Sycamore gap
Right, bottom:
Milecast
All photos: ©
Peter Sommer
Travels
026-033 WALES.indd 26 16/05/2019 18:31

WALES
In our postcard series, this

time historian Paul Beston
visits Wales and explains that
although it may be a small
country, it is filled with beautiful
landscapes full of history
I
n Wales, you have to start with mountains
and hills. There’s probably an ordinance
written somewhere, and, to be fair, it makes
a lot of sense. They frame so much, and
insinuate themselves into your fondest
memories. Think of the castles silhouetted on
rocky outcrops, the wooded hills steaming with
moisture ghost-grey on black-green as you drive
through spring rain, the dusting of snow on the
raw, wild hills at the heads of the valleys, or the
rearing masses of Blorenge and Sugarloaf giving
fortunate towns like Abergavenny uniquely
sculptured horizons. Take the winding road at Pen-
y-Pass, walled with aged pale green slopes and a
spilling scree, or the awe-inspiring Mordor of slate
towering amazingly over Blaenau Ffestiniog. The
mountains would be enough reason to come.
But it would be unfair to think of the heights
alone. Look in between at the beautiful valleys,
the rolling farmland thick with sheep and set
with farmhouses stark white against the verdancy.
In the evening light, it’s transporting to look at.
Hard as it is to choose a view, I’d single out Tintern
Abbey. The Cistercians had a talent for picking
beautiful locations for their houses, and Tintern
has a fair claim to be the most spine-tinglingly
sited of them all, not just in Wales, but in all
Britain. It stands in the Wye Valley, whose steep
thickly-wooded ramparts and winding river close
it o from prying eyes, as the monks wished. It
feels like a Tolkienesque hidden kingdom, a Welsh
Gondolin. As the Romantics who came here in a
026-033 WALES.indd 27 16/05/2019 18:31

WALES
Image: © Helen Hotson/Shutterstock
026-033 WALES.indd 28 16/05/2019 18:32

WALES
Image: © Helen Hotson/Shutterstock
”
urry in the time of Turner and ordsworth knew,
it’s always beautiful, but I think particularly of a
crisp autumn evening, the sky powerfully blue, a
bone white moon etched into it over the tower, the The isolated mediaeval chapel of St. Govan...
great skeleton of the beached abbey warmly honey it stands in its little sea-bashed rocky nook,
coloured beneath. Stand in line with the transepts
and gaze at the layers within, alternately catching ragged headlands marching off into the distance.
light and shade. The poetry and the painting are You expect a wizard or a weary Jedi to step out
there already, waiting for you to catch them.
As well as this, for scene-setting, there’s
to meet you, and it’s completely wonderful
some truly amazing coastline. I’d happily
challenge anyone to go to the Gower Peninsula
or Pembrokeshire and claim these aren’t among familiar if you know your wider British history –
Previous pages:
the finest shores they’d seen. I think of the lovely Romans, Normans, Vikings and so on, but all with
lan teffan a tle
view over the headland and islets at Newgale or a di erent avour here, and blended with a deep
the yacht-strewn inlet at Solva, crowned with an and particularly Welsh history that, as you’ve seen Left, top: Tintern
Abbey
Iron Age fort. Most of all, I’d think of the isolated already, is written everywhere. There’s a feast of
mediaeval chapel of St Govan. There it is, a little monuments from the Neolithic and Bronze Ages Left, bottom: The
house nestled in a fissure of rock, reached by from the huge finely-perched slabs of the tomb Gower Peninsular
supposedly uncountable steps, dedicated to one chamber at Pentre Ifan to Anglesey’s Bryn Celli Above: The
of Wales’ numerous dark age saints. It stands in Ddu burial mound, millennia old. Wait around Mediaeval chapel of
its little sea-bashed rocky nook, ragged headlands a few centuries, pass the Iron Age and watch the St. Govan
marching o into the distance. ou expect a wi ard Romans force their way in through the fierce tribes All photos: © Peter
or a weary Jedi to step out to meet you, and it’s of the Silures and Ordovices. Sommer Travels
completely wonderful. Visit the formidable legionary fortress at unless otherwise
With this as a stage, how could the historical Caerwent with the serried barrack blocks of the stated
story not be fascinating? There are elements soldiers of the Second Augusta, their grand military
026-033 WALES.indd 29 16/05/2019 18:32

WALES
Above: Aerial view baths and the splendidly-preserved amphitheatre,

o ae leon oman its drainage channel still working, that entered
amphitheatre, mediaeval myth as the Round Table of King Arthur’s
Newport, looking
South. (Image:
City of the Legions. Go to its excellent Roman
VisitWales) Army museum and you’ll get a feel for the lives of
the soldiers and their families who lived here for
Right: The largest of
the Margam Stones generations. ou’ll find the tombstones of the family
in the Margam of 65-year-old Tadia Vallaunius (the ending of her
Stones Museum. It is name marks her as of local Celtic origin) and her
a huge stone wheel-
family – late husband, a son ‘killed in the German
head cross with
two inscriptions: War’ and the daughter who commemorated them.
on elin e e te Unknown to history otherwise, but reachable in
this cross for the remembering each other.
soul of Ric...', and
Follow the Romans with the tantalising story of
'Sodna made this
cross' the Dark Age princes and saints, all leaving just
enough testimony to show us what a rich story is
hidden from us. ou’ll find it on those inscriptions
and crosses so characteristic of the British west
found in small churches, or the lovely little Margam
Stones Museum, in curlicued Latin or the straight
RobinLeicester CC B -SA .0
lines of Irish Ogham, often decorated like the

enigmatic eleventh-century cross still standing at
Carew with interlaced designs telling of a slew of
in uences Irish, Anglo-Saxon, Norse all welded
into something characteristically Welsh. Sometimes
we can connect them with known individuals, like
Bishop Abraham, slain by Vikings at St David’s in
Image
1080, sometimes, they keep their mystery.
026-033 WALES.indd 30 16/05/2019 18:32

WALES
Image: © National Roman Army Museum

lo i e om a o e:
ae hill a tle
Exhibit at the Roman
m u eum aglan
a tle a oom in
a iff a tle o t a
o em o e a tle
ometime in the
View of the Bishop's
Palace at St. David's
athe al
Bob McCa rey CC B -SA 2.0
Autopilot CC B 2.
Image
vhertum CC B -SA .0
Image
Image
026-033 WALES.indd 31 16/05/2019 18:32

WALES
And afterwards, there are the great glories

of mediaeval Wales – the splendid churches,
cathedrals and abbeys. A special mention has to
go to St David’s and the magnificent revelatory
view from above down its great length as you
approach, looking across to the splendour of the
bishops’ palace in its green precinct. Go inside
and there are many marvels, but the first almost
Escher-like e ect of its leaning columns in many
Andy Dingley, CC B -SA .0
hued grey-greens, dust motes in the shafts of

light through the windows, should stay with you.
Last, but far from least, there are the castles for
which Wales is justly famed, in all shapes, sizes
and locations, with so many stories to tell of them
- the tragedy of Princess Gwenllian, butchered
Image
026-033 WALES.indd 32 16/05/2019 18:32

WALES
trying to take Kidwelly, the swashbuckling De practically from yesterday. ou can take their tale
Clares – Strongbow, the Red Earl and the rest, the through their transformation into Tudor houses Left, top: Latticework-
grasping Despensers, Tudors destined for greater or ruins to the Gothic pinnacle of Cardi Castle, reinforced door at
he to a tle he e
things. We could speak of the extraordinary ‘water remodelled as a fairy tale by the unbelievable
ate e an a e
commanding machine’ at Raglan, or the desperate coal-powered wealth of the Victorian Marquess the oldest known castle
civil war siege that won its Marquess honour and of Bute. It allows me to leave as I began with the doors in Europe, and
a broken early death, or the sad story of Llywelyn memory and image these places bestow on you. the oldest mortice and
tenon joints in Britain
Bren, brutally killed though his opponents spoke At Cardi , it’s the Arab room. Its golden ceiling
for his life. Too much for now: if you want to hear, rooted me to the spot when I first looked at it. Left: St David's
maybe come on a tour, and then you’ll see the It demands you look up, hypnotises you with its athe al
magnificent sites themselves. There’s Chepstow, on ever-receding layers. And that’s about as suitable a Pembrokeshire
an awesome slab-sided blu high over the lovely metaphor as I can find for coming and being drawn
Above: The motte and
bend of the Wye or the gargantuan, stupefyingly in by the layered history of this sublime country. hell ee o a iff
big Caerphilly with its colossal dams. The Babel- Mountains? Sure, but that’s just for starters. a tle
high tower at sprawling Pembroke rewards you
with a superb, vertiginous view, if your knees can
If you've been inspired to visit Wales, or to explore Britain, Peter Sommer
stand the climb. It’s got great depths, too: the huge
Travels o er a range of expert guided tours in the , o ering insights into
and atmospheric Wogan Cave, far below the crag
the nation s history. They also o er a selection of European trips, exploring
of the castle was first visited by humans around history on the Continent. Visit: www.petersommer.com
ten thousand years ago, so the mediaeval parts are
Timeless Travels • Summer 2019
026-033 WALES.indd 33 16/05/2019 18:32

TRAVELLER’S TALE
Timkat Celebrations, Ethiopia

Lynn Houghton
I n a hurry, I nearly slip while navigating

down a very steep grassy slope. The
most famous historic church in Lalibela
is going to close in about 15 minutes and
it is my last opportunity to see it. A young
Ethiopian lad gently takes my hand just
before I completely lose my balance. “Let
me help you,” says Peter, who I discover
has walked 42 km (seven hours on a rocky
trail) from his village today.
Earlier in the day, with a rag tag
collection of ne’er do well pilgrims, I had
climbed up a scru y trail to see the much
older Yemrehana Krestos Church. Built
in the 11th century and in the Axumite
style, it is tucked neatly into a cli on the
side of Mount Abuna Yosef about a mile
and a half above the village that shares
the name of the church. A quiet serenity Above: The celebrations of the Timkat Festival, Lalibela (Image: Lynn Houghton)
surrounds this ancient place of worship
which is mainly visited by the elderly and granite right down to the ground. This that I begin to wonder if I will ever make
infirmed. A baby’s baptism takes place, remote and holy town, situated in the it to the church entrance. The singing
as it might have several hundred years rock-strewn terrain of the Ethiopian and chanting get louder the closer we
ago and, in the far reaches of the cave, are Highlands, is famous for these structures approach the bottom, and there is now an
deposited the skeletons of pilgrims and that were chiselled out of the hillsides accompaniment of ceremonial drums.
monks who died here over the course of from the 7th to 11th centuries CE. It was Enormous ags with the red, yellow and
the last millennia. during the Zagwe dynasty when this green colours of Ethiopia drape the church
I slip again and am brought rudely back was a thriving ecclesiastical community. and are furled down from the cli edge
to the present. Peter has slung my beaten Several of us, led by a local tour guide, above to the ground below. I have made it
up DSLR around his neck - not something Gabriel, had already navigated our way to the bottom and the humidity is sti ing.
I am in the habit of letting a stranger do. around the eastern complex that includes O come my shoes and I clamber into the
But I soon realise I have little choice but Biete Amanuel (the royal chapel) and church in my bare feet to cool o . It is much
to accept assistance. Good friend, Ben Biete Abba Libanos, through a tunnel more temperate inside due to the thickness
Morison, tour operator extraordinaire, representing hell and then beyond to of the rock walls. Carpets cover the rock
had recommended this trip and I am a passageway to heaven. Throughout oor though I’m not entirely sure if that is
determined to make it to the most famous are small caves, some natural and some for the comfort of us without shoes.
church in Lalibela, St. George. We quickly carved out, where hermits would have I am out within moments and quickly
cross the road and begin descending a resided in years past. get my hiking boots back on. It is only a
dishevelled hand-carved, stone staircase. Loud shouting, singing and the playing little further to another staircase where I
This is made more onerous by the huge of trumpets are part and parcel of Timkat can now make a relatively speedy ascent
crowd of local worshippers aggressively services. A gaggle of young girls dressed to the top. This is what I have come to
ascending the same steps. A Timkat in their finest clothes push me to the side see, the amazing view of a structure
service has just finished in the rock-hewn as they pass me on the stairs. An elderly completely carved from top to bottom in
church and a mass of humanity is surging gentleman, dressed head to toe in a black the shape of a cruciform. I am transfixed
towards me. The celebration of Timkat gown, slowly ascends carrying a brightly as I get to the edge to take a better look.
also known as Epiphany, during January, covered brocade umbrella. Children are I am completely overwhelmed by the
is one of the biggest celebrations of the leaping up the staircase on either side sheer amount of human e ort it took to
year for the Ethiopian Orthodox Church like little Walia Ibex (mountain goat) create this masterpiece. I can certainly
made famous by legendary festivities, with no regard for safety. But as we start see why the churches of Lalibela have
feasting and mass group baptisms. making our way through deep narrow been designated an UNESCO World
The churches of Lalibela are, roughly hewn passages, again with people Heritage site. I wouldn’t have missed
remarkably, hand carved out of pushing through from the other direction, this for anything.
034 TTALE.indd 34 15/05/2019 20:57

Ethiopia
15 - 29 JANUARY 2020
Jo u r n ey to t h e ro o f o f Afr i c a to d i scov e r a co u nt r y
of ancient history and diverse landscapes.
SMAL L G ROUPS | EXCLU S I VE ACCES S | EX P ERT- L ED

01223 841055 [email protected] www.aceculturaltours.co.uk
035 ACE AD.indd 1 15/05/2019 21:06

Travel with the AWA...
…and the heart of Florence will touch your soul
Join our Sojourn 2019
Have you ever been ‘welcomed home’ to Florence?

Have you ever seen the city’s ‘invisible art’?
Have you ever met Tuscany’s most ‘creative minds’?
Have you ever been recognized in Florence as an honored patron?
Join the Advancing Women Artists foundation for its annual 5-day Sojourn in October 2019.
Tour proceeds support the restoration of art by women in Florence’s museums and storehouses.
Find out more:

www.advancingwomenartists.org/travel-with-us/join-our-sojourn-2019
[email protected] advancingwomenartists
036 AWA AD.indd 1 16/05/2019 15:04

sponsored by
Art Roundup
Latest in art news and exhibitions
Finnish artist celebrated in UK at last

Image © The Hermitage Museum
Royal Academy, London

Showing from: 20 July - 27 October 2019
T he Royal Academy of Arts this summer presents a survey

of the long and productive career of Finnish artist Helene
Schjer eck (1862 1946). This will be the first solo exhibition of
Schjer eck’s works to be held in the . Celebrated as one of
the most famous and highly regarded artists in Finland, it will be
a rare opportunity to see Schjer eck’s paintings together.
The exhibition will feature around 6 portraits, landscapes
Plovdiv Re ional t no ra i u eum
and still-lifes, charting the development of Schjer eck’s work
from a naturalistic style inspired by French Salon painters in
the early 1880s, to a radically abstracted and modern approach
from the turn of the twentieth century onwards. Throughout her
career, Schjer eck exhibited internationally and was particularly
emale ure, Ru ia, successful in the Nordic countries and across mainland Europe;
orone Re ion, however, she has remained largely undiscovered in the .
Kostyonki,
c. 23,000–21,000
The exhibition will be divided into five sections. The first
Joaquín Sorolla, MyBCE
Wife and Daughters in the Garden, 1910
covers her earliest works, the second her larger paintings,
while in the central gallery, self-portraits will feature a series
Hermitage celebrates its 10th anniversary
of 17 progressively abstracted and increasingly raw works
Hermitage Museum, Amsterdam painted throughout her life, from the age of 22 to 8 , that
Showing until: 25 August 2019 reveal Schjer eck’s fascination with ageing and the physical
deterioration of the self. The final sections will focus on portraits
T his year celebrates the 10th anniversary of the opening

of the Hermitage Museum in Amsterdam and two major
exhibitions are scheduled. The first exhibition Treasury! is
of family, friends and models made between 1909 and 1944.
National Gallery / Ateneum Art Museum; photo: Yehia Eweis

Image Herman and Elisabeth Hallonblad Collection. Finnish
a celebration of art throughout history and includes over

2 0 works of art from outstanding archaeological finds to
masterpieces by both great and lesser-known artists and
exquisite examples of the decorative arts. The visitor will travel
on a journey that includes an historical and geographical
cross-section encompassing a host of di erent cultures, from
est to East, and from Egypt to Siberia. The exhibition starts
with the oldest object in the entire Hermitage collection. The
Venus of Kostenki (above) is a 2 ,000-year-old fertility symbol
made of limestone and next of kin to the famous, more or less
contemporary, Venus of Willendorf.
In the second half of the jubilee year, the Hermitage
Amsterdam will throw open its treasure chests for an
exhibition entitled Jewels! The museum has a vast jewellery
collection including thousands of pieces once worn by tsars
and tsarinas, kings and princes, countesses and well-heeled Left: Helene
commoners. They re ect the fashions of four centuries and Schjer eck, Self-
portrait, Black
encompass baroque, rococo, neoclassical, empire, art nouveau, Background, 191 .
modern styles and contemporary (21st-century) art. Oil on canvas
037-043 ARTS.indd 37 15/05/2019 20:46

ART NE S sponsored by
Sistine chapel comes to

Winchester
This summer (5 July – 29 September),
the premiere of a ground-breaking
new exhibition o cially licensed by
the Vatican Museums - i elan elo
i tine C a el i erent ie opens
in inchester, . The show allows
unprecedented closeness to the
magnificent works of Michelangelo which Gardens of Earthly Worries
adorn the chapel ceiling, normally 22 at Paleis Het Loo, Holland
metres above visitors’ heads. The frescoes
Art trail opens in Tuscany
have been photographed, reproduced The Paleis Het Loo in Apeldoorn,
For those who love their art and wine at high resolution and transferred the Netherlands, is currently exhibiting
there is now the perfect art trail for you. onto special fabric webs and they give The Garden of Earthly Worries: four
From the 22 une to the 18 September visitors a unique opportunity for an monumental contemporary art works
2019, Pan ano Arte presents the first otherwise impossible close-up view of his designed by the Polish-American
edition of its artistic promenade across brushwork. For more information: visit architect Daniel Libeskind. On show
the heart of the Chianti region in Italy, www.hampshireculture.org.uk until 29 September, this is the first time
with sculptures by renowned French that contemporary art is on show in the
artist Nathalie Decoster. The 29 (mostly gardens of Paleis. Libeskind is renowned
monumental) sculptures can be seen throughout the world for his spectacular
in Panzano village and the wineries architecture and urban designs. The four
of Fontodi, Ren o Marinai, Tenuta abstract sculptures explore the imbalance
Casenuove and La Massa. And don’t miss of humankind in nature. Each of the
their wine festival, 12-1 September. See fragments of a globe, represent di erent
more at: www:panzanoarte.com chemical compounds that contribute to
our changing climate.
Venice launches
Image: © The Metropolitan Museum of Art

permanent art quarter et etu n g tian o n
The Metropolitan Museum in New
York has returned an ancient Egyptian
co n that it had purchased in uly
2017 to the Government of Egypt. The
sarcophagus, inscribed with the name
Nedjemankh, a priest of the ram-god
Venice’s Giudecca island has become Heryshef, was discovered to have been
the city’s first ever permanent art looted from Egypt in 2011. Despite
quarter, the Giudecca Art District. The a rigorous vetting programme, the
GAD was launched at the 2019 Venice museum only recently learned of its false
Biennale and encompasses 11 art galleries ownership history.
and art spaces and national pavilions
including Estonia, Iceland and Nigeria
New national museum opens
Image: ©
as well as the new contemporary art

space Giudecca Art District Gallery
in Qatar
and Garden. Over 60 artists from 0 The new National Museum of Qatar
countries are included in 20 exhibitions designed by French architect ean Nouvel,
on the island for the launch of the art opened recently. The museum is one of the
district. The exciting new art district is world’s largest, covering c.40,000 square
being built upon the island’s impressive metres and a 1.5 km loop to explore the 11
legacy in contemporary art, being galleries. The displays include natural history
a home to Marina Abramovic’s first specimens and archaeological artefacts. Art
performance in 1976 and Damien Hirst’s works include Fountain of Pearls by Ai Weiwei
first Venice show at Galleria Michaela and the museum includes the restored palace
Ri o as well as Ai eiwei’s 201 Art of Sheikh Abdullah, the site of the first
Biennale show Disposition. National Museum.
037-043 ARTS.indd 38 15/05/2019 20:46

ART NE S sponsored by
Gruuthuse Museum re-opens in Bruges

After extensive restoration and
SA2.0 de
renovation, the Gruuthuse palace and
museum reopened in May. Displaying
eingart , CC B
objects that were part of life in Bruges
between the 1 th and 19th centuries, the
newly renovated museum tells the story
of the three grand ages of Bruges: the
Image Hans
palace’s Burgundian heyday, the 17th and
18th centuries and finally the ‘reinvention’
610 Squadron. Image © from the Bob Ogley Collection of Bruges in the 19th century neo-Gothic
style that is so typical of the city today.
New Statue of Liberty
Renovated over three oors, it includes
Museum opens a magnificent collection of its original
A new Statue of Liberty Museum artefacts of lace, goldware, furniture,
opened recently in May on Liberty and ceramics and there is also a majestic
Island, to celebrate the Statue of new entrance hall. Its attic room also
Liberty’s history, in uence and legacy o ers a great view of the city. For more The courtyard of the newly
re tored ruut u e u eum in ru e
in the world. The new museum is part information see: www.visitbruges.be/en
of a $100 million Liberty Island-wide
beautification e ort that’s being funded
by the Statue of Liberty-Ellis Island NGS and V&A join forces to
Foundation. The new museum merges purchase portrait of James Adam
landscape and building, with the new
museum’s roof planted with native The Victoria & Albert Museum and National
meadow grasses, and o ers visitors Gallery of Scotland have recently acquired
sweeping, panoramic views of Lady a portrait of ames Adam (17 2-94) by the
Liberty, Lower Manhattan, and all of Italian artist Antonio ucchi (1726-9 ), thanks
New York Harbour. to a major grant from national charity Art
Fund. ames, an architect and designer, came
from a family known as Scotland’s foremost
Seven Van Gogh sculptures architects of the 18th century. His portrait was
unveiled painted while he was on a grand tour of Italy in
A British artist’s sculpture of Van 176 . The painting is currently on show at the
Gogh has been unveiled in the grounds Scottish National Portrait Gallery, Edinburgh
of the French Hospital where Van Gogh before going on display in the V A’s British
was treated for his severed ear. The Galleries in London later this year. It will then
sculpture is part of a new Britain and alternate between the two galleries.
Europe Van Gogh Sculpture Trail and
is part of a year-long project A Year New contemporary art
With Vincent by award-winning artist centre in Tashkent,
Anthony Padgett. Seven sculptures (each
a di erent colour) will be permanently
Uzbekistan
sited in England, France, Holland and Uzbekistan has opened a new art
Belgium, at locations chosen after careful centre to try to and help ‘boost’
research into the life of Van Gogh. For the country’s art scene. Based in a
more information visit: former power station, the Centre for
www.ayearwithvincent.co.uk Contemporary Art in Tashkent plans
to combine contemporary art, cinema,
educational initiatives, experimental
theatre and modern choreography with
institutional forms that are new for the
country, like art residencies and children’s
workshops. Moscow’s Garage Museum of
Contemporary Art has partnered with the
centre to create an inaugural programme
of workshops.
037-043 ARTS.indd 39 15/05/2019 20:46

ART RO ND P sponsored by
Talking maps
Image: © Fitzwilliam Museum
Bodleian Library, Oxford

Showing from: 5 July 2019 - 8 March 2020
T al in a , a new exhibition at the Bodleian Libraries,

celebrates maps and the stories they tell about the places
they show and the people that make and use them. The
exhibition showcases iconic treasures from the Bodleian’s world-
renowned collection of more than 1. million maps, together
with exciting new works on loan and specially commissioned
ame eill i tler , Nocturne The River at Battersea, D installations. Featuring ‘imaginary maps’ such as Grayson
Perry’s Red Car et and a o o ere and RR Tolkien’s maps
Whistler’s urban landscapes of Middle-earth, the exhibition o ers a new perspective on the
enduring power of maps. The exhibition features items that
Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge have never been publicly displayed before including a surviving
Showing from: 4 June - 8 September 2019 fragment of the Sheldon tapestry map of Gloucestershire, one of
a set of four 16th-century tapestry maps.
P ala e in t e i t e ur an land a e in i tler rint
Victoria Miro, London Venice

Grayson Perry. Courtesy the artist,
Paragon Contemporary Editions Ltd and
is the second exhibition of the Fit william’s collection of
etchings, drypoints and lithographs, by the American artist
ames McNeill histler, and is devoted to the cityscapes for
which he is most celebrated as a printmaker.
In 18 , at the age of 21, histler left America to study art in
Paris. He never returned to his homeland but instead settled
in London, where he made his name as an artist. Palaces in the
i t is devoted to his cityscapes, ranging from the early ‘French
Image
set’ of the 18 0s to the late etchings of Brussels and Amsterdam.
The exhibition also o ers the opportunity to see a spectacular
impression of The Doorway - one of a series of twelve prints
known as the ‘First Venice Set’. histler’s progression from crisp
Red Carpet by
realism to atmospheric impressionism can be seen in his images Grayson Perry,
of London and the Thames. 2017
Lebanese Tutankhamun starts his tour in Paris

abstract art Grande Halle de La Villette, Paris
Showing until: 15 September 2019
delights in
St. Ives
T utankhamun, the treasure of the Pharaoh, is an exhibition in
partnership with the new Egyptian Museum, which is due
to open in 2022. This exhibition starts in Paris and includes 150
original objects found in 1922 in the tomb of one of the most
famous Pharaohs, the majority of which have never left Egypt
before. After Paris, the exhibition will travel to London, apan, S,
Canada, Australia and South orea.
Huguette Caland
Bribes de corps (Body
Parts) 1973
Tate, St Ives, UK
L ebanese artist Huguette Caland (b. 19 1) has her first

museum solo exhibition at Tate St Ives. Shifting between
figuration and abstraction in large, colourful paintings and
detailed drawings, the works reveal the delicate balance between
the suggestive and the explicit in Caland’s practice. Taken from
the late 1960s to the early 80s, many of the works will be shown
in the for the first time, revealing her artistic significance.
037-043 ARTS.indd 40 15/05/2019 20:47

K I R K E R C U LT U R A L TO U RS
F O R DI S C E R N I N G T R AV E L L E RS
Kirker Holidays provides a range of carefully crafted escorted holidays, with fascinating itineraries designed for those with an
interest in art, literature, history, architecture, archaeology, gardens and music. Groups typically consist of 12-22 like-minded
travellers, in the company of an expert tour lecturer.
LEONARDO’S ITALY
A SIX NIGHT HOLIDAY | 20 OCTOBER 2019
To mark the 500th anniversary of Leonardo da Vinci’s death, join our new tour following in the footsteps of Leonardo,
from the small Tuscan village where he was born, to his magnificent masterpiece ‘The Last Supper’ in Milan.
We will begin with the city in which Leonardo spent 17 years of his life, Milan. We shall explore the Duomo and the Castello
Sforzesco, where we will see the Sala delle Asse in which Leonardo’s elaborate wall paintings have just been unveiled, as well as the
church of Santa Maria della Grazia, where we have a timed entrance ticket to see the Last Supper. We then
travel by high speed train to Florence, where highlights include the Leonardo room at the Uffizi and
the Leonardo Museum with reconstructions of some of his greatest inventions. We shall also make
two day trips – to Leonardo’s birthplace,Vinci, and to Arezzo, where we see the thirteenth century
Buriano Bridge.
Price from £2,798 per person (single supp. £450) for six nights including flights, accommodation with
breakfast, three dinners, three lunches, all sightseeing, entrance fees and gratuities and the services of the
Kirker Tour Lecturer.
Speak to an expert or request a brochure:

020 7593 2284 quote code XTI
www.kirkerholidays.com
ViMuseo launches website where all

museums and exhibitions in the world
will be on a single platform
A new internet platform, ViMuseo.com,

has recently launched throughout
Europe and it gives access to more than
sers have long
become accustomed
to receiving matching
20,000 museums from 44 European search hits quickly
countries as well as 0,000 museums on the internet: you
from the SA. At last, the two billion enter the location
visitors worldwide who visit a museum or of interest and the
an exhibition every year can find all the website or app
information they need on a central website. should have filtered
For many people, visiting museums is out what interests you. However,
part of their activities when they are on a this approach has not been possible so far. A further plus of ViMuseo.com, which
city trip or on vacation. While some cities ViMuseo.com o ers this search option for also distinguishes it from previous
and regions present their museums well on the first time, just like other websites do. museum websites, is that visitors and
the Internet, it is di cult for most places ou enter your location, choose that users have the possibility to exchange
and countries to get reliable information you are interested in art, technology or information about the museums, to rate
about museums. nature, and enter the maximum distance them and to mark their favourites in a
“It is our goal to really gather all you want to walk or drive, Michael watch list.
museums and exhibitions in the world Sametinger explains. “It has taken our team almost three
on ViMuseo and to give every museum The platform then lists, for example, all years to find and locate all the European
the opportunity to present itself on museums that have art as their main focus, museums says Sametinger, and we are
this worldwide platform with all its shows how far away they are from the user confident that we will be able to gather
information and pictures, says Michael and where they are located, and with a all 100,000 museums in the world on
Sametinger, founder and managing further click you get all the information up ViMuseo.com by the end of 2019.
director of Museumsfreund GmbH, that to the museum gallery where the museum
runs ViMuseo. can present its exhibits. www.ViMuseo.com
Timeless Travels Summer 2019 41

037-043 ARTS.indd 41 15/05/2019 20:47

Musée de l’Armée - Invalides, Paris

Adagp, Paris, 2018 Succession Picasso 2019
eor e ra ue , Portrait o Pi a o
Mus e national Picasso-Paris, RMN-Grand Palais Franck Raux
wearing a Basque uniform, Paris, 1911 Showing until: 28 July 2019
P icasso’s entire life (1881 197 ) was

marked by major con icts, from
the Cuban ar of Independence to the
articles, photographs and objects)
evoking the reality and spread of the
con icts that in uenced his work. The
Vietnam ar, which came to an end two exhibition will explore the various ways
years after his death. The exhibition, that warfare informed and impacted
organised by the Mus e de l’Arm e and Picasso’s creative output throughout his
the Mus e National Picasso-Paris, takes a career. The artist’s most widely known
brand-new look at the various ways that work, Guernica, opens the exhibition,
warfare informed and impacted Picasso’s represented by a photograph Dora Maar
creative output throughout his career. took in the Grands-Augustins studio. The
The exhibition will mix a chronological painting was a tipping point in the artist’s
and chrono-thematic approach. Picasso’s career, marking his first public political
Image:
works and personal archives, in all their statement. French and foreign loans
diversity, will be shown alongside a enhance the exhibition’s approach and
selection of explanatory items (press bring a fresh perspective on the subject.
The Wellington Collection, Apsley House, London

Showing until: 3 November 2019
A fter the 181 victory over Napoleon

Bonaparte that made him the
most celebrated man in Europe, the life
in the British army when in une 1796 he
received orders to sail to India.
He returned from India a major-
and career of Arthur Wellesley is well general and wealthy in his own right.
documented. However, his formative The Deccan Dinner Service is a vast
years in India are not so well known. silver gilt service, which was purchased
Stratfield Saye Preservation Trust

Young Wellington in India explores eight with money raised by ellesley’s fellow
overlooked years of ellesley’s life. The o cers who had fought with him in the
story is told through paintings, sketches, Deccan region of India as a mark of their
books and objects that belonged to appreciation. Accompanying the dinner
him during this in uential period service is the cutlery found in Napoleon’s
the majority of which have never been coach after the Battle of aterloo, many
publicly displayed before - including the pieces bearing the coat of arms of the
renowned Deccan Dinner Service. Royal (Bourbon) family and some with
Image
John Hoppner, Arthur Wellesley, 1795
Arthur was 27 years old and a Colonel Napoleon’s Imperial crest.
Zentrum Paul Klee, Bern, Switzerland

Hermann und Margrit Rupf-Stiftung, unstmuseum Bern
P aul lee and his impressive circle

of friends are being presented in a
first-ever comprehensive exhibition. The
a multitude of artist colleagues and the
exhibition presents a selection of those
artists whose paths crossed with that of
show illustrates how lee responded to lee, including Hans Arp, Robert and
the innovations of his expansive artistic Sonia Delaunay, Alexej awlensky, assily
network and the ways in which lee and andinsky, August Macke, Andr Masson,
his artist friends in uenced one another. Louis Moilliet, Pablo Picasso, Sophie
At the same time the exhibition brings Taeuber-Arp, and Marianne von ere in.
together outstanding works of modern art. The exhibition also takes the visitor
The exhibition brings together on a journey through modern art from
Image:
masterpieces by Paul lee and his Expressionism, Cubism and Concrete Art
illustrious circle of friends from the to Surrealism, from figurative art to pure
collections of the entrum Paul lee and abstraction. At the same time, it follows
the unstmuseum Bern. Throughout his lee’s development as an artist from his
Wassily Kandinsky Leichte onstruktion,
life, lee cultivated relationships with earliest beginnings to his late work.
037-043 ARTS.indd 42 15/05/2019 20:47

Collection of the Guild of St George Museums She eld
At a glance...
MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA
ulian Ro e eldt n t e and o rou t
National Gallery of Victoria, International
Showing until 29 September
VIENNA, AUSTRIA
Sean Scully. Eleuthera
Albertina
Showing from 7 une - 8 September
Image
GHENT, BELGIUM
e olle tion i li t or a uture
o n Ru in, Study of Spray of Dead Oak Leaves,
S.M.A.K
Ruskin bicentenary celebrated in 2019 MONTREAL, CANADA
by Theresa Thompson ierr u ler Couturi ime
Museum of Fine Arts
T his year marks the bicentenary of the birth of ohn Ruskin, the
art critic, educator, gifted painter, social reformer, and polymath.
A man of many passions and a writer who commanded tremendous
NEWCASTLE, ENGLAND
respect - writing on an astonishing array of topics, from art and
i toria and l ert ur ive in ater olour
architecture to craftsmanship, from nature to religion to social justice -
Laing Art Gallery
he was a force to be reckoned with in Victorian England.
Showing from 21 une - November
He was the man who championed the artist M Turner, regarding
him as the greatest painter of the age, arguing in his book, odern
Painters (184 ) that Turner recorded the truth of nature - a mountain,
BERLIN, GERMANY
a stone, ‘the marvellous unexpectedness of trees’ - as no painter erman e end mile olde and t e a i
before him had ever done. A few years later he would champion the Re ime
Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, formed in 1848, a group of artists that Hamburger Bahnhof-Museum für Genewart
were in uenced by Ruskin’s theories. He urged them to ‘go to Nature, Showing until 1 September
rejecting nothing, selecting nothing and scorning nothing’.
The depth and breadth of Ruskin’s thinking is immense. In a THE HAGUE, NETHERLANDS
burgeoning industrial age he commented on its impact on both Rem randt and t e aurit iu
people and the environment; he encouraged a sustainable relationship Mauritshuis
between people, craft and nature his writing was often highly Showing until 1 September
moralistic; and he was a staunch advocate of life-long-learning...Tolstoy
later wrote that “He was one of those rare men who thinks... what EDINBURGH, SCOTLAND
everyone will think and say on the future. Ru ia, Ro alt t e Romanov
As part of the international celebrations taking place throughout The Queen’s Gallery, Palace of
the year, a new exhibition o n Ru in rt onder (showing until 15 Holyroodhouse
September at the Millennium Gallery, She eld) explores how Ruskin Showing from 29 une - 1 September
championed the joy that nature can bring to our lives and the sense
of awe it can evoke within us. Ruskin’s passion for nature began in LUCERN, SWITZERLAND
childhood with a fascination for minerals and mountains and, for him,
Turner. The Sea and the Alps
appreciating its beauty was just as valuable as any scientific knowledge.
Kunstmuseum, Luzern
rt onder celebrates how artists have captured the incredible
Showing from 6 uly - 1 October
spectacle of nature. Discover da ling highlights from the Guild of St
George’s Ruskin Collection, including botanical and ornithological
NEW YORK, USA
studies and jewel-like mineral specimens, alongside significant national
loans and new commissions by contemporary artists Timorous Beasties a ter ie e o ren aien e
and Dan Holdsworth. The Frick Collection
Find out more about the Ruskin bicentenary celebrations taking Showing until 22 September
place throughout 2019 at ruskin200.com
037-043 ARTS.indd 43 15/05/2019 20:47

EXHIBITION REVIEW
Behind the Lines: Alfred Munnings, War Artist, 1918

The Munnings Art Museum, Castle Hill, Dedham, Colchester, Essex
Showing until: 3 November 2019
Review by Neil Hennessy-Vass
A
new exhibition of previously
unseen works in the UK has opened
at Sir Alfred Munnings' home in
Essex. Principally known as an equestrian
painter, he also found fame as a war artist
during WW1. Apprenticed to a Norwich
printer and studying art in the evenings,
Munnings quickly proved his prodigious
talent and accepted his first oil painting
portrait commission at the age of only 19,
and this is on display at the museum.
Serving in eastern France with the
Canadian Expeditionary Force in
1918, Munnings sketched and painted
landscapes, battle scenes and, naturally,
horses, to document life on the fighting
front and the vital logistical work taking
place behind the lines.
Now, for the first time in 100 years,
Above: Halt on the March by a Stream at Nesle, 1918, by Sir Alfred Munnings
forty-one wartime paintings by Munnings © Beaverbrook Collection of War Art, Canadian War Museum;
are returning to the UK on tour from the Below: Tea in the Chateau, 1918, Sir Alfred Munnings © The Munnings Art Museum
Canadian War Museum, Ottawa. In this
once-in-a-lifetime display at his former along with the finished paintings bring was depicted as a dignified one, not of
home, Castle House in Dedham, the the reality of war to life a 101 years on. imperious glory but of duty and fortitude.
paintings are shown side by side with the His depictions are almost not war like. We see men resting in Halt on a March by
surviving sketchbooks that inspired them. O cers in uniform are sometimes the a stream at Nesle which if the uniforms
This is the first time these sketchbooks only clue. A group of men relaxing by a had been changed to blazers and boaters
have ever been on public display together lake with their horses taking water is a would have shown a typical Edwardian
with the finished pictures, and provide a striking example of this. Sunday afternoon anywhere in Europe.
unique view of life ‘behind the lines’—in On the whole these are bright verdant The house was his home for 40 years
every sense of that phrase. images not of war but the dignity behind and o ers us an insight into the material
What makes this exhibition so con ict. Munnings never painted a gains of a hugely important and successful
compelling are the sketchbooks that battle scene as such the closest is A artist’s existence. You can also see his
accompany the paintings. It is rare to see Gallant Charge that touches on the studio, which he transported from his
a war artist’s work in development and action with Canadian Cavalry depicted previous house. Again, like his home, it
the quality of the preparatory work which in full glorious gallop. Another, A Patrol feels as if he has just popped out with the
is more muted in colour and mood unfinished canvases and paints still in use.
showing a lone soldier with three horses. The museum holds over 6 0 oils
Has he lost his comrades? Is he bringing and 4,000 paper works with around
reinforcements or rounding up strays? 1 0 on display at any one time. This
We don’t know but the colour palette is a fascinating and well-curated
to me signifies a sombre mood that is museum providing the viewer with
inescapable from the horrors of war. the vast spectrum of Munnings' work
Life behind the atrocities of the trenches and importantly showing the journey
was a much calmer a air with man and he undertook through life. The early
beast bonding and working together as sketches and satirical works are
equals. A parallel not stretched to the particularly good and o er a balance to
o cers and conscripts. Munnings war the more sombre war pieces.
044 MUNNINGS.indd 44 13/05/2019 14:32

SIE 1/4 Advert 2018.qxp_Layout 1 09/11/2018 12:52 Page 1
NEW EXHIBITION
MOONSCAPES
Landing on 2 April 2019
Orbiting until 23 June 2019
The UK’s only magazine devoted to exploring the islands of Scotland
Watts Gallery - Artists’ Village

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Moonscapes - Timesless Travels.indd 1 04/02/2019 10:25
‘The beginning of a new world ‘ will run from June 1 to September 29, 2019.
For more information go to: https://krollermuller.nl/en/the-beginning-of-a-new-world.
The Kröller-Müller Museum is a place The exhibition 'The beginning of a new world’' shows seeking to document the development of modern
where things of beauty come together. the development of modern sculpture through the sculpture at an international level. Hammacher’s
The unique combination of art, nature and eyes of Bram Hammacher, director of the Kröller- most famous achievement is the museum’s
architecture guarantees visitors a truly Müller Museum from 1948 to 1963. Upon his sculpture garden, which opened in 1961 and
unforgettable experience. appointment, Hammacher chooses a new direction: measures 25 hectares.
045 ARTS ADS.indd 45 16/05/2019 19:57

Belgium's Year of Bruegel
Words and photos by Neil Hennessy-Vass
B
eing born between 1525-30 and Often referred to as ‘peasant’ Bruegel or unpredictable idiom narrative of his life. A
dying in 1569 saw Pieter Bruegel Bruegel the Elder to di erentiate him voiceover talks us through the life and times
placed in a fascinating period for from his sons, he specialised in genre of Pieter Bruegel in the first person making
European art and culture. It was a time of painting packed with the poor and it seem all the more real. At one point such
change and he was the most significant a icted. Often used to frame a landscape, was the realism of the experience a seascape
painter in the Flemish Renaissance and these microcosms are the principle appeared on the walls and moved across the
an incisive in uence on the Dutch Golden focus of Beyond Bruegel a Plein Publiek oor with an accompanying sound e ect
Age of painting. Bruegel was a prodigious multimedia expo at the Dynastie Palace in of lapping waves. I found myself moving to
talent, as a younger man working as a central Brussels. avoid the water as it washed over my feet.
printmaker it was only in middle age that First there’s a large electronic gallery If you know about Bruegel then this
he really saw his work ourish. sing with six screens showing synchronised will entertain and strengthen your resolve
the then expensive medium of oils he pictures of his work with close ups and to discover more, and if you know very
captured the worker, the unwashed, the line drawings accompanied by music. little this will open a new chapter in your
downtrodden and made them the focus of This I realised afterwards was to soften life about a painter whose work is under
large canvases. He never painted a portrait me up before the main event. appreciated. Another joy of this 360°
of a nobleman or royal in an era when Another room, much larger, about the experience is that the magnification of the
this was the bread and butter income for si e of an indoor football pitch o ering a paintings and elements within them shows
most painters. After an in uential trip to blank canvas of bare white walls and a black what a skilled exponent of his craft he was.
Italy where he studied painting and art he ceiling. The lights dimmed and gently at The detail in minor characters is incredible
returned in 1555 to live in Antwerp. In 1563 first but building to a phantasmagorical with every brushstroke there to be seen in
he moved to Brussels where he married Bruegel event like no other. His paintings all its glory. This is surely the way forward
and stayed until his death. He produced have been curated and edited in a way for so many artists’ work to re-evaluate
such masterpieces as Winter Landscape that brings them to life. The images pass and appreciate, imagine somebody like L S
with Ice-skaters, The Peasant Wedding and across the walls and oor creating a truly Lowry or René Magritte given this type of
Bird-trap during his time in the city. immersive experience. Characters are treatment? How wonderful that would be.
Brussels is the epicentre of a year isolated from famous and not so well Showing until 31 January 2020.
commemorating his death 450 years ago. known paintings and animated to create an www.beyondbruegel.be
046-047 BRUEGEL.indd 46 16/05/2019 14:36

EXHIBITION REVIEW
Back to Bruegel at the Hallepoort
T he last of the seven gates that surrounded Brussels in

Medieval times is now part of the Royal Museums of Art
and History Hallepoort and has something special to o er
the intrepid traveller. Resplendent in its Gothic revivalist
architecture it’s the view from the top of the tower that takes
your breath away (literally); it’s a steep climb but they have a
lift that will take you half way. On the ramparts you can use
binoculars with VR technology to cast your eye around Brussels
but what you will see is not the modern city but as Bruegel
would have seen it. I have to warn you it’s very realistic and
if you look down you might wobble (I did). Very clever and a
simple but brilliant idea, the oors below are showing Bruegel-
related art works from his era as well. Opens 18 October 2019.
Castle of Gaasbeek
F east of Fools: Bruegel Rediscovered o ers a modern artist’s

take on the works of Bruegel. Housed in the splendid
Renaissance castle that dates back to 1240 and now a museum,
is a collection of modern artworks in uenced by the artist.
O ering a wide range of ‘interpretations’ this is something the
Belgians are very keen on, applying juxtaposition of old and new
in a visually shocking way. For example, one room (originally the
kitchen) has a skeletal structure made from various bones large
and small sprawling across the table and oor.
It’s a magical building that is worth a visit in its own right but
now has the added frisson of this collection of pieces.
Showing until 28 July 2019. ea toffool e en
Church of Sint-Anna-Pede and

Bruegel’s Eye: Reconstructing the Landscape
D epicted in several of Bruegel’s paintings the church of

Saint Anna Pede is a joy to see from the outside, with a
facetted spire that must have seemed gigantic 450 years ago.
Inside are more modern interpretations of Bruegel’s work
along with large blow-ups of the originals.
After this you can embark on a 7 km walk (wear good shoes
as it’s across country) and see the landscape he painted and
also some interesting installations. The one that caught my
eye was set in a small wooded area and involved a large, 50m
diameter circular ‘curtain rail’ hung with ‘curtains’ of hugely
magnified sections of Bruegel’s works (6cm square expanded to
several square metres). Very ingenious and intriguing as they
bellow in the bree e and give a di erent perspective of familiar
work. Showing until 31 October 2019.
il ee e en uegel e e on e t
There are numerous events and The project is a worthy one that encourages painter and printmaker, but also as a citizen
displays across the whole of Belgium to the viewer to explore and probe a little of a rapidly changing time.
commemorate this year of Bruegel and only deeper into what was a fascinating life and For more information see:
some of them are listed here. to journey through his works, not only as a emi hma te om en
046-047 BRUEGEL.indd 47 16/05/2019 14:36

Quick guide:
Newcastle-upon-Tyne
Neil Hennessy-Vass visited Newcastle to check out its art venues and
discovered a jewel in the North of England
D ismiss thoughts of When The Boat Comes In or Spender, that 90s TV detective series incarnation of Jimmy
Nail, Newcastle is on the up and it means business when it comes to the arts. First things first: it is a beautiful
city despite cinema depicting it as somewhere gritty. Viewers of Michael Caine’s turn as a gangster looking for
answers to his brother’s sudden death in Get Carter will have seen a drab, rundown almost black and white city.
Now it simply bursts with colour; cleaned up buildings, cool restaurants and bars and landmark arts buildings
abound. This is a city that has thrived on its success and good fortune, only to see a decline in industry and
commerce, but has now reinvented itself into a jewel of the North.
048-050 NEWCASTLE.indd 48 15/05/2019 15:45

QUICK GUIDE
Far left: Tyne and Millennium bridges, Newcastle.

Left: Laing Art Gallery
Above: Side Gallery & Cinema
Laing Art Gallery Side Gallery & Cinema

1 The grade II listed building was built 3 This small but perfectly named gallery (it is in a side
in 1902- in the Baroque style with Art alley) has been dedicated to the landscape and lives
Nouveau elements by architects Cackett Burns. of North East England as well as contemporary documentary
With a slant towards local art and artists but by and film. As Newcastle’s only dedicated photography space it
no means exclusively The Laing Gallery on New has a rich heritage to call upon focusing on the environment and
Bridge Street is a big player in the local arts scene people of the region. Part of their collection includes a series of
with plenty going on all year. photo essays on pre- unification Germany GDR which looks at
The permanent collection contains dramatic post realism in 1960s East Berlin, with works by Gert Danigel
landscapes by 19th-century painter John Martin and Roger Melis. The Amber Film and Photography Collective
and sculpture by Henry Moore as well as works are also based here and have regular screenings of members’
by Edward Burne- ones and Sir oshua Reynolds. works. They hold the largest collection of social documentary
The programme changes frequently and includes work in the country. This is an important place if you wish to
curator lectures, photography, modern and learn more about the changes that have occurred in Newcastle
contemporary art, ceramics and silverware. It’s a over the last century, and make fascinating and compulsive
great building to be in with good-si ed rooms and viewing. There is a small bookshop here as well that has some
friendly knowledgeable sta . Entry is free. hard to find photography publications. Entry is free.
www.laingartgallery.org.uk www.amber-online.com/side-gallery/
The Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art

2 This imposing building on the banks of the Tyne was once a ourmill commissioned by Rank Hovis in the 19 0s and
completed in 19 0. Repurposed in the mid 90s, it is a Goliath of a building commanding great views of the city. The art
within is constantly changing and sometimes controversial. In 2007 the exhibition of photographs Klara and Edda belly dancing
by American photographer Nan Goldin provoked controversy as it contained images of naked young girls. Part of a Thanksgiving
installation, it opened but closed early at the request of the owner. The Baltic has hosted the Turner Pri e (the only location used
outside London) and achieved over 149,000 visitors, exceeding any previous Turner Pri e exhibition. The space available to artists
here lends itself well to installations and large-scale works it is simply massive with over 2,600 metres of exhibition space, it is
Britain’s largest contemporary art space. The year-round programme of performances, lectures and commissioned exhibitions
o ers a meaningful injection of commitment to the arts in the north. Entry is free.
www.baltic.art
048-050 NEWCASTLE.indd 49 15/05/2019 15:45

Q IC G IDE
Heritage Walks
4 Between April and October there are
around 40 walking tours throughout
the city. Lasting up to two hours and costing just
these informative insights to specific locations,
history and heritage are all conducted by trained
and qualified volunteers working in association
with the Newcastle Gateshead Initiative.
These are all non-booking, just turn up events,
that give one a view of the city that’s easy to miss if
you just run between galleries. A word of warning:
it should be noted that Newcastle has some steep
Right and middle: Sites
hills and steps. Usually held on Sunday afternoons
on the heritage walk
and ednesday evenings, it’s possible to purchase
a season ticket. Bottom: Tyne Bridge
The Bridges
5 Like Porto, Newcastle has seven
bridges, each distinct and of purpose.
ou can’t avoid them when you’re in the city,
as crossing to Gateshead you’ll have to use one
of them. The most famous, and a symbol of
Newcastle is the Tyne Bridge. Built by Dorman
Long Co and opened in 1928 by ing George V,
the designers Mott Hay and Anderson went on
to design the Forth Road Bridge. The span is 89
metres and at its tallest it measures 59 metres.
The Gateshead Millennium Bridge is the latest
addition, erected in 2000 and has a pedestrian
and cycle crossing that swings open to let taller
craft through. It is a glorious arch that as you
walk across o ers the eye a di erent shaped
curve. It is so e cient that it only takes 4 minutes
and 0 seconds to fully open. It is a ectionately
known as the blinking eye bridge.
Situated between the Tyne Bridge and
the High Level Bridge is the quirky Swing
Bridge. Opened in 1876 it was paid for by the
industrialist illiam Armstrong, inventor of the
hydraulic accumulator, modern armaments and
philanthropist. It swings 60 to allow ships to
pass either side of the pivot. The bridge is still
powered by hydraulics today and is a grade II
listed building.
Newcastle is a splendid, architecturally rich city to Direct trains run to Newcastle upon Tyne from London ing’s Cross station
wander around. The memories of grit and granite and take c. hours. Flights from London take just over an hour. Newcastle’s
are all around and worth seeking out. The back airport is an international hub with direct ights to a number of European
alleys and side roads make for the discovery of a cities and Emirates ights direct to Dubai.
Britain long gone just make sure you’re wearing For more information visit www.visitnewcastle.com
stout shoes!
048-050 NEWCASTLE.indd 50 15/05/2019 15:45

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051 MONACO HOTEL.indd 79 16/05/2019 15:07

T h e In n ocents of F lorence
Film premiere spotlights women, art and conservation
The film The Innocents of Florence, directed and produced by Florence-based

Canadian filmmaker David Battistella, is a modern account of art restorers in Florence
who begin work on Madonna of the Innocents, a painting that is nearly 600 years old
T
he conservation project, executed building in 1446, they commission a secret. The ‘hunch’ these women had that
by Elisabeth Wicks and Nicoletta painting to act as their ‘poster’, logo and day in the museum led to what turned out
Fontani, was personally funded by symbol for the new Institute. to be the “greatest discovery of my career,”
Advancing Women Artists (AWA) founder Flash forward 600 years to 2013, the says Wicks, who with fellow conservator
Jane Fortune, who decided to support this very same painting sits in a museum Nicoletta Fontani, spent close to 30
work by Domenico de Michelino (despite within the original building. Two women, months preparing the work for display in
being a male artist). The project led the an American and an Italian, are tasked the Innocenti, which boasts one of the
restoration team on a journey to uncover with the restoration of the work due rarest collections of children’s history in
the story of the city’s forgotten children, to be displayed after a renovation and the world.
and the women who saved them. reopening of the museum.
atti tella an hi ue t
he lm emi e he a to The film took a full five years to complete
It is 1410 and there is a huge social The conservation Madonna of the and in the 90-minute feature-length
problem in Florence. Babies are Innocents was commissioned after Jane documentary film, Battistella explores
abandoned and dying at an alarming Fortune and Elizabeth Wicks became the themes of art, motherhood,
rate. To solve the problem Florence’s curious about the young Madonna figure Florentine humanism and how a
humanists organise and build a hospice depicted in The Innocenti’s work. They progressive-thinking Renaissance
for babies to assist young mothers. To were particularly intrigued by her facial society created one of the first children’s
celebrate the completion of the new expression. It seemed she was hiding a hospitals in the world.
052-055 AWA.indd 52 17/05/2019 12:41

ITALY
An interview with filmmaker DAVID BATTISTELLA
by Linda Falcone, Director, Advancing Women Artists Foundation
: ell u a out the Inno enti In titute everyone feared. So, not only did the Innocenti
an hat it a li e to lm the e save the child in body, they saved its soul, because
DB e are the first non-Italian film crew and they made certain it would no longer be destined
only the second ever to film inside the Innocenti for Limbo. These children were given a surname
archive which hosts hundreds of thousands of and, even if they didn’t survive, at least they
documents. Throughout its 400-year history, close would go to Heaven (or not end up in Limbo!)
to 600,000 children were saved. As an orphanage, In Florence, the Institute became their family so
the Institute was active until the 1950s. As early they took the family name, Innocenti. Elsewhere e t: It a the ga e
as 1421, the Innocenti would anonymously take in Italy at this time, these children were named that a tu e them
in abandoned children, most of whom were ‘Foundlings’ or worse, Bastardini (little bastards). on e ato li a eth
i an oun e
girls. Some of these babies had been born out In Florence, they were called ‘Innocents’, who ane o tune loo e
of wedlock; there were also instances of wealthy deserved a chance at life, even in the afterlife. into thi a onna e e
people impregnating servants to use as wet nurses an elt he a hi ing a
for their own children, abandoning the servant’s : he Inno enti i one o the ea lie t e et In ee he a
t lo en e Inno enti
child. Once a child was left at the Institute, he o hanage in the o l I e al o hea ou u eum The Madonna
or she would be named, registered and baptised all it a et nu ing u ine of the Innocents a
almost immediately and given Florentine DB: Essentially, yes. Until the advent of a o te a a ull ale
citizenship. pasteurised cow milk, breast milk was the only e to ation an no
the o e t i o e ie
way to feed babies, so women were often hired ha e een e eale in a
: hat ene t i the get om eing from the countryside and they would take the ull length eatu e lm
iti en o lo en e babies to live with them. Some would live at the a i atti tella
DB: This is important because, according to the Innocenti and provide services to the Institute. emie ing in lo en e
(an a oun the o l )
Renaissance mentality, abandoned babies who They would have been paid 50 soldi a month. thi S ing
were not baptised, ended up in Limbo, which Agatha Smeralda, the first child registered at
elo : li a eth i
was a fate worse than death or even Hell. It was the Innocenti in the mid-fifteenth century, had an i oletta ontani
a mysterious place that no one understood and three wet nurses, but she did not survive to her o ing on the ainting
052-055 AWA.indd 53 17/05/2019 12:41

ITALY
first birthday. Often the women would take on represents these children’s chance, not just to
a child, take the money and use it to feed their survive but to thrive. The Innocenti did not just
own children. These women were malnourished want to save babies; it wanted to feed, clothe and
themselves. The infant survival rate was very educate them. That was typical of the Humanists.
low, during some periods as low as ten percent
of children survived, nonetheless they tried : hat o ou ant eo le to ta e a a
desperately to save them. om ou lm The Innocents of Florence?
DB: I want people to understand that there are
: hat an ou tell u a out a onna o certain values we haven’t lost. There are examples
the Inno ent of real systems that were put into place in the
DB The Innocenti chose the figure of a young Renaissance, in the wealthiest city in the world,
mother of child-bearing age to represent Florence. I would like people to tune into the
the institute, and be its banner or logo. For fact that wealthy Florence was concerned about
Christians, this would have meant seeing a young its most fragile citizens, for their soul, health,
Madonna, as she opens her cloak to shelter wellbeing and life. It wanted them to be part of
babies, but we need to remember that her cloak their great society, so much so, that as soon as
was made of silk because the Innocenti was a child was given to the Innocenti, they would
founded by Florence’s silk guild. The Institute receive Florentine citizenship. So, there was a
was founded as a lay organization, and while model for this kind of social assistance, and this
she can be seen as a Biblical Madonna, rather is still something we talk about in the news media
than holding the Christ Child, she is protecting on a daily basis. It wasn’t less complicated then,
sixteen children. She is the “Madonna of the but they tried to create real solutions.
Innocents”. The painting shows three age groups:
new-born babies in swaddling clothes, older : o ou eel ou lm e to e hi to
toddlers breaking out of their rags, and then, DB: I’ve simply realised that we can look at an
young children, wearing smocks. So, the painting example from the past and it can be useful to
us. It is a tragedy to watch a building crumble
or to see artwork decay, but the greatest tragedy
is to lose a philosophy of an entire population.
We need to preserve their way of thinking, the
idea of running a society, based on a humanist
philosophy centred around what it meant to be a
citizen and how they experienced society through e t: he e to e
beauty… the beauty of the city scape, the beauty ainting, Madonna of
of its art. I do not look at the past for the past’s the Innocents
sake. I look at it in connection to the modern elo : a i atti tella
052-055 AWA.indd 54 17/05/2019 12:41

ITALY
context and what it has meant to have modern

women conserving this piece. So, I wouldn’t say I elo to : n ea l ainting o the Inno enti
want audiences to come away with one thing. This elo mi le: egi te o the a ie han e in to the on ent om
film simply opens up a kind of thought process, elo ottom: a h a a le t ith omething to i enti the mothe he e
a e no a t o the mu eum i la ( ll image a i atti tella)
of what it means for all of us to be human and to
occupy this planet together. For the humanists,
being a human being was of utmost importance; a
fundamental value.
: hat a it li e to ma e thi mo ie
DB: It was a profound experience. We were
looking at a historical context where women
gave up their children, where orphans fought
for survival, and women have truly been at the
forefront of this restoration, just like they were at
the forefront of the Innocenti Institute. I learned
a lot from watching the restoration, seeing these
conservators going over a canvas inch by inch,
to make sure that it was cleaned and restored.
It was like a parallel process, the institute was
doing what the restorers were doing. And these
particular conservators showed such gentleness
and patience. I don’t know of too many men
who can do that kind of detailed daily work. But
women are willing to do that, to care for a piece
like that. And the men say: ‘Let the women do
that’. As I man, I don’t know if I could go over
that canvas in such painstaking detail. I would
never call conservation ‘women’s work’, but I do
recognise that it takes a special brand of patience,
that these women, in particular have taught me
and I created the film with those lessons learned.
: Ho ha the o e t en i he ou a a
o umenta ma e
DB My camera was there to film Eli abeth icks
and Nicoletta Fontani as they found the biggest
highlight of their career, with a rolling camera
pointed right at them. That’s what documenting
is, that is why I am a documentary maker…
Elizabeth told me that, when she was restoring a
work by Michelangelo, she found a thumbprint
inside the piece Then she said that finding the
secrets behind the Innocenti Madonna was even
more memorable than that. Essentially, the
two restorers found another work behind the
Madonna’s painted surface. Their restoration
changed the painting’s attribution, and therefore,
changed its life. But I don’t think it changed the
impact of the image. Nicoletta says that to work
a masterpiece that’s beautiful and famous is a
wonderful experience, but that to be involved in
a process like this one, means they have to delve
deeper and find new things.
052-055 AWA.indd 55 17/05/2019 12:41

EUROPE REMEMBERS
In the second part of our special feature on Europe Remembers, the 75th
anniversary of the end of the Second World War in Europe, we focus on
Liberation Route Europe, Operation Market Garden and have an exclusive
interview with a 99-year-old veteran of the battle of Arnhem
T he Liberation Route Europe (LRE)

is an international remembrance
trail that connects important milestones
Listening Spot Stories
More than 180 audio spots have been
created across the Netherlands in the
before the end of the war. The hotel (a
grand house at the time) was used to try
and hide a large number of local Jewish
from modern European history. It forms provinces of eeland, Noord-Brabant, people in a cubbyhole under the stairs.
a link between the main regions along Limburg and Gelderland en Overijssel, Sadly a crying baby gave away the hiding
the Western Allied Forces’ advance from and in the German-Dutch border region. place - but it is these personal stories
southern England, to the beaches of At each audio spot a personal story is that help to bring, and keep alive, the
Normandy, Belgium, Luxembourg, the told about the experiences of someone memories of the Second World War.
Netherlands, the Hürtgen Forest and in that area. For example, a 6-year-old, The stories of the locations can be
on to Berlin. The route continues to the on seeing parachutists in September downloaded from www.liberationroute.
Polish city of Gda sk, where a democratic 1944, ran to her mother saying, “God com and there is also a LRE app. Available
revolution for overcoming the division is throwing people out of heaven”. Her for iPhone and Android users the app
of Europe was launched nearly two mother replied, Do not worry my child, o ers easy access to historical events,
generations later. In southern Europe, it is only confetti.” sites, biographies, and audio stories.
Italy has now joined the LRE, from Sicily Another listening spot can be found in There will also be a new book, Travel
to the Gustav and Gothic Lines, as has the the grounds of a hotel at Molenbosweg, the Liberation Route Europe, that will be
Provence region in southern France and in the Netherlands. Under a lime tree published in July.
the city of Pilsen in the Czech Republic. in front of the
LRE also gives people the chance to hotel, you can
discover and experience the route that the hear the story
Allied Forces took during the final phase of owner Marcel
of the Second World War. It connects Hoogenboom’s
this history with life in modern day grandparents.
Europe, as well as other parts of the world, His grandfather,
underscoring the role of international Leendert, was part
reconciliation and the promotion of of the resistance
re ection on the value of our hard-won group in Van Deest
freedoms. A new hiking trail, stretching in Middelburg, but
3,000 miles from London to Berlin, and he was betrayed by
passing through hundreds of points of a neighbour. He
interest, will be opened in 2020. died in a camp just
056 ER INTRO2.indd 56 16/05/2019 18:18

Bevr_190509_
057 HOLLAND Adv
MUSEUM
Timeless
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Travels116
magazine.indd 1 16/05/2019
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15:42
HIGHLIGHT:OPERATION
MARKET GARDEN
Operation Market Garden saw fierce fighting around the towns of Arnhem, Nijmegen
and Oosterbeek as the allies sought to push up into Germany and end the war.
Today these events are still remembered, nearly 75 years later, particularly for
the hope of liberation that they brought to the Dutch people. By Alice Norman
Above from left to right: Waves of paratroopers land in the Netherlands; The remains of Nijmegen after the battle;
The bridge at Arnhem after the British paratroops had been driven back
O
peration Market Garden was an important campaign during the
Image: © Duncan Jackson/ CC BY-SA 4.0

latter stages of the Second World War and is known to many
because of the film A Bridge Too Far. The campaign was a push
designed to reach Berlin and end the war: the British, Poles and Canadians
would land in Holland and take the northern route to Berlin while the
Americans, already in France, would push upwards from there, avoiding
the Siegfried Line. The ‘Market’ part of the operation was the thousands of
troops who would land by air, and then meet up with the ‘Garden’ part, the
troops who were already on the ground.
As often happens during war-time, things rarely go to plan, and in
this instance, the British hierarchy were unaware that there were two SS
Panzer divisions situated near Arnhem at the time. They were actually in
the process of being recalled to Berlin, but had been delayed, so heard
about the landing of the allied troops and rushed to secure the bridges in
Arnhem and Nijmegen. In the end, only one British battalion reached the
bridge in Arnhem and they bravely held out against the Germans, without
reinforcements, for four days, before having to surrender.
Therefore this area in the Netherlands is very aware of its history,
especially the towns of Nijmegen, Oosterbeek and Arnhem. There are
several museums in the area commemorating its war history and each year
in September a number of special events are organised. Last year I was
invited to the commemorative events and for some reason I was surprised
by the numbers who attended them. In England, besides the wreath laying
each November, we don’t have anything like this. But then we weren’t
occupied. And it is not just the older generation who attend here: there Above: Operation Market Garden - Allied Plan
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EUROPE REMEMBERS
were many families with young children. It would seem

that an important message is being handed down to
the younger generation: freedom must not be taken for
granted. It is so easy to forget, nearly 75 years on from
the horrors of the Second World War, but it is essential
to remember, so that history is not repeated. And the
Dutch are very good at remembering.
One of the main events in September is the Airborne
commemoration and parachute drop at Ginkel Heath.
Thousands of people attend to see a recreation of
the start of Operation Market Garden, when 100,000
parachutists landed in the area. While today only
about 350 parachutists take to the skies (from all
NATO countries), it gives a good idea of what it must
have looked like and to imagine what the Dutch must
have felt after four years of occupation, to suddenly see
the skies filled with allied soldiers. After the airdrop
there is an o cial commemoration and this is one of
the events for this week that the veterans like to attend.
Watching them throughout the ceremony, it was
di cult to not be emotional thinking of the sacrifice
“
An important message is being
handed down to the younger
generation: freedom must not be
taken for granted
these men had made. This year and next will probably
be the last major celebrations that they will attend, and
you can tell as they wipe their tears away, they are still
remembering the friends and comrades that they lost.
A lot of attention is centred on the town of Arnhem,
as this is famous from the film and for the fierce
fighting to take the bridge. hen walking around the
town, Nico, my guide, kept pointing out British ags
and saying how much the people of this area loved the
British. When I asked why, he replied it was because
of Operation Market Garden. “But it was a failure,” I
said. “Why should they like the British so much when
they lost the battle here?” “Because it gave them hope
of freedom,” Nico said. “Before that, they had thought
that no-one cared about them, had forgotten them:
but the British gave them hope.”
This remark gave me a whole new perspective, not
only on the battle, but also the relationship between
our countries. We are so lucky in England – we have not
been conquered since the 11th century. As a nation we do
not know what it is like to live without our freedom.
A new information centre has been built near the
bridge at Arnhem (which had 1 ,000 visitors in the first

EUROPE REMEMBERS
three months after it opened), and it includes a video Image: © John Waddy
which tells the story of the battle from a British, Dutch

and German point of view. The town also holds a large
concert, called Bridge to Liberation, with the concert
platform built out onto the river and a big screen
hanging on the bridge. The concert tells a story of war
and freedom, again re ecting on the past to inform the
future. There is music, readings, film and dance and it
makes for a wonderful evening’s experience.
There are many activities put on in September,
including a reconstruction of an ambulance station
complete with (fake) wounded soldiers, but there is
one experience which you can actually attend every Urquhart’s HQ during the campaign, recreates the
Previous
night of the year. This is the Sunset March over the river battle for Arnhem bridge in its basement, but the item page from top
Waal in Nijmegen. In 2013, a new city bridge called which moved me most was a plaque that lies opposite to bottom:
the Crossing (Oversteek) was constructed, close to the the entrance to the house. Written by Colonel John Commemorative
area where the American 82nd Airborne crossed the Waddy, it is a thank you to the local people for helping ceremony at
Ginkel Heath;
river Waal on September 20, 1944, as part of Operation the allied troops at great danger to themselves. John Reconstruction
Market Garden. 48 Allied soldiers were killed during Waddy was wounded three times in the battle of of the Battle of
this attempt, and the bridge has 48 pairs of street lights. Arnhem as a young captain, and he has often taken Arnhem at The
Every night at sunset, the lights are lit, pair by pair, at a part in the commemorative events each September. Airborne Museum
at Oosterbeek
slow marching pace. At the same time, two veterans are One of those events is a service in the Oosterbeek and inside The
chosen to march across the bridge, while others line the War Cemetery which is usually attended by thousands Liberation
route and salute as they go past. It is a daily tribute by of locals, veterans and their families. The children Museum at
veterans of any age to the Allied soldiers who lost their (mostly Dutch but some English) are asked to lay Groesbeek
lives fighting for freedom in Holland and the public is owers on each grave - and there are more than 1,764 Above, left:
invited to join in by walking behind the veterans. headstones there. Colonel Waddy is a great advocate The Canadian
cemetery at
The main museums in the area include The of involving the children in the commemorative events Groesbeek
Liberation Museum at Groesbeek (reopening in as he believes very strongly in educating the younger
Above, right:
September 2019), which tells the wider story of the generation about the war - as well as remembering it. Children lay
area from September 1944 onwards, the Airborne In today’s turbulent times, it is good to re ect o e u ing
Museum at Oosterbeek, which is dedicated to the that we are stronger together and that our freedom the service in
the Airborne
story of Operation Market Garden, the Overloon shouldn’t be taken for granted. Perhaps we should all
Cemetery
War Museum which is the largest war museum in the take a moment to remember the past this September -
Above: The
Netherlands and the WWII Info Centre in Nijmegen. as it should always inform our future. sunset march
There are also a number of war cemeteries in the area
including a Canadian one at Groesbeek and a German
To find details of all Operation Market Garden events and
one at Ysselsteyn. The latter has over 30,000 graves and
75 Years Battle of Arnhem, commemorations and festivities see
it is a truly sobering sight to see all the black crosses www.airborne-herdenkingen.nl/en/airborne-program-2019/ and
stretching as far as the eye can see. www.europeremembers.com/events
The Airborne Museum, which was General Roy

EUROPE REMEMBERS
PLACES TO VISIT:NETHERLANDS
Camp Vught National Memorial

The Camp Vught Memorial is located on the former SS camp
Konzentrationslager Herzogenbusch (Camp Vught). The
combined memorial centre and museum features various
exhibitions, a memorial room and wall of re ection. A Overloon War Museum
children’s memorial lists the names and ages of 1,269 ewish The Overloon War Museum is the largest war museum in
children who were deported and murdered in June 1943. the Netherlands. Based in a large hangar, there are over 150
Between January 1943 and September 1944, 31,000 people were vehicles, planes and guns from WWII, and personal stories
imprisoned in the camp, including 12,000 Jews who were sent give insight into the problems that both the local population,
on to extermination camps, Roma gypsies, Jehovah’s witnesses, and occupier, had to deal with during the war. The battle of
homosexuals, hostages, black market dealers, criminals and Overloon took place in the surrounding area and was a result
the homeless. Camp Vught was the only concentration camp of the failure of Operation Market Garden.
outside Nazi-Germany. www.nmkampvught.nl www.oorlogsmuseum.nl
Windmill on the Frontline

The town of Eerde saw fierce fighting during Operation Market Garden and
the Windmill at Eerde was used as a look-out post during the skirmishes. It
was destroyed on 24 September 1944 and on the mill there are plaques with the
names of the fallen. On 17 September 2014 a small museum was opened in the
mill which includes belongings of the Americans who fought in Eerde. Next
to the mill there is a memorial for the 501st Parachute Infantry Regiment. This
site is also featured on the Brabant Remembers app.
www.eerdsemolen.nl
Info Centre WWII, Nijmegen German Cemetery, Ysselsteyn

The Info Centre WWII aims to provide visitors of The cemetery at Ysselsteyn contains the graves of 31,598
Nijmegen and its surrounding area, the best introduction German war dead, most of whom who died in the
to the stories, heritage, events, and museums linked Netherlands during World War II and it is the largest
to the Second World War in the vicinity. Visitors start German war cemetery in the world. Those buried here also
with a ‘vivid experience’ that will gives them a better include Dutch, Poles and Russians who fought on the side
understanding of what consequences WWII had for of the German military. In a circle near the entrance are 85
Nijmegen and its surroundings. There is also information German soldiers who fell in World War I. There are also
about the di erent historical locations in the city and the 3,000 war dead from the Battle of the Bulge in the Ardennes
centre also functions as a starting point for historical city and Hürtgen Forest, that were initially interred next to the
walks and educational programmes. Netherlands American Cemetery in Margraten.
www.infocentreww2.com www.jbs-ysselsteyn.de

THE KRÖLLER-MÜLLER MUSEUM
DURING WORLD WAR II
The Kröller-Müller Museum in Otterlo is one of the leading museums
in the Netherlands for modern and contemporary art. It also has c.90
paintings and 180 drawings by Vincent van Gogh, making it the second
largest Van Gogh collection in the world. During WWII the museum
directors shared a heavy responsibility to protect their collection
and the museum. Here is their story.
an e ing the olle tion to the un e in
ill u ing the mu eum t u ato he ein tallation o the mu eum
H
elene Kröller-Müller was a
passionate collector of works
by Van Gogh, Picasso and not finished when the war began in 19 9, also helped to reinstate the art so the
Mondrian and her aim in life was but on 22 July 1940, the entire collection museum could open quickly to the public
to build a museum for her unique collection was moved there. The works of art were once more. The museum was o cially
and donate it to the Dutch people. The packed in order of value and transferred reopened on 6 October 1945.
Great Depression meant that her dream to the shelter in small groups. It took a After the war, the museum’s first
couldn’t come true, so when she died in week to transfer all the works of art, but curator, Willy Auping Jr, bought the Van
1939, she left her collection to the State of once they were safe, the museum closed Gogh masterpiece, The Potato Eaters.
the Netherlands, on the condition that they its doors to the public. This painting, along with those previously
would build a museum to house it. In the final years of the war, the museum purchased by Helene, meant that ‘the
After her death, a new director Sam served as a hospital for the Red Cross. It collection of works from his Dutch
van Deventer and curator Willy Auping Jr accommodated 310 adults and 40 children. period’ was now complete and was ‘a
shared the responsibility of protecting the The patients were housed in the Van de crown on the collection’.
museum and collection during the war. Velde wing and St Hubertus hunting lodge To see a timeline of stories about the
Helene had started building a bomb served as the nurses’ accommodation. museum, Helen Kröller-Müller, and the
shelter before her death, in a sand dune in On the 15 April 1945, the museum museum during the Second World War,
the Veluwe National Park nearby. It was was liberated by the Canadians, who see www.krollermuller.nl/timeline.
062-063 KROLLER MULLER.indd 62 15/05/2019 21:50

EUROPE REMEMBERS
H
ELENE KR LLER MÜLLER advisor, HP Bremmer, Helene and her
was a leading European husband purchased some 12,000 works
art patron of the early 20th of art between 1907 and 1922, thereby
century, and one of the first building one of the largest private art
women in Europe to acquire a major art collections of the twentieth century. They
collection. Born in Germany in 1869, also acquired nearly 300 works by Van
she married the Dutchman, Anton Gogh, making it the largest private Van
Kröller in 1888. Under the leadership Gogh collection in the world. It has been
of Anton, Müller and Co (the company said that Helene was the first to recognise
founded by Helene’s father), grew into a his talent. Her passion for his oeuvre and
highly profitable company and with the her exhibition of his work undoubtedly
acquired assets Helene was able to start contributed to his international
her art collection in 1907. recognition and fame.
Guided by in uential art critic and www.krollermuller.nl
“It took a week to transfer all the works of art [to the bunker], but once they
were safe, the museum closed its doors to the public.”
u e om the eme gen ho ital

a e in the ol mu eum hee the t
Helene an nton lle lle he galle e to e a te the a a i ing ana ian t oo il
Helene’s collection city, in a place where art lovers could

becomes accessible to truly enjoy the unique combination of
the public art and nature.
Helene first presented her art collection Her dream was finally materialised in
in 1913 in the building next to Anton’s 1938 when the museum opened its doors.
o ce of M ller Co in The Hague. The building was designed by the Belgian
The collection could be viewed by architect Henry van de Velde. In the
appointment and the first oor was 1970s, a new wing was added, designed
New opening of air- reserved for the ‘ultramodern’ works of by Dutch architect Wim Quist.
raid shelter Juan Gris, Auguste Herbin, Bart van der
Later this year, the museum plans to Leck and Piet Mondrian.
open the ‘bunker’ which was used Helene had originally wanted to build
to store Helene’s art during the war. her museum in The Hague, but after a
Visitors in September and October visit to the Veluwe in Spring 1914, she
2019 and April and May 2020 will be decided to build it in The Hoge Veluwe
able to visit the site for the first time. National Park instead. By choosing this
For more information, see the museum venue, she could present her collection
website: www.krollermuller.nl/ outside the hustle and bustle of the big
062-063 KROLLER MULLER.indd 63 15/05/2019 21:50

INTERVIEW WITH...
COLONEL JOHN WADDY
John Waddy was a Captain in the 1st Parachute Regiment when he was wounded taking part
in Operation Market Garden. Here the 99-year-old veteran discusses the war, life as a
POW and being an advisor to Richard Attenborough. Exclusive interview by Fiona Richards
C olonel John Waddy joined his

family’s regiment, The Somerset
Light Infantry and was posted in
‘I would like to see a force of 20,000
parachute troops - pray let me have them.’
And it was amazing to set it up from
July 1939 to the 2nd Battalion, then scratch, we had nothing in England, just a
serving in India, at the age of 19. After gang of enthusiasts! But we ended the war
nearly two years soldiering in the with something like 30-40,000 parachute
Raj, and keen for more adventure, he troops and it spread to America - they
volunteered for the 151 British Parachute caught the bug as well.
Battalion (later renumbered as 156)
which was established in India in 1941. About his men of B company
As one of the founding o cers, they “They were amusing characters, kept
trained in Egypt, Tunisia and Palestine me in fits of laughter. A lot of them were
before seeing action in Italy. In October Irish. In the early days when we were
1943 he was promoted to Major and experimenting, this type of warfare was
commanded B Coy 156 Bn at Arnhem, new and unheard of in the conservative
where he was wounded in fighting at British Army, and in fact we were looked
ohn a a a oung o e in
Johanna Hoeve woods in September 1944. the e e t u ing II down upon by the rest of the them - we
He was subsequently wounded twice were thought of as thugs who came out of
more while at a Main Dressing Station aeroplanes, and not proper soldiers. Even
and eventually taken prisoner. In Spring Colonel Waddy talks to Fiona about... though our standard of training was way
1945 he was liberated by General Patton’s above anyone else’s, as we were allowed to
army from Stalag VIIA in Bavaria. The formation of The select the men we wanted.
He then spent nearly three years in Parachute Regiment: As an o cer you did quite a lot of
Palestine combating the Jewish terrorist “In the spring of 1940, German parachute jumps because in those days you were
threat where he was wounded again in July troops captured Belgium and Holland experimenting with di erent aircraft and
1947. After some routine postings in the UK, with the highly successful use of airborne di erent equipment and how to jump
Libya and Egypt he rejoined The Somerset forces, which fascinated a few o cers with your weapons and equipment on you
Light Infantry in Malaya in 1952. Lengthy in the ar O ce. They managed to get instead of in containers. So, inevitably
spells patrolling in the Selangor Jungle some items of parachute equipment the o cers had to be the guinea pigs
earned him a Mention in Dispatches. from the Dutch, and brought them ‘it wouldn’t have been done, old boy, if
In 1958 the Parachute Regiment was back to England, and then more or less, you hadn’t done it first’. e also had to
allowed to have a permanent cadre they started inventing a new parachute demonstrate the equipment was OK. I
of o cers which he volunteered to regiment at an RAF station outside remember once we were testing how to
rejoin, and was accepted and posted as Manchester as a private venture. land with our weapons - hitherto we’d
Second in Command of 2 Para, serving “They sent out a round robin to all had to have them in containers that were
with them in Cyprus, Jordan and the interested battalions in England asking dropped, but sometimes they didn’t drop,
UK. He was awarded the OBE in 1962. for volunteers and had the backing of or there were bushes on the landing zone
In 1964 he was appointed Colonel Churchill who had just become Prime and we couldn’t find them.
SAS and commander of the SAS Group Minister. It was the sort of idea that “So it was important that everybody
(comprising all 3 SAS Regiments) and in interested him as he was intent on had to have a weapon and we had to
1976 he took 6 months’ leave to act as a defending England but also looking experiment how to drop with a ri e or
military adviser for the film A Bridge Too further ahead to attacking occupied machine gun. I remember jumping with
Far directed by Richard Attenborough. Europe. He wrote a famous memo saying a light machine gun and a shovel and
064-067 COL WADDY + EVENTS.indd 64 16/05/2019 14:44

EUROPE REMEMBERS
my ri e in a bag attached to my leg, but the bombs and shells were landing all looking at that bastard any more’, and
somehow when I pulled my cord they around us. Suddenly there was a big crash some of the German soldiers clapped!
became loose and spiralled to the ground, and some German troops would rush
narrowly missing one of my soldiers who through and then ours would rush back. Life in the POW camp
swore at me roundly. When I landed Eventually the Germans took over and “Our Stalag was for other ranks of all
alongside him, however, he had the they established a firing position in the nationalities, including 15,000 Russians,
decency to salute and said ‘sorry sir!’ ruined window of the room I was in. I 5,000 French and 5,000 British and a
remember our Medical O cer shouting small compound with 0 o cers who had
On the landings of at them that this was contrary to the been captured in Greece and Yugoslavia
Operation Market Garden Geneva convention, as the Germans had during special operations. As the Germans
“We were dropped on the correct drop set up a machine gun in the window with retreated, they moved the prisoners
zone, but it was eight miles away from our a Red Cross ag hanging over it. further south as they wanted to use them
objective. And this was a typical mistake “Afterwards when all the wounded were as potential hostages, so our small bunch
of so many airborne operations where do left behind, I was taken to a German-run of ex-airborne o cers now were joined
you drop the parachute troops? (Nowadays Dutch hospital in Apeldoorn it was by o cers that had been captured at
an operation is not on if you can’t drop the quite comfortable actually and I was just Dunkirk. While prisoners, they had been
troops close to the objective). dumped on the bed with all I had, which allowed to have their uniforms and clothes
We were dropped on the second day was my battledress jacket and my khaki sent out. So they were in full service dress
and that was one of the mistakes of the shirt. I had field dressings all around my with shiny brass buttons and Sam Brownes
campaign. I’m afraid our Divisional head and there were some German SS while I had been captured with only my
Commander, a good man, who was an troops in the ward all nattering away, and battle jacket and khaki shirt and wore
experienced infantry soldier but not an because I could speak German, I could scrounged trousers etc from the French
airborne one, landed too many non- understand what they were saying. They and Americans. Our little hut of about
essential fighting troops on that first day believed that we were cousins and we should o cers came under the command
a lot of the glider troops and HQ troops be fighting together against the Russians. of a Colonel in the Welsh Guards who
”
But there were two parachute brigades left in England, ours
and the Polish brigade, and what he should have done is not
land all the administrative and glider troops but do what the
Americans did, and put all the parachute troops in first
spent the first 24 hours sitting on their “Eventually I was put in another ward had been at Dunkirk. After roll call with
backsides on the landing zones. There to the soldiers so I couldn’t instruct the Germans, they would hand over to
were only two under-strength parachute them to escape, not that there was a lot the senior British o cers to dismiss the
regiments that were sent to the bridge, of that going on, and in the ward of 18 parade. Our hut was told to stand by
and only one got there. beds opposite the door of my little room I as everyone else was dismissed and the
“Whereas General Gavin, the American could hear the German soldiers crying for
commander of the 82nd Airborne their mothers in the night and the English
Division, to the south had about eight soldiers telling them to shut up.
bridges to capture, and his tactic was
to get what, he said, was the maximum Time in hospital
number of bayonets to attack and hold “I was in hospital for about six weeks and
the bridges. He used two parachute then sent to a ‘hospital’ in Bavaria: Stalag
brigades together to attack each bridge VIIA. It was called a hospital because it
and so they succeeded. had wooden huts. About a week after
arriving, a big, blonde German nurse came
On being wounded into my room and said ‘your soldiers are
“I thought, once or twice, I might not being disrespectful to the Führer’. I found
make it. The second and third times I was out there had been a big ward of 24 beds
injured was when I was in the Medical with both German and British soldiers
Corp dressing station in Oosterbeek together. One day, one of our soldiers olonel ohn a
and we were literally in the midst of the got out of bed and turned over a picture at the th anni e a o e ation
fighting. I was in a Dutch house and of Hitler to the wall saying ‘I can’t stand a et Ga en

EUROPE REMEMBERS
Colonel came over to us and said ‘I am (dressed in pink shorts, no idea why), the Dunkirk chaps they must see them
absolutely appalled at the standard of your when he saw the ag on the church clock but they weren’t interested.
turnout’. The New ealand o cer behind tower and exclaimed ‘kiss my naked ass!’ “We had been given such a tremendous
me just told him where to go. “When we were liberated, all the reception by the Americans when they
“I was in camp for 3 months. As soon as Dunkirk o cers tried to take command liberated us, but my friend predicted when
I arrived in early December, the Swiss Red and issued orders saying that no one we arrived in England we would be given a
Cross interviewed me, took my particulars could leave camp and if they did so they packet of Woodbines and a cup of stewed
and told my parents I was alive. They would be court-marshalled. tea and we were. But it was home.
received the message on Christmas Eve But we six Airborne o cers found a “The British had set up camps to receive
they had previously been told I was dead. little trolley that the Germans used to ex POWs and we all went to the camp
“Conditions in the camp were very move potatoes about and walked out of cinema and the chap on the stage said
di cult and after the war the Camp the camp. A Dunkirk o cer at the gate ‘we will send you out of here properly
Commandant was convicted of war tried to stop us but we said we are airborne dressed, but you have to go through 18
crimes for killing Russian prisoners. The troops and we’d just got information on stages first.’ e were all dressed like
Russian prisoners were starving and our secret wireless that the RAF are going gypsies and four hours later I came back
they had stolen some meat and hidden to drop supplies over the hill. ‘Oh good’ he with back pay, advance pay, battle dress
it underneath the oor of their hut. One said and so o we went, dumping our little and so forth. It was about 8pm at night
of the guard dogs found the meat so they wagon about half a mile away and then we when we finished, so my friend and I
killed the dog. In future, when ‘testing’ a carried on to the local village and took over spent the night going around London.
new guard dog, the Commandant would the pub, asking the woman running it for Every bar was full of Americans and
take Russian prisoners out of the camp beer, bed and a bath. British and the drink was owing.
ohn a on the et o a i ge too a

ith i ha tten o ough
olonel a ith hil en at a

ommemo ati e e ent in the ethe lan
and let the dogs chase and kill them. e were in pub for five or six days The As an advisor on the film, A
Russian prisoners were out looting and Bridge Too Far
On being liberated getting their own back. But eventually we “I do NOT recommend that film - it
“Just before we were liberated, we knew heard we were leaving and were taken in turned out to be an American film for
that the Americans were nearby, as we’d American trucks to the American airfield American audiences. I was military
heard on our secret radio and late one where there were Dakotas waiting for us. advisor, but neither I, nor Richard
evening we could hear artillery fire a e ew to Reims, and were dumped Attenborough, were allowed to alter one
few miles away. The next morning the there, but the Americans looked after word of the script. I did try to change
Germans were starting to relax, so we us, put up tents and gave us food and one big scene, the one with Robert
didn’t have to go into the huts and we we were told that the RAF would come Redford capturing Nijmegen bridge
could hear the battle about five miles away. and get us the next day. But the next day (rather than a sergeant in the Grenadier
“Therefore we were all outside to see was D-Day and so the whole of Bomber Guards). A message came back from New
the American tanks come over the hill Command were drunk! So a day later York: ‘Tell the Colonel I make movies for
and roar past our camp and about an hour 80-90 Lancaster bombers came to get us money, not history. Besides I’m paying
later on the church tower in the nearby and we had to squash 30 people into the Redford three million bucks’. Redford
German village, we saw the American bombers. I sat in the mid-upper turret was only with us for three days! Richard
ag raised. I was standing behind an and it was a lovely May day. I saw the was very good to work with, although we
American Air Force o cer at the time white cli s and clambered down and told disagreed about Ghandi...”

EUROPE REMEMBERS
Upcoming events For details of all events see:

eu o e emem e om e ent
8-9 June 2019 21 September 2019

Bomber Command Centre, Lincoln, UK Airborne Memorial, Ede, Netherlands
Two D-Day 75th anniversary outdoor concerts will include The Airborne commemorations at Ginkel Heath, Ede, start
tributes to Vera Lynn, George Formby and Gracie Fields as at 9. 0 am with the first parachute drop at 10.00 am and the
well as sketches from It Ain’t Half Hot and Dad’s Army. Food commemoration service at 11.00 am. The day’s activities end
available, but picnics welcome. Doors open 17.30 pm. See at 4.30 pm. ai o ne he en ingen nl en ai o ne
website for full details: inte national ou ommo ation e e
31 August 2019 20 September 2019

Liberation Ball, Mons Museum, Belgium Bridge to Liberation, Arnhem,
Immerse yourself in the festive atmosphere of the balls of the Netherlands
Liberation. Dress in vintage clothes and listen to the sound of An experience in which music, special e ects, film and dance
Glen Miller and other post-war bands for a fantastic evening. intertwine to bring you personal stories at the time of the
olemu eal mon e Battle of Arnhem. These moving stories are still very relevant
today. i getoli e ation nl
7-8 September 2019 24 December 2019

Antwerp Liberation Days, Belgium Canadian War Cemetery, Holten,
Come and see the Liberation Parade with 100 historic and Netherlands
contemporary military and civilian vehicles, accompanied by Every year, school children place a burning candle at each
marching bands and actors on 7 September and attend the headstone. For many visitors, the ickering lights of the
commemorative ceremony in the Stadspark the next day. candles form an ambiance of silence and peace at a special
i itant e en e en e i ing agen time of year. ana e e eg aa laat holten nl

Timeless Travels is a great fan of maps
(understandably so, with our passion
for travel) and was delighted to see
a new book called Atlas: A World
of Maps from the British Library
published in October 2018. We are
therefore delighted to bring you a
special map in partnership with the
British Library. For more information
see: www.bl.uk/shop
The World (c.1325)

W
ith its vaguely organic appearance, this early world
map is one of the most unusual and compelling maps
we know of. Its context was an Italian proposition for
the launching of a crusade to the Holy Land in the early fourteenth
century. The aim of this crusade was to recapture the town of Acre
(in modern-day Israel) which had been taken in 1104 during the
First Crusade, but had fallen to the Muslims in 1291. Any crusade
required the support of the Pope, and so we come to the Venetian
author and geographer Marino Sanudo (1260–1338) – ‘a man with a
mission’, as the historian Evelyn Edson has described him.
A wealthy and devout Venetian, Sanudo was a strong advocate of
the crusading spirit and keen to convince Pope Clement V (c.1263–
1314) and his successor John XXII (1244–1334) of the merits of a holy
war. To do this he wrote a book between 1306 and 1320 with the
tantalising title Liber Secretorum Fidelium Crucis, or ‘Secret Book
of the Faith of the Cross’. As well as the copy Sanudo presented to
John XXII in 1321 (now in the Vatican Library), others, including
this one, were written for in uential Christian world leaders.
The book was a masterpiece of cunning persuasion. It contained
practical information in the form of a plan of action dealing with
tactics, strategy and logistics, and a historical and geographical
description of the Holy Land. A handful of maps drawn in the
workshop of the Genoese chart maker Pietro Vesconte ( .1 10 0)
were also included in later copies. These comprised a world map
and maps of the Mediterranean Sea, Egypt (the first stop on the
campaign), Acre, Jerusalem and the Holy Land itself. This is the
clever bit: not only were they included in a practical capacity, to
assist with the planning and strategy of the projected campaign,
but they may also have been included to illustrate and thus frame
the goal of the Holy Land clearly in the in uential viewers’ minds.
The world map is an extraordinary hybrid, combining two
types of medieval map. First, it is a traditional circular world
map, or mappa mundi, oriented with east at the top, Jerusalem
(and the Holy Land) at the centre, and a variety of classical and
contemporary places marked on it.
It is also drawn in the style of a ‘portolan’ sea chart, with its
distinctive navigational criss-crossing ‘rhumb’ lines and an
emphasis on the seas, coasts and rivers. The practical functionality
of this sort of map is clear, and it was Vesconte’s speciality, but
it may also have served to support the ideology behind the Liber
Secretorum. By playing down, relatively speaking, the Christian
iconography of the world map (there is no Garden of Eden Christian elite in order to encourage them to support action?
illustrated, for example, as was common in the mappae mundi), Sanudo’s e orts at persuasion were in vain, however, and decades
could the purpose have been to manipulate the fears of the would pass before another Christian holy war.
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MARVELLOUS MAPS
Text © Tom Harper. Pietro Vesconte’s world map in the style of a portolan chart, c.1 2 Add. MS 27 76 , . 187v 188 . British Library Board
068-069 MARVELLOUS MAPS.indd 69 15/05/2019 21:55

Jungle
secrets...
Revealed
070-078 ANGKOR.indd 70 16/05/2019 17:25
Archaeologist Dr Damian Evans is using ground-breaking lidar technology
to discover the long-hidden secrets of the Cambodian jungle
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CAMBODIA
F
or more than one and a half centuries,
explorers and scientists alike have
”
relied on the machete to clear the dense
vegetation that obscures much of the
remains of the great medieval civilisation
of Angkor, which ourished across mainland [We discovered] that Angkor was actually the largest
Southeast Asia from the 9th to 15th centuries AD.
Until the last few years, that is.
integrated settlement complex of the pre-industrial
In July 2012, I sat with Roland Fletcher, a Professor world, a sprawling conurbation comparable in size
in the Department of Archaeology at the University to modern-day Sydney
of Sydney, in an air-conditioned o ce at the
University’s Robert Christie Research Centre in
Cambodia. By then I had spent many years in charge to address broader questions about the context
of the Centre, and had settled into the workaday of the temples: who exactly were the people who
routine of overseeing the University’s archaeological built them, where did they live, and how were
programmes at Angkor, but this was no ordinary they so successful in the harsh and unforgiving
day: we had just taken delivery of the results of a environment of monsoon Asia? Perhaps most
landmark aerial survey, which deployed an airborne importantly, what happened to them?
laser scanner strapped to the side of a helicopter. The problem for archaeologists had always
The whole project had been something of a been that houses of stone were reserved for the Previous pages: An
aerial view of Bakong,
gamble: several years of planning and a quarter of gods, and that the stu of everyday life was mostly the central state
a million dollars invested in a technology that had non-durable material – houses made of thatch, temple of the late 9th
never been used for archaeology anywhere in Asia. and even royal palaces made of wood – that century at the centre
The laser scanner, or ‘lidar’, had the potential to has long since disappeared. In 1992, however, of an urban network
that has been mapped
see through dense forest canopy and reveal traces Professor Christophe Pottier of the École Française in detail using lidar
of the civilisation remaining on the forest oor, d’Extrême Orient (French Institute of Asian
Below: The lidar team,
but no-one was entirely sure that it would work, studies, or EFEO) noted that traces of the remains
Damian Evans second
or that there would be anything much to see even of ponds, occupation mounds, village shrines, from the left
if it did. As a map derived from four billion laser roadways and canals could still be discerned
All images : ©Damian
measurements of Angkor slowly unfolded on the from the air. It was the fabric of the urban and Evans unless
screen of a high-performance computer, however, agricultural network of greater Angkor. Pottier otherwise stated
we watched in awe as entire cities were revealed
for the first time beneath the jungle of northwest
Cambodia, and realised that the age of the
machete had just drawn to a decisive close.
Past research
The great monuments of Angkor, along with their
inscriptions and artworks, have long fascinated
scholars, and over the past century a huge body
of work has been produced on these aspects of
Khmer civilisation, mostly by French scholars.
In the 1990s, as decades of con ict in Cambodia
finally wound to an end, the arrival of modern
archaeological methods sparked a renewed
interest in Angkor, but with an entirely di erent
focus. For the first time, scholars began seriously
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CAMBODIA
Above: An aerial
view of Angkor Wat,
with the West Baray
reservoir in the
background, and
vegetation obscuring
the archaeological
landscape
Right: A lidar image
of Angkor Wat
from the 2012 lidar
acquisition, showing
the patterned
archaeological
landscape
underneath the
vegetation
070-078 ANGKOR.indd 73 16/05/2019 17:26

CAMBODIA
”
We watched in awe as entire
cities were revealed for the
first time beneath the jungle of
northwest Cambodia
began to use aerial photos to sketch those traces

by hand onto paper maps from the 1950s, setting
in motion a research agenda that would lead
eventually to the lidar survey two decades later.
A meeting between Pottier and Fletcher in 1998
laid the groundwork for the University of Sydney’s
involvement in Angkor. The technical expertise
of the University of Sydney’s renowned digital
archaeology programme was brought to bear
on Pottier’s maps, which were converted into an
enormous digital mapping database and, as Pottier
jokes, “allowed me to enter honourably into the
21st century”.
For the next decade and a half, Fletcher, Pottier
and I continued the mapping work with aerial
photographs and satellites, eventually expanding
the inventory of temples in the Greater Angkor
area from around 350 to 1250, and discovering
that Angkor was actually the largest integrated
settlement complex of the pre-industrial
world, a sprawling conurbation comparable in
size to modern-day Sydney. The discovery was
remarkable, but there were no ‘eureka moments’,
just a gradual accumulation of more and more
pieces of the puzzle over the course of many years
Left, top: An aerial view of Prasat Thom, the central

state temple of the 10th century at the centre of an
urban network at the site of Koh Ker that has been
mapped in detail using lidar
Middle: Aerial view of Banteay Samre, a 12th-century
temple roughly contemporary with Angkor Wat
located within a complex archaeological landscape
largely obscured by vegetation
Left, bottom: An aerial view of remote temple
complex of Preah Khan of Kompong Svay,
elaborated across the 12th to early 13th centuries CE,
where lidar has revealed an extensive urban grid
that was previously unknown
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Right: Overview map

of Cambodia showing
the main coverage
blocks for the 2012 and
2015 lidar acquisitions
Below right: The
Bayon temple (centre)
and the royal palace
precinct as seen from
the air in conventional
imagery (top layer)
and in the lidar
image lte e o
vegetation (bottom
layer), among an
extended urban grid of
mounds and ponds
LIDAR TECHNOLOGY
Airborne laser scanning revolves around
a technology called light detection and
ranging (lidar, sometimes LiDAR or LIDAR),
which is analogous in some ways to
the more familiar technology of radar.
Instead of radio waves, however, a lidar
instrument sends out a laser pulse, which
is then reflected back to the instrument by
any object or surface that the laser beam
encounters. The instrument measures
the time that it took for the reflection
to return, which it uses to calculate the
distance between the instrument and the
reflective surface: the longer the time, the
more distant the surface is.
Given enough of these measurements
taken looking down from an aircraft,
incredibly detailed three-dimensional of painstaking analysis and di cult fieldwork.
models of the landscape can be created. Most troubling of all was the fact that vast swathes
The lidar used in the Angkor mission of the new archaeological map consisted of
emitted about one million laser pulses
nothing more than white space, where forest cover
every four seconds, acquiring an
prevented conventional technologies like satellites
enormous amount of data in a 600-metre
and airborne radar from identifying any traces of
wide swath along the flight path of the
the civilisation that might remain etched into the
helicopter. The laser light does not actually
penetrate or ‘see through’ vegetation: for surface of the landscape. Question marks loomed
archaeological applications, the idea is over issues like the completeness of the work, and
to bombard every square metre of the the accuracy of the conclusions drawn.
landscape with so many laser beams that
at least a handful of the laser pulses are Getting started
likely to find tiny gaps in the foliage, hit the For several decades, the very few archaeologists
ground, and reflect back to the sensor. in the world who specialise in remote sensing
have always been looking forward to the ‘next
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CAMBODIA
big thing’ on the horizon, as new technologies, technology in a similar context at a Mayan site in
often developed initially for military applications, Belize, however, and given momentum by seed Above: Face towers
slowly transformed into relatively inexpensive money from the National Geographic, I spent amid the jungle at
the remote temple
commercial applications. In the 1990s it was radar, years essentially going door-to-door seeking the complex of Banteay
which Sydney University was a world leader in participation of the various other international teams Chhmar, built by king
using for archaeological research (my Honours and working at Angkor. Jayavarman VII in the
PhD theses at Sydney both revolved around using Eventually, by 2011, enough small contributions late 12th early 13th
centuries CE
it at Angkor); in the late 1990s and early 2000s it had been raised to make the project viable.
was very high-resolution conventional imagery, of Convincing the Cambodian authorities of the Right, top & middle:
The helicopter
the kind we commonly see these days in Google merits of the idea was a di erent matter entirely
u ing the ight
Earth; and in the last few years, it has been lidar. the permissions process took six months, operations, with the
In 2005, Fletcher and I began to hatch a plan to involved several di erent ministries, required an lidar instrument
use lidar’s capacity to ‘see through’ the forest to fill in unprecedented exemption from the no- y one mounted within a
pod on the right-
those blank spaces on the map. above Angkor Wat, and went all the way up to Prime
hand skid.
The problem was that no-one had ever used lidar Ministerial level. In the end, eight di erent teams
Right, Bottom:
for archaeology anywhere in Asia before. It was representing seven di erent countries committed
The technical crew
an untested technology in this specific context, support, in what would turn out to be the broadest at work in the
and many researchers working in Cambodia were research cooperation ever achieved in Cambodian helicopter during the
sceptical that the instrument could see through the archaeology, and the largest archaeological lidar 2015 lidar acquisition.
Photo: Erika Pineros
dense vegetation that surrounds the temples and acquisition ever undertaken anywhere in the world.
deliver worthwhile results. No-one was prepared Above images:
to commit the six-figure sum the mission required. New cities discovered Francisco Goncalves
Encouraged by a successful application of the In April 2012 the Indonesian branch of a
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CAMBODIA
Canadian survey company, PT McElhanney, was

contracted to import the necessary equipment
and undertake the lidar survey. For just under
a week, a red helicopter with a distinctive white
pod attached to its left skid systematically criss-
crossed the airspace a mere 800 metres over the
World Heritage Site of Angkor, as well as two other
remote and forested locations. The vast amount
of data produced during the mission filled several
terabyte-size hard-drives, which had to be hand-
carried to Cambodia from McElhanney’s labs in
Jakarta. Since then, a tremendous amount of work
has gone into processing and interpreting the data,
and the excitement of that first day has turned out
to be entirely justified.
The imagery reveals that archaeological features
are almost ubiquitous beneath the forest cover,
and that the ceremonial centre of Angkor, with its
great temples shrouded in jungle, was surrounded
by a formally-planned grid-like network of roads
that formed the densely-populated urban core of
the extended settlement complex. A French team
had spent many years surveying one part of that
‘downtown’ area on the ground, using machetes
and hand-operated survey levels; the lidar mission
covered that same area in 4 minutes of ying
time, and produced a map with greater precision
and accuracy.
At least half a dozen previously undocumented
temples have been uncovered in the immediate
vicinity of Angkor Wat, where in excess of two
million tourists pass through every year, along with
a previously unknown urban layout within the very
confines of the temple’s moat. In the remote ulen
mountains to the north of Angkor, where dense forest
and extensive mine fields have traditionally frustrated
mapping e orts, an entire urban layout has emerged
from beneath the vegetation, corresponding to a
previously undiscovered city referred to in thousand-
year-old inscriptions as Mahendraparvata.
The newly-discovered cities clearly extended
beyond the limited lidar coverage that was achieved
in 2012, and encouraged by those initial results, I
immediately began fundraising for a second lidar
mission to extend that coverage and take a first
look at a couple of other temple complexes in
the region where, they suspect, entire cities also
lie undiscovered on the forest oor. My job was
significantly easier the second time around thanks
to the first results, the initial scepticism surrounding
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Above: Unexplained, geometric linear patterns associated with major temples across northwest Cambodia. i a te hnolog lte out
the egetation to ee hat i le t on the u a e he t image ho a e iou l un no n ma o it uilt a oun a tem le at eah
Khan of Kompong Svay and connected by road to Angkor, while the other photos show linear patterns near temple cities like Preah Khan
the method had largely evaporated, and has now degree of human transformations of tropical forest
given way to enthusiasm. Within two years of environments has been underestimated until now. For more
publishing the results from the 2012 campaign, I The conventional idea of tropical forests in prehistory information
secured a 1.5 million Euro grant from the European is of wild and inhospitable places, but we are on Damian’s
Research Council for a greatly-expanded campaign beginning to see them as laboratories of innovation
research see:
covering all of the major sites of the Khmer Empire, and complexity, and as hotspots for domestication
and moved from the University of Sydney to join and the emergence of early urbanism. It turns out www.efeo.fr
Pottier at the EFEO in Paris. Completed in 2015, that humans profoundly transformed these places in
www.angkorlidar.
this acquisition extended the original 350 square the past, which changes our big-picture perspective org
kilometre coverage to well over two thousand, on human transformations of the Earth’s surface over
o ering an extraordinary archive of traces of human the long term, and has implications for how we trace Follow him
on twitter:
activity inscribed into the surface of the landscape. the origins of the Anthropocene.
@ArchaeoAngkor
The results, according to Fletcher, are “a total There are also implications for site preservation
game-changer” for archaeology in the region. Just and heritage management, as illegal logging, Read his latest
recently, a group of prominent Mayan scholars corporate land concessions and rapid urban book: Michael
published an article in which they likened the expansion threaten the delicate traces of the D. Coe & Damian
Evans: Angkor
emergence of lidar to the advent of carbon dating, Angkorian civilisation that remain inscribed into
and the Khmer
in terms of its importance for the study of tropical the landscape around the temples. These are urgent Civilization, Thames
forest civilisations; they too plan additional, more issues, and NESCO is at the forefront of e orts to & Hudson, 2018
extensive lidar acquisitions. A collaborative network extend the lidar coverage in Cambodia in order to
of researchers interested in the archaeological fully understand the spatial extent of the remnant
applications of lidar is rapidly emerging, not only cultural heritage.
in Southeast Asia and Mesoamerica but in other This dry season, sta and volunteers from a wide
regions as well, bound by a common interest in the range of international teams are working in the
ability of lidar to provide extraordinary insights field with Cambodian colleagues to confirm and
into interactions between humans and their document new sites so that they can be protected.
environment in the distant past. We convened the The thrill of discovery is only partially o set by the
first international meeting of archaeologists using di culty of the task, which often involves trekking
lidar in December 2018 at the EFEO in Paris, in deep into the dense forests of northwest Cambodia;
order to compare notes. Everywhere we look with as it turns out, the machete is not quite redundant
the lidar instrument, we get the sense that the around here just yet.
070-078 ANGKOR.indd 78 16/05/2019 17:26

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BOOKS
Ancient Syria. A three The Traveller's Guide History Day by Day. A Savage Dreamland.
thousand year history to Classical Philosophy 365 Voices from the past Journeys in Burma
Trevor Bryce John Gaskin Peter Furtado David Eimer

OUP Thames Hudson Thames Hudson Bloomsbury
Published April 2019 Published February 2019 Published February 2019 Published une 2019
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T his book tells the ,000-

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I n this clear and evocative
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F or almost fifty years Burma
was ruled by a paranoid
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peoples, cities and kingdoms nature, life, death and other millennia of human history isolated from the outside
that arose, ourished, worlds that informed the through 66 quotations, world. A historic 201 election
declined, and disappeared culture and society of the one for each day of the swept an Aung San Suu
from the time of the region s Classical world, drawing year, including leap years. yi-led civilian government
earliest written records in the out its interest for modern Each quotation, tied to the to power and was supposed
third millennium BCE, right readers. anniversary of a significant to usher in a new golden era
through to the reign of the Amusing sketches and historical event, captures that of democracy and progress,
Roman emperor Diocletian in diagrams enliven the story, moment with the immediacy but Burma remains unstable
the early 4th century CE. which runs from Homeric of an eyewitness or the and undeveloped, a little-
Across the centuries, Greece to the banning of narrative air of a chronicler. understood country.
from the Bron e Age to pagan religions in 91 CE. Every day becomes a Nothing is straightforward
Imperial Rome, a vast array of The book concludes with a window to the past on March in this captivating land that is
characters and civili ations ga etteer describing notable 1 , 44 BCE, ulius Caesar home to a combustible mix of
entered the annals of Syrian sites and the people and falls victim to Brutus and races, religions and resources.
history Hittite and Assyrian ideas connected with them, his coconspirators on May Setting out from angon,
Great ings Egyptian including Alexandria, Athens, 1, 18 1, novelist Charlotte the old capital, Eimer travels
pharaohs Amorite robber- Chios, Cyrene, Ephesus, Bront visits London s Great throughout this enigmatic
barons the biblically notorious Halicarnassus, Herculaneum, Exhibition on une 28, nation, from the tropical south
Nebuchadne ar Persia s os, Lesbos, Miletus, Rome, 1919, in the Hall of Mirrors to the Burmese Himalayas in
Cyrus the Great and Macedon s Salmos and Troy - making at the Palace of Versailles, the far north, via the Buddhist-
Alexander the Great. it an ideal companion for broken-spirited German centric heartland and the
All swept across the plains of visitors to Classical ruins and delegates sign the treaty that jungles and mountains where
Syria at some point in her long for all armchair travellers brings orld ar I to its rebel armies fight for autonomy
history and all contributed, in curious to explore life s big fateful conclusion and on in the longest-running civil war
one way or another, to Syria s questions. September 11, 2001, people in recent history.
special, distinctive character, This is a delightful book. across the globe watch in The story of modern Burma
as they imposed themselves Described as the perfect horror as the Twin Towers is told through the voices of the
upon it, fought one another primer for anyone interested topple and change the world people Eimer encounters along
within it, or pillaged their in the foundation of estern forever. the way former political exiles,
way through it. Syria also thought it is exactly that. It is Both engrossing the squatters in angon s
had great rulers of her own, written with a light and witty anthology and informative shanty towns, radical monks,
culminating with enobia, touch but you will be the wiser overview of world history, Rohingya refugees, princesses
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080-081 BOOKS.indd 80 14/05/2019 12:28

BOOKS
Taking to the Air. Epic Continent. A Line in the River. Angkor and the Khmer
An illustrated history Adventures in the Great Khartoum, City of Civilization
of flight Stories of Europe Memory Michael D. Coe &
Lily Ford Nicholas Jubber Jamal Mahjoub Damian Evans
British Library ohn Murray Bloomsbury Thames Hudson
Published September 2018 Published May 2019 Published March 2019 Published November 2018
Price 2 .00 Price 20.00 Price 10.99 Price 24.9
T he possibilities of ight
have long fascinated us.
Each innovation captivated a
ourneying from Turkey to
Iceland, ubber takes us on
a fascinating adventure
I n 19 6, Sudan gained
independence from Britain.
On the brink of a promising
T he ancient city of
Angkor in Cambodia has
fascinated scholars and visitors
broad public, from those who through our continent s most future, it instead descended alike since its rediscovery in
gathered to witness winged enduring epic poems to learn into civil war and con ict. the mid-19th century. The
medieval visionaries jumping how they were shaped by their hen the 1989 coup brought beauty and multiplicity of
from towers, to those who times, and how they have a hard-line Islamist regime to the sculptures that adorn
tuned in to watch the moon since shaped us. power, amal Mahjoub s family its temples and structures
landings. The great European epics were among those who ed. are striking, its sheer si e
Throughout history, the were all inspired by moments Almost twenty years later, he overwhelming in the
visibility of airborne objects of seismic change The returned. archaeological world, nothing
from the ground has made Odyssey tells of the aftermath Rediscovering the city in equals it. This concise but
for a spectacle of ight, with of the Trojan ar, the primal which his formative years were complete and authoritative
si eable crowds gathering for con ict from which much spent, Mahjoub encounters survey of hmer culture has
eighteenth-century balloon of European civilisation was people and places he left now been thoroughly updated
launches and early twentieth- spawned while The Song of the behind. The capital contains to incorporate new discoveries
century air shows. Nibelungen tracks the collapse the key to understanding that will completely rewrite
Taking to the Air tells the of a Germanic kingdom on the Sudan s divided, contradictory history.
history of ight through the edge of the Roman Empire. nature and while exploring nowledge of the
eye of the spectator, and later, Reaching back into the hartoum s present its site, however, has been
the passenger. Focusing on ancient and medieval eras changing identity and shifting revolutionised by cutting-edge
moments of great cultural in which these defining moods its wealthy elite and technology airborne laser
impact, this book is a visual works were produced, and neglected poor Mahjoub scanning (LiDAR) which has
celebration of the wonder of investigating their continuing also delves into the country s revealed previously unknown
ight, based on the large and in uence today, Epic Continent troubled history. His search details about cities, unveiling
diverse collection of print explores how matters of for answers evolves into a a complex urban landscape
imagery held by the British honour, fate, nationhood, thoughtful meditation on with highways and waterways.
Library. It is a study of how sex, class and politics have the meaning of identity, both These discoveries profoundly
ight has been thought of and preoccupied the people of personal and national. transform the assumptions
pictured. Europe across the millennia. A Line in the River combines about the development
In these tales, soaked lyrical and evocative memoir and supposed decline of
in blood and fire, ubber with a nuanced exploration of Angkor. In this new edition,
discovers how the world of a country s complex history, archaeologists Michael Coe
gods and emperors, dragons politics and religion. The and Damian Evans, present
and water-maidens, knights result is both captivating and for the first time in book form
and princesses, had a deep revelatory. the results and implications
impact on European identity of these ground-breaking
and still resonate today. revelations.
080-081 BOOKS.indd 81 14/05/2019 12:28

BOOKS SPECIAL FEATURE SHORTLIST FOR
everywhere i go,
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Voices of the Old Sea Coasting

NORMAN LEWIS
JONATHAN RABAN
Reckonings. Legacies Building Anglo-Saxon

of Nazi Persecution and England
the Quest for Justice
Mary Fulbrook John Blair
OUP Princeton University Press
Published: October 2018 Published: May 2018
Price: £25.00 Price: £40.00
P rofessor Fulbrook is one of

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SYBILLE BEDFORD
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Reckonings expands our towns, manor houses, and
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Reckonings illuminates the Building Anglo-Saxon England
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Empress. Queen Trading in War Oscar. A Life Birds in the Ancient

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Miles Taylor Margarette Lincoln Matthew Sturgis Jeremy Mynott

Yale University Press Parthian Books Head of Zeus OUP
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E mpress, Queen Victoria

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O scar Wilde's life - like
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which shows how India empire and launch pad of of 'celebrity culture': famous indicators of time, weather
was central to the Victorian Britain’s military campaigns in for being famous, he was and the seasons; as a resource
monarchy from as early as 1837. North America and Napoleonic lauded and ridiculed in equal for hunting, eating, medicine
In this engaging and Europe. The unruly riverside measure. His achievements and farming, and as omens
controversial book, Miles parishes east of the Tower were frequently downplayed, and intermediaries between
Taylor, professor of modern of London were a crowded, his successes resented. He the gods and humankind.
history at the University of cosmopolitan, and incendiary had a genius for comedy but We learn how birds were
York, shows how both Victoria mix of sailors, soldiers, traders, strove to write tragedies. He perceived - through quotations
and Albert were spellbound and the network of ordinary was an unabashed snob who from well over a hundred
by India, and argues that citizens that served them. nevertheless delighted in classical Greek and Roman
the Queen was humanely, Harnessing little-known exposing the faults of society. authors, all of them translated
intelligently, and passionately archival and archaeological Although happily married, freshly into English, through
involved with the country sources, Lincoln recovers a he became a passionate lover nearly 100 illustrations from
throughout her reign and not forgotten maritime world. of men and - at the very ancient wall-paintings, pottery
just in the last decades. Her gripping narrative peak of his success - brought and mosaics, and through
Taylor also reveals the way highlights the pervasive disaster upon himself. Having selections from early scientific
in which Victoria’s in uence impact of war, which delighted in fashionable writings, and many anecdotes
as empress contributed brought violence, smuggling, throngs, Wilde died almost and descriptions from works of
significantly to India’s pilfering from ships on the alone: barely a dozen people history, geography and travel.
modernization, both political river, and a susceptibility to were at his graveside. Mynott acts as a stimulating
and economic. This is, in a subversive political ideas. Yet despite this ruinous end, guide to this rich and
number of respects, a fresh It also commemorates the Wilde's star continues to shine fascinating material, using
account of imperial rule in working maritime community: brightly and in the first major birds as a prism through which
India, suggesting that it was shipwrights and those who biography of Oscar Wilde in to explore both the similarities
one of Victoria’s successes. built London’s first docks, thirty years, Matthew Sturgis and the often surprising
Beautifully written, wives who coped while draws on a wealth of new di erences between ancient
this is an engrossing and husbands were at sea, and material and fresh research conceptions of the natural
authoritative account of the early trade unions. This to place the man firmly in the world and our own. His book
vital place of India within the meticulously researched work context of his times. He brings is an original contribution to
monarchy of Queen Victoria. reveals the lives of ordinary alive the distinctive mood the ourishing interest in the
Londoners behind the and characters of the fin de cultural history of birds and
unstoppable rise of Britain’s sea siècle in the richest and most to our understanding of the
power and its eventual defeat compelling portrait of Wilde ancient cultures in which birds
of Napoleon. to date. played such a prominent part.
082-083 WOLFSON BOOKS.indd 83 17/05/2019 06:49

SRI LANKA
Al Ain
one of the world’s oldest continuously
inhabited places
Al Ain, the Emirate of Abu Dhabi’s second city, is an oasis of peace and calm
as well as home to one of the world’s oldest continuously inhabited places.
Matilda Hickson went to discover both the ancient sites and modern history
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UNITED ARAB EMIRATES
Image: © Shutterstock/PiakPPP
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W
hy on earth do you want to go time are unparalleled in the current knowledge of
to Abu Dhabi?” a friend asked the UAE and broader region.
me. “It’s a resort destination Al Ain provided a true landscape of opportunity.
– not your sort of thing at People were able to not only grow crops in the
all.” But I knew something fields but they also began mining copper and
they didn’t. About 18 months previously, I had seen stones from the nearby mountains. Copper was
a news item about excavations at a site in Al Ain, the oil of the Bronze Age: much prized and
about an hour and a half’s drive from Abu Dhabi. needed by expanding economies throughout the
I had researched more and found that Al Ain was known ancient world. The copper was mined
actually a UNESCO World Heritage listing, made and processed in Al Ain, then transported to the
up of a number of di erent sites. I was now on a coast as ingots on the trade routes that had been
mission to find out more. established during the earlier Neolithic period.
Abu Dhabi is one of seven Emirates that make With their knowledge of the sea, these Bronze Age
up the United Arab Emirates (UAE). It started entrepreneurs established a trading port on Umm
as a poor fishing community that then found a An Nar Island, right next to the modern city of Abu
degree of prosperity with its pearl industry, but Dhabi. It was to become a hub for international
it was when they discovered oil that the region trade, just like Abu Dhabi is today. It was this 8,000
blossomed and developed. In 1971 -72 Abu Dhabi years of continuous occupation that led UNESCO
was one of seven regions that joined together with to declare Al Ain a World Heritage Site in 2011, the
Ajman, Dubai, Fujairah, Ras Al Khaimah, Sharjah first such site in the AE.
and Umm Al Quwain to become the UAE and it is
also the capital of the UAE. Jebel Hafeet Tombs
In Spring this year, I was at last able to visit Abu Jebel Hafeet is the highest peak in the emirate of
Dhabi and the city of Al Ain. Two very di erent Abu Dhabi and the second highest in the UAE.
destinations, Abu Dhabi city is indeed made up I could see this craggy rocky mountain every
of shiny new high-rise buildings and many resort morning in the distance from my hotel balcony:
hotels while Al Ain is a peaceful oasis, full of palm the brown limestone contrasting with the yellow-
trees, bordered to the east by the Hagar Mountains coloured sand and the green of the palm trees.
and the dunes of the Al Rub’al Khali (the Empty
Quarter) to the west.
Archaeological discoveries throughout the UAE
have consistently revealed a rich history stretching
back thousands of years. Given the challenging
climate, the original inhabitants of the region often
lived in one place then moved to another when the
climate changed or new resources were discovered.
But an exception to this pattern has been found in
Abu Dhabi’s second city of Al Ain.
Archaeological excavations have shown that
a unique array of resources and the ingenuity of
the region’s ancestors ensured that the Al Ain
oases became a major centre from the Bronze
Age to the modern day. As one of the world’s
oldest continuously inhabited places, Al Ain with
its oases and sites was occupied in all the major
periods of the UAE’s history. The date, size and
extent of Al Ain’s archaeological sites from this
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Significant fossil remains have been discovered Their contents attested to trade routes across the
here as well as 500 tombs dating back 5,000 years Arabian Gulf. Previous pages: Al
in its foothills. These tombs mark the beginning Jahili Fort, Al Ain
of the Bronze Age in the UAE and they were Hili Archaeological Park Far left: Abu Dhabi
excavated by Danish archaeologists in 1959, who Ten kilometres outside Al Ain on the road to Dubai was originally a
hing an ea l
found pottery vessels and copper artefacts within are the Hili Archaeological Gardens. Set within a
community on the
the tombs. The tombs are circular, made of rough green space are a number of ancient tombs and shores of the Persian
or undressed stones and have a single chamber. forts. The star of the show is the Hili Grand Tomb Gulf (Photo taken
which dates to c.2000 BCE. Circular in shape, like from exhibition at
Al Jahili Fort, Al Ain.
the Jebel Hafeet tombs, this one is constructed of
hi image ate
large dressed stones and is much bigger, with a to 1948)
12- metre diameter and four metres high. Whereas o e an le t: he
the earlier Hafeet tombs were probably for single tombs at Jebel Hafeet
use, the tombs at Hili were thought to be large, All images ©
multiple burials from the surrounding settlements. i ha unle
The tomb has two entrances, which are decorated othe i e tate
with engraved reliefs of humans and animal figures
(oryx). The entrances are small and about a metre
o the ground it is thought the entrance was
blocked with three stones, one with a handle,
that were removed so the new occupant could be
slid inside. There are also random circular holes,
approximately half a metre from the ground, which
were filled with another stone, which could be
removed. It is thought these holes could be for
ventilation of some sort.
Many other similar tombs have been found
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throughout the Hili area, and they date to Umm 3,000 acres and contains an impressive 147,000
an-Nar period (2500 – 2000 BCE), which is named date palms. The site is split into a number of areas, Above: Views of
after the island near Abu Dhabi, on which remains starting with an area that illustrates a number of the G an om
of this culture were first discovered. ithin the di erent plants and trees that can be found in from the Hili
Archaeological Park
archaeological park are several Bronze Age forts the desert plus a new Eco Centre, which explains at Al Ain
and settlements and just outside the park was a very about desert life and the people and traditions of Top right, from
important site. Named Hili 8, it is not very exciting those who lived there. There are many instructive, left to right: The
to look at now, as the site itself has been back filled, interactive displays about the archaeological and Al Ain Oasis with
but it was here that archaeologists found evidence historical aspect of the oasis too. It also high- thou an o ate
alm an the
for the earliest agriculture in the UAE, dating to lights the measures being taken to preserve the ancient falaj system;
c.5,000 years ago. Another site just outside the delicate oasis eco-system and how to showcase the One of the interior
park shows evidence for one of the earliest falaj or preservation of traditional farming methods. ou t a o the l
irrigation systems. Here you can see the shari’a (the After visiting the Eco Centre, you are free to Ain Palace Museum;
Archaeological
word is used here in the sense of a community place wander around the oasis, on foot or by bike. The i la in the ne
- so where everyone can come to use it), i.e. where site has nearly 100 di erent varieties of vegetation visitors’ centre of
the water reaches ground level, and trace it back, with di erent plantations that are also working the Palace Museum
along its stone-lined channels to a well. farms. When I visited, the palm trees were in the Right: The
The only strange aspect of visiting the Hili process of being fertilised. This involves climbing e u i he e te io
of the Al Ain Palace
Archaeological Park is that it says it is only open to to the top of the female trees and inserting the
families. I’m still trying to ascertain if you turn up male tree’s seeds into it. The thousands of palm
singly, or as a couple, if they will let you in. trees are owned by di erent families, who have
done so for hundreds of years, and they are passed
Al Ain Oasis down through the generations. Some people own
The Al Ain Oasis has been a UNESCO world a couple of trees, while others own a whole ‘farm’.
heritage site since 2011, but it has only recently The dates are now collectively gathered and some
opened to the public. The historic oasis covers sent to the owners, while others are produced for
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market. The site is irrigated by a system of wells from Abu Dhabi back to the family seat of Al Ain
and the ancient falaj system, so this is a good and lived here until Sheikh Zayed became the new
opportunity to see them in action. ruler of the Emirates in 1966. During this time,
Sheikh Zayed was the Ruler’s Representative of Al
Al Ain Palace Museum Ain, and so the palace has an important association
On the far side of the Oasis you will find the Al Ain with his life and story at this time.
Palace Museum. This was one of the residences of As with many of the archaeological sites here,
the late Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan (1918- the palace has been recently restored. This
2004), the founding father and the first president means that some new areas have been added to
of the UAE. Many of the historic sites you will see receive visitors, including the magnificent tent
in Al Ain and Abu Dhabi are connected to the first in one of the courtyards. It also includes a new
family of the Emirates of Abu Dhabi. administrative building on the right as you enter,
The Al Ain Palace was built in 1937, in the but do go and explore as it has a nice exhibition
traditional architectural style of the region, which area with artefacts on display from di erent local
means there is a surrounding wall to the complex, sites. The original building areas include the
and then inside a number of di erent courtyards private family residence, outer courtyard for the
with rooms around them. After Sheikh Zayed’s relatives of Sheikh Zayed’s wife, Sheikha Fatima,
father was assassinated in 1927, the family moved and the Sheikh’s reception rooms. On the right
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of the main courtyard that you first enter, are two

rooms for study and a large reception area called
the barza, which was a gathering place for people
to come and be received by the Sheikh when they Al Jahili Fort
wanted to have a problem resolved. Within many Another fort worth visiting here is the Al Jahili Above, left: View of
of the rooms are individual fireplaces with co ee Fort, one of the largest in the whole country. Again Al Jahili Fort from
the Al Ain Palace
pots stacked on the end, obviously both to heat the a symbol of power and control in the region, it was
room and the co ee at the same time. also a summer residence for the royal family (there Above, right:
is no humidity in the oasis while in Abu Dhabi it ou t a an inne
fort of the Al Jahili
Qasr al Muwaiji is fierce in the summer). Built between 1891 and Fort
Another important historic building in Al Ain is 1898 by Sheikh Zayed the elder, it was again built
Above: The Thesiger
the Qasr al Muwaiji. There are a number of forts in to protect the water and fertile land of the area,
exhibition at the
the oasis, built by Sheikh Zayed the elder (1835- and as a place of refuge in times of attack. After Fort
1909, the grandfather of Sheikh Zayed who united his death, his eldest son and his family lived on at
the Emirates), and his sons, to protect the valuable the fort, although little is known of the building
water supplies in times of border disputes and over the next few decades, until the British took
when skirmishes between the tribes were frequent. it over in the early 1950s, and it had fallen into
Qasr al Muwaiji was lived in by Sheikh Zayed’s disrepair by then. At this time it became a base for
eldest son, and was used as a diwan, or council the Trucial Oman scouts, and barracks were added
or seat of government and family home as well as within a new enclosure which incorporated the
a place where the community could congregate. original fort and tower.
In 1946 he doubled the size of the diwan and The original tower is made up of four levels,
the kitchens and guest rooms were enlarged to and it is thought that this design might represent
accommodate the increasing number of visitors to an ancient tradition of fortification in the oasis,
the fort. As I was finding at the newly refurbished as similar towers have been excavated at Hili,
historical sites, there were excellent visitor facilities dating to the third millennium BCE. It was also
here with interactive exhibits, which show for restored in 2007-8 and a permanent exhibition to
example, how the site has developed over time. Wilfred Thesiger was added. Known as ‘Mubarak
The current ruler of the UAE was born here, which bin London’ (‘Blessed of London’), he crossed the
also makes it special to Emirate history. Empty Quarter twice in the 1940s and became
friends with Sheikh Zayed (‘The Younger’, founder
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”
The exhibition is a lovely addition to the fort...[and] for anyone who has read
Thesiger’s books and dreamt about their own adventure in the Empty Quarter,
this is a welcome surprise
of the UAE), who invited him to stay after his big

expeditions to cross the desert. The exhibition is
a lovely addition to the fort, and has been done
beautifully with large black and white photos of
Thesiger’s adventures, and not just in the UAE. For
anyone who has read Thesiger’s books and dreamt
about their own adventure in the Empty Quarter,
this is a welcome surprise.
Al Qattara Arts Centre

When building the new arts centre in Al Ain,
excavations discovered a five-metre sequence
of archaeological remains dating from the Late
Islamic period to the Iron Age. The Iron Age
remains were of industrial installations for the
copper production in the area, and they have
been preserved in situ in the basement of the new
building. Here you can also see pits, post-holes
and ditches associated with large quantities of
ceramics. The ancient agricultural and industrial
installations discovered here have thrown new
light on the economic foundations for the
prehistoric sites at Hili and Rumalla.
This small basement museum has been done
brilliantly with strong interactive exhibits which
clearly explain how archaeological layers and
chronological sequences work. Upstairs there
is a small art gallery with changing exhibitions
and workshop spaces for artists. There is also an
archaeological museum in Al Ain, but sadly it was
undergoing renovations when I visited so I was
unable to explore it. It is planned to re-open in
late 2020.
Qasr al Hosn, Abu Dhabi Top: Excavations at Bayt

Abu Dhabi, as mentioned earlier, is a complete in ti ho the e th o
contrast to the tranquillity that is Al Ain. Made ettlement in l in ating
up of shiny new high-rise buildings it does, of from the Iron Age to the
mo e n a
course, house the fantastic new Louvre museum
i le: a ement i la at
which opened last year. There is also the beautiful the Al Qattara Arts Centre
Sheikh Zayid mosque to visit, which you reach by
ight: ion hea
underground tunnel and emerge blinking into the i o e e u ing the
sunlight to be dazzled by the stunning whiteness excavations for the new arts
of the building set against an azure blue sky. The ent e It ate to the I on
ge an i ai to e the
stone inlaid ower decoration here reminded me
ne t e o ati e I on ge
of similar work at the Taj Mahal in India. gu ine e e i o e e in
The main historic site to see in Abu Dhabi, the UAE
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THE FALAJ
IRRIGATION SYSTEM
A traditional falaj is an irrigation method made

up of a clever system of underground and
surface channels. It carried water across many
however, is another fort: Qasr al Hosn. This
kilometres of desert or rugged countryside Above, left: Beautiful
started as a single watchtower built in 1760 and the
to large oases. The system has been used inlai olumn at
building of the fort was considered a major historic the S ie h a i
in North Africa, Spain, Sicily, Greece, Iraq,
event, as it illustrated a fundamental change in Mosque
Afghanistan and Central Asia. It is thought
the way of life to those who lived here. That is, a Above, right: Female
that the original falaj irrigation method gu ine e e in a
formerly nomadic people had decided to put down
was invented at the beginning of the first woollen coat in the
roots in this area, to take advantage of the local
millennium BCE, about 3,000 years ago. This Louvre museum,
resources of fishing and pearl hunting. Abu Dhabi. She
new discovery overcame the limits of the
So the building of Al Hosn marks this key belongs to the Oxus
severe desert environment by making water i ili ation ating to
turning point in the history of Abu Dhabi. In 1939,
accessible. 2300-1700 BCE
Sheikh Shakhbut bin Sultan granted the first oil
concession and although the first shipment of oil Factbox, top:
The system consists of an underground tunnel
Illustration of the
that was dug from the source of an aquifer would not take place until 1958, the proceeds from workings of a falaj
situated under higher land or mountains. The the agreement enabled him to build a new palace from the Al Ain Eco
tunnel sloped gradually down, all the way to around the old fort. The new building work tripled Centre
low-lying oasis terrain, and gravity brought the the size of the fort, and was representative that the Factbox, bottom: The
emirate was on the threshold of a new era. Like the Falaj system at Hili
water along the tunnel until it surfaced. It was
ate ea ago
then distributed to cultivate fields and gardens. rest of the world, the Emirate had su ered from (Image: Department
The falaj at the Hili Archaeological Park is very the global depression and the collapse of its pearl o ou i m an
well preserved and is from the same period as market, but now the future looked much brighter. Culture, Abut Dhabi)
nearby settlement sites. Its complex system The fort became the first port of call for the
dates back to the Iron Age, making it the steady stream of visiting dignitaries, politicians
earliest known falaj. and oil executives and thus became the heart of
the administration of the city, but also the home to
Sheikh Shakhbut and his family.
The history of the site and the Emirate can be
explored in an exhibition in the older, inner fort
which traces the story of Qasr al Hosn, the history
of the Bani Yas tribe, the many historic events
it witnessed and stories about Sheikh Shakhbut
and Sheikh Zayed (the younger). Again there
are interesting interactive exhibits and also oral
histories which bring the stories to life. It is very
well done.
There is also a small display of archaeological
exhibits which include pearl buttons and leather
finger tips that were worn by the pearl divers to
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protect them from the harsh pearl shells. There is

also a door that belonged to the original fort known
as the ‘elephant’ door. It was made especially in
India for the fort, and has large spikes running up
and down it, which originally were used to protect
against elephants trying to batter the door down. It the Emirate of Abu Dhabi than high-rise buildings
Above, top left: View
also has a tiny door within the main door to enter, and oil wealth, think again. Their history dates of Qasr al Hosn
which as my guide Assma pointed out, was not as back thousands of years and their falaj irrigation to a ith mo e n
silly as it looked. Anyone entering would have to system must be one of the significant inventions Abu Dhabi towering
stoop, i.e. enter with the head down, and also point in this region. Yes, their modern history might ehin it
their gun downwards too – so putting them at an not date back as far as other countries, but it is Above, top right: A
i la in the o t
immediate disadvantage. interesting how each of the previous rulers of the showing Al Hosn
I spent nearly two hours looking around the fort. country have each helped shape its history and put in the 1940s with
My tour with Assma was very informative, and it it on the path to where it is today. people waiting
was fantastic to see a young person so engaged, A two-city stay is a must and you can also hop out i e to tal to the
Sheik
proud and enthused by the history of her country. over the border to visit the archaeological sites in
Above, left: Assma,
She also kindly put up with my questions about Oman or access your inner Thesiger and visit the m gui e at the o t
the role of women in the Emirates, such as ‘why romantic sand dunes of the Empty Quarter.
Above, right: One
are abayas (the women’s outer garment) always of the interesting
black?’ (Answer: it’s our heritage) and ‘why are Matilda travelled as a guest of Etihad Airways, the i la at the o t
Department of Tourism and Culture and Rotana
men only allowed to wear white?’ (No answer to Overleaf: Interior
Hotels. For more information see:
that question - but it does seem unfair as white is ou t a at the
www.etihad.com
S ie h a i
obviously a much cooler colour for the heat.) www.visitabudhabi.ae
Mosque
So for those who think there is nothing more to www.rotana.com
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Travel tips for visiting Al Ain, United Arab Emirates
Flying The Essentials i A short modern

Etihad Airways is the national carrier of Time difference: GMT + 4 history of the UAE
the UAE and has direct flights to Abu
Dhabi from the UK, Europe, America and Language: Arabic is the language of the
The Bani Yas were the first tribe to visit
Australia. British Airways also flies directly country but as hotels and other service
the island of Abu Dhabi to fish, dive
to Abu Dhabi. KLM flies directly from industries employ nationalities from many
for pearls or collect salt. They came
Amsterdam, and Royal Jordanian Airlines other countries, English is widely spoken.
from Liwa, an oasis near the northern
and Gulf Air also have connecting flights Electrical current/ plugs: 220 AC volts. end of the Empty Quarter. A nomadic
via their own countries. Plugs are square, three-pin sockets are people, they moved each season until
standard. the 1760s, where under Sheikh Dhiyab
bin Isa, they decided to establish a
Water: Travellers are recommended to permanent settlement on the Island.
Visas drink bottled purified water. To guard this small settlement, they
Tipping: Is not expected but always built a watchtower and a fort around it
Visitors from most European countries,
welcome. and named it Al Hosn.
America, Canada, Australia, New Zealand,
Singapore, and other Gulf states can be Conduct: As in any Arab country, both The tribe now had access to a
issued a 30-day visa on arrival. See www. men and women are expected to dress permanent water supply, food
ttsuaevisas.com/en/global/do-i-need- conservatively, and particularly cover (through fishing) and could trade the
a-visa/ for more information. up when visiting mosques or other holy pearls with passing traders by land
sites. At the beach resorts, however, long and sea. Therefore in 1795, the current
shorts and T-shirts are fine. ruler, Sheikh Shakhbut, decided to
move permanently to Abu Dhabi. By
Getting around Money 1833, the settlement had grown to
12,000 inhabitants, which expanded
Taxis are the easiest way to get around in the summer as divers and traders
Currency: The currency in the UAE is
Abu Dhabi and Al Ain, and are relatively came from all over the world.
the dirham, abbreviated AED. Bank notes
inexpensive. Most drivers speak English.
are issued in 5, 10, 20, 50, 100, 200, 500 In 1892 its ruler, Sheikh Zayed bin
Buses run from Abu Dhabi bus station to and 1000 denominations. The dirham Mohammed al-Nahyan (known as
Al Ain every hour, 7 days a week and cost is divided into 100 fils and coins in 5,10, Zayed the Great), agreed that the
about £5-£7. You could also hire a car and 15 and 50 fils. There are no 1 fil coins, emirate would become a protectorate
drive – the roads are very good and once amounts are rounded up or down to the of Britain and it joined the Trucial
outside Abu Dhabi, are not very crowded. nearest multiple of 25 fils. States (a group of tribal confederations
It takes about 1½ hours to drive between ATMs: Cash is accessible via ATMs, which in the south-eastern Persian Gulf who
the two cities and over two hours by bus. are widely available in urban areas. were a British protectorate from 1820
until 1 December 1971).
Credit cards: Are widely accepted in
hotels, shops and restaurants but cash is Zayed the Great died in 1909, and
often preferred by smaller outlets. under five subsequent rulers the
Emirates’ power and prosperity
declined, largely due to the collapse of
Weather the pearl industry.
The best time to visit Abu Dhabi is Everything changed in 1958 when
between April and May or from September oil was discovered, and it is from this
to October as the Spring and Autumn date that the development of modern
have pleasant weather. However, if you are Abu Dhabi can be said to have
looking for weather that is not too hot, nor commenced.
too humid, then travel between December
to March. Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan al-Nahyan,
(Sheikh Zayed the Younger) staged
IRAN a coup against his brother (Sheikh
Shakhbut bin Sultan Al Nahyan) in
RAS AL-KHAIMAH 1966. Sheikh Zayed then went on to
UMM AL-QUWAIN create the UAE and became its first
AJMAN FUJAIRAH president, a role he held for over 30
SHARJAH
DUBAI years until his death in November
Abu Dhabi City 2004.
Al Ain
SAUDI
Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed al-Nahyan,
ARABIA
OMAN Zayed’s oldest son, became ruler of
ABU DHABI
Abu Dhabi and was elected President
of the UAE soon after.
084-094 ABU DHABI.indd 94 16/05/2019 14:22

HOTEL REVIEW
Rotana Hotel, Al Ain

The perfect place to stay when exploring the Oasis
by Matilda Hickson
T he oasis city of Al Ain is the second

city in the emirate of Abu Dhabi.
A picture of calm and tranquillity,
a lobby café, and my favourite of the three
was Trader Vic’s, the French Polynesian
style restaurant. Each restaurant has
its history dates back to the fourth its own ambience and Trader Vic’s was
millennium BCE and the Rotana Hotel is decorated with canoes, wooden fish,
the perfect place to stay while you explore and baskets hanging from the ceiling. It
its ancient sites. has a lovely, lively atmosphere with live
The hotel is situated in the heart of Al music in the evenings. The sta could
Ain, a few minutes away from some of the not have been more attentive, but not in
sites, which means you can actually walk to an annoying way, but it was the manager
them (although taxis are a cheap and easy of the restaurant, Hassan (who came
way to get around). The from Malaysia), who
hotel has 242 rooms, was wonderful. He
The service at the hotel
suites, studios, villas took the time to help
and chalets to choose was outstanding. From the me choose a wine
from and the Falaj wing moment I arrived I was that I really enjoyed,
has lovely touches of completely looked after and I re ected that
art deco in its rooms not many managers
and suites. I stayed in the main hotel take the time to really interact with their
(which will be renovated soon), which customers like that. The sta even bring
meant that I had the most superb view you a hot towel between courses, which
every morning from my balcony, looking was very welcome after my starter of
across the palm trees of the oasis to the messy tacos. My steak was perfectly done
mountains in the distance. and best of all, they had a tasting menu
The service at the hotel was for dessert – heaven! Above, left: The view across the oasis of
outstanding. From the moment I arrived The swimming pool is set in a lovely palm trees to the mountain. Above, from
top: The swimming pool; A classic king
I was completely looked after. I asked on garden and, of course, there is a serious
room; Dining in Trader Vic’s; The relaxing
my first morning if I could eat breakfast gym if you feel the need to work out. I spa; The Falaj wing
outside as it was a glorious, sunny day, preferred however, to take advantage
and the next day they had set up a place of the beautiful spa which has its own Prices start at the five-star Al Ain Rotana in
Al Ain, Abu Dhabi from 336 AED (approx.
outside especially for me. building. ith its five-star facilities and £70) per night inclusive of breakfast based
There are three restaurants: Trader treatments, it is a perfect way to finish a on two adults sharing a Classic Room. For
Vic’s, Min Zaman and Zest, plus bars and busy day of taking in the ancient sites. more information see www.rotana.com
095 Hotel Review.indd 95 16/05/2019 17:38

KYRGYZSTAN
P M H
Matt writes It’s easy to see why yrgy stan has been listed as a
top tourist destination for 2019. It’s a country that has it all, 7000
metres plus mountains, rivers, valleys, lakes, snow, and some of
the most epic road trip vibes imaginable.
e arrived in Tulparkul unaware of what we would find. Prior

research had revealed little in the way of the types of landscapes
the area held. All we knew was that Peak Lenin sits at 71 4
metres. I knew we were going to be staying at a local yurt camp
near some mountains but had no idea just how unique the
terrain was. Never before had we seen endless rolling green hills
surrounded by numerous green lakes. Apart from a couple of
other travellers, we had the place to ourselves.
www.etchdphotography.com
096-097 MATT PHOTO.indd 64 16/05/2019 07:26

MARVELLO S MAPS
096-097 MATT PHOTO.indd 65 16/05/2019 07:26

Monasteries, casltes & cave art:
discovering
Central Portugal
Image: © Shutterstock/Appreciate
The area between Porto and Lisbon is often overlooked in favour of the
capital, the north or even the Algarve. But Central Portugal is full of
UNESCO world heritage monasteries, castles, cave art and palaces as well as
beautiful scenery and wine. Matilda Hickson went to explore
098-105 PORTUGAL2.indd 98 16/05/2019 20:55

PORTUGAL
L
isbon, the Algarve, Porto - all well-
known and popular places to visit in
Portugal. But what about Coimbra,
Batalha, Tomar and Alcobaça? The sites of Castelo Rodrigo on our first evening, and in the
in the centre of Portugal are less well- morning had time to explore the castle here before
known, but just as spectacular, as I discovered on hurrying on to Coimbra. The castle was built by
a visit that took in monasteries, prehistoric rock King Alfonso IX of Léon to protect the medieval
carvings, castles and a palace. Welcome to a small village. Strategically placed along the Coa River it
part of what Central Portugal has to o er saw many changes of ownership between Léon and
Central Portugal covers the region sandwiched Portugal over the centuries.
between Porto and Lisbon. Therefore it is easy to Leaving picturesque Castelo Rodrigo behind,
reach with ights into either city, and then a car we travelled on to Coimbra, which reminded
can be hired to easily get around. It goes without me of Porto, with its roof tops surging up from
saying that the region also has its own beaches the Mondego river to the top of the nearby hill.
”
and national park areas with wonderful outdoor
biking and hiking opportunities, but I was here to
investigate ancient ruins and buildings, together
with some excellent food and wine.
My first surprise came when we visited the The region also has its own beaches and national
prehistoric rock carvings in the Coa Valley. An
open-air Paleolithic archaeological site, the
park areas with wonderful outdoor biking and hiking
engravings were only discovered in the 1990s, opportunities, but I was here to investigate ancient
during construction for a dam in the Coa River. ruins and buildings, together with some excellent
There are thousands of drawings of horses, cows,
food and wine
bulls and other unidentified animals and human
figures too. ou can only visit the site with a guide
so do make arrangements accordingly. The first There was a Roman settlement here, Aeminum,
engravings are dated to 22,000 years ago and you and there is an aqueduct and cryptoporticus left
can see how later artists drew over the original from this period. Coimbra was the capital of the
pictures. The Park was designated a UNESCO Kingdom of Portugal between 1131 and 1255 and in
World Heritage site in 1998, and in 2010, a fantastic 1290, the University was established here, which
new museum opened near the mouth of the Coa helped turn the city into a major cultural centre.
River. They like to say it celebrates the meeting The University is the oldest academic institution
Left: Cloister of King
point of two world heritage listings in one region: I in the Portuguese speaking world and in 2013 its John I at the Monastery
was thinking perhaps rock art and Roman remains historical buildings were classified as a NESCO of Batalha
- but it turned out to be rock art and the Douro World Heritage site.
Below: The town of
wine region - naturally just as important when The university was founded originally in Lisbon Coimbra in the
exploring ancient sites. We stayed in the old village by King Denis I, and would relocate to Coimbra a setting sun
Image: © Fran ois Philipp CC B 2.0
Image: © Shutterstock/Appreciate
098-105 PORTUGAL2.indd 99 16/05/2019 20:55

Image: © Reino Baptista CC B -CA 4.0
Image: © Manuelvbotelho CC B -CA 4.0
PORTUGAL
Clockwise from top left: Prehistoric cave art in the Coa Valley; João de
Ruão, Deposition of Christ, 1535-1540 in the Machado de Castro Museum
in Coimbra; Street art in Coimbra by the Portuguese artist, Samina, made
ith ten il magni ent lun h a ha at the Sa ientia outi ue
Hotel; The tomb of King John and Philippa of Lancaster at Batalha
ona te Inte io o the magni ent li a at the ni e it o
Coimbra, where bats protect the books
Right: The courtyard of the old royal palace of Coimbra, which is now
part of the University. Images: © C. Gibson unless otherwise stated
098-105 PORTUGAL2.indd 100 16/05/2019 20:55

PORTUGAL
number of times, before finally settling here in 1 7. Church of São Tiago. There are narrow, engaging
A tour of its historical buildings is a must, and often streets to enjoy, often with fantastic art pieces,
starts from the square in front of the main entrance and don’t miss the Machado de Castro Museum,
to the University. Here there is a statue of King João which is one of the most important art museums
III who was responsible for basing the University in Portugal. Housed in a former Bishop’s Palace,
permanently in Coimbra. The first facilities to be dating to the Middle Ages, it is also on the site
created were of Arts, Law, Canon Law and Medicine. of the ancient Roman forum, and you can find
Our guide explained how every noble family was the Roman cryptoporticus on the lowest oor of
required to send one son to the University, so the the museum. The museum was named after the
ruling families of the country would therefore be Portuguese sculptor, Joaquim Machado de Castro,
educated in the same manner, ideas and ideology. and first opened in 191 . It has recently been
Buildings of note here include Saint Michael’s renovated and was awarded the Piranesi/Prix de
Chapel, started in 1 17 and finished in 17 9. It Rome Pri e in 2014. Allow yourself enough time to
has some impressive tile work and a beautiful enjoy the ancient artefacts as well as the paintings
painted ceiling. Not a great fan of the Baroque and sculpture on display.
period, it was hard not to be impressed, however,
by the Joanina library, complete with secret Batalha Monastery
staircases. There are 200,000 books here, all in The monastery at Batalha is billed as the best
perfect condition thanks to its perfect vault-like example of Gothic (mixed with a little Manueline)
atmosphere (the walls are between 2-11 cm thick) architecture in the whole of Portugal. And it doesn’t
and the door is made of teak, which lets the disappoint. Built to commemorate the Battle of
building maintain a perfect temperature. There Aljubarrota in 1385, the battle saw King John I
is also a colony of bats that keep the insects away. of Portugal pitted against King John I of Castile.
Each night, the bookshelves are covered with A decisive victory for the Portuguese heralded
leather to protect the books and each morning all independence and the founding of a new dynasty,
the bat droppings are cleared away. the House of Aviz. The Monastery of Saint Mary
There is much to see in Coimbra, and so at of the Victory was therefore started in 1386 and
least a couple of days should be spent here. The finished in 1 17. ing ohn is buried here, in the
Monastery of Santa Cruz is the burial place of Founder’s Chapel attached to the church, along with
the first two ings of Portugal and so is granted his wife, Philippa of Lancaster, and several of their
the status of National Pantheon. Other churches sons. The marriage of John and Philippa secured
included the Gothic ruins of the Monastery of the Treaty of Windsor, a long-lasting Portuguese-
Santa Clara and you can see knights buried in the English alliance, which continued through the
Image: © Alvesgasper CC B -CA .0
098-105 PORTUGAL2.indd 101 16/05/2019 20:55

PORTUGAL
Image: © Ingo Mehling CC B -CA .0
Napoleonic Wars and was responsible for Portugal’s a small island in the middle of the Tagus River, near
Clockwise from top left:
neutrality in World War II. the town of Vila Nova da Barquinha. A relatively The Gothic Monastery of
The monastery was built over the reigns of seven small castle, it was part of the defensive line Batalha; Angels on the
kings and had 15 architects. It was destroyed by controlled by the Knights Templar, and although roof of the Sacristy vault
Napoleonic troops in 1810 and left in ruins, but was excavations have discovered Roman remains on the at Batalha Monastery,
dating c.1430. One angel
restored in 1840 by ing Ferdinand II and became site, it is not clear when the first structure was built. is holding the shield of
a national monument in 1907, a museum in In the 1940- 0s it was used as an o cial residence King John I; The castle
1980, and in 1983 was added as a UNESCO World of the Portuguese Republic - and it was during of Almourol; Stained
Heritage site. It is home to the oldest stained glass this period that the crenellations and bartizans glass window through
a doorway at Batalha
windows in Portugal made by German craftsmen. were added, changing its basic appearance. Access Monastery
Note that in the Chapter Room there is no central is by boat, but having just missed it and with no
pillar supporting the roof. There are tombs of indication when it might return, we sneaked around
two unknown soldiers from WWI here which are the back and hopped across the river at a narrow
acknowledged by a permanent Guard of Honour. point and stormed the keep that way. Refreshingly
unperturbed by health and safety issues, you can
Almourol Castle scramble up old staircases to admire the view from
If castles are your thing, then don’t miss a chance to the top walkways, while trying to avoid plunging ten
explore the medieval castle of Almourol, which is on metres to the ground below.
098-105 PORTUGAL2.indd 102 16/05/2019 20:55

PORTUGAL
Image: © JoaoHenriques-Amatar
Image: © RCL-RuiCunha
Alcobaça Monastery (he of the University founding fame). It also used

Clockwise from top left
(all images Alcobaça A new day sees us exploring another monastery, to have a magnificent library where the monks
Monastery): The church this time in the town of Alcobaça. Although it has worked on beautiful illuminated manuscripts.
of the Monastery been raining on the way there, it suddenly stops Sadly many of these were destroyed or looted by
i an e th so we can admire the slightly strange view in front Napoleon’s troops, and what remained is now kept
century extensions;
A detail from the of us, of a Gothic monastery with 18th-century in the National Library in Lisbon. Due to the close
e ui itel a e extensions on either side. Given as a gift to Bernard a liation with royalty, a number of Portuguese
tomb of King Pedro; of Clairvaux (who started the Cistercian order as kings and queens are buried here, including the ill-
Medieval engraving; The a breakaway from the Benedictine monks) in 1153 fated King Pedro and his mistress Ines de Castro.
soaring interior of the
Cathedral; The elaborate
by King Alfonso Henriques, it is therefore one of Their story is immortalised in many Portuguese
Reader’s Pulpit in the the first Gothic buildings in Portugal, and one of poems and plays, as she was murdered on orders of
refectory, where the the most important medieval monasteries in the Pedro’s father, King Alfonso IV, as he didn’t think
monks would read aloud country. The gift came after the King’s conquest her suitable to be a queen. When Pedro came to
from sacred texts during
meals
of the city of Santarém from the Moors in March the throne, it is said that he had Ines exhumed,
1147. ork didn’t start on the church until 1178 and dressed up and had his court swear their allegiance
wasn’t finished until 12 2. to her as the rightful queen. Her tomb can be
The monastery has a lovely cloister, known as found opposite Pedro in the church - both are
the Cloister of Silence, sponsored by King Denis I carved with scenes from their lives and the most
098-105 PORTUGAL2.indd 103 16/05/2019 20:55

PORTUGAL
exquisite angels on top of the tombs. Don’t miss

the beautiful chapter house with its vaulted ceiling
(there is a small parlour to the side of this room
which was the only place where the monks could
speak to each other), and the kitchen with the
most enormous chimney and sink ever seen (built
in the mid-18th century). The monastery is also a
UNESCO World Heritage site.
Tomar Castle
Tomar Castle and its Convent of Christ is the sort
of place that will make your heart sing if you love
Templar history. Set above the town of Tomar, the
convent was originally founded by the Templar
Knights in 1118, and the castle dates to 1160 with the
stunning round church built mid 12th century and
is said to be modelled on the Dome of the Rock in
Jerusalem. Around 1190 the castle was encircled but
resisted the Moorish armies, and late in the 13th
century it became the o cial seat of the Templars
and an integral part of the resistance to the invading
Moorish armies. However, following the dissolution
of the Templar Knights in 1319, it eventually became Renaissance and called the Manueline style.) If you
the seat of a new order, The Order of Christ. look at the top of the columns, the capitals are still Top: Tomar Castle and
round church
The round church is totally stunning. The original Romanesque in style, with animals and
Above, left: Interior of
paintings and sculptures that you see now were oral motifs and there is a Romanesque depiction
the round church
done in the late Gothic and Manueline period, of Daniel in the Lion’s Den on one of the walls too.
Above, right: The
added during a renovation sponsored by King King Manuel I also rebuilt the nave in 1510, which Capitulum Window at
Manuel I starting in 1499. (Manuel I also gives his had originally been added to the church in the the Convent of Christ,
name to a style which is a mix of late Gothic and time of Henry the Navigator. Tomar
098-105 PORTUGAL2.indd 104 16/05/2019 20:55

PORTUGAL
UNESCO SITES IN PORTUGAL

The 15 UNESCO World Heritage Sites are listed
alphabetically below with the year they were inscribed:
Alto Douro Wine Region (2001)

Central Zone of the Town of Angra do Heroismo in the
Azores (1983)
Convent of Christ in Tomar (1983)
Cultural Landscape of Sintra (1995)
Garrison Border Town of Elvas and its Fortifications (2012)
Historic Centre of Évora (1986)
Historic Centre of Guimarães (2001)
Historic Centre of Oporto, Luiz I Bridge and Monastery of
Serra do Pilar (1996)
Landscape of the Pico Island Vineyard Culture (2004)
Laurisilva of Madeira (1999)
Monastery of Alcobaça (1989)
Monastery of Batalha (1983)
Monastery of the Hieronymites and Tower of Belém in
Lisbon (1983)
Prehistoric Rock Art Sites in the Côa Valley and Siega
Verde (1998, 2010)
University of Coimbra – Alta and Sofia (2013)
Above, clockwise from top left: The skyline of Óbidos; Bookshops can be
found everywhere (hotels, grocery stores or churches); Óbidos Castle Travel Information
ou can y to either Porto or Lisbon airports
Don’t miss the stunning window of the Chapter House on your way to reach the area of central Portugal. TAP Air
around. Known as the Capitulum Window, you can see it from the Saint Portugal operates 100 direct weekly ights
from various airports in the UK to Lisbon and
Barbara Cloister in the western facade of the nave (there are eight cloisters
Porto in the summer. They also o er direct
altogether, built during the 15th-16th centuries), and it is noted as a
fights from America and Canada and other
masterpiece of Manueline decoration and full of typical Manueline and European capitals.
maritime motifs. These include various buoys, ropes and wood as well as
To see the most sites and cover the area easily,
Order insignia - the heraldic cross, the armillary sphere, the kingdom’s coat a car is the best way to get around. But if you
of arms. The human figure right at the bottom is the designer, Diogo de prefer to be looked after, then Madomis Tours,
Arruda. The entrance to the Convent church is also Maueline style. www.madomistours.pt are recommended.
Casa da Cisterna in the old city of Castelo
Óbidos Rodrigo o ers super hospitality, and the
Finally, if you are a book lover, then Óbidos is the town for you. There is owner, Ana, is also a guide for the Coa Valley.
a large castle here, beautiful tiled churches and city walls to explore, but So you can combine somewhere to stay with
I have to admit that on this day, it was the churches that had been turned seeing the prehistoric rock carvings.
into book shops, the hotels and guest houses that were all about books See www.casadacisterna.com
and the grocer shops that sold you books with your vegetables that had my For more information visit
attention. The Portuguese delicacy of Ginja de Óbidos (alcohol in chocolate www.visitPortugal.com
cups) also went down well. The town also has its very own chocolate festival
in May each year.
Matilda travelled to central Portugal as a
There is an enormous amount to explore and discover in this central
guest of the Central Portugal Tourist Board
region of Portugal, and I would strongly urge you to leave the delights of www.centerofportugal.com and TAP
Lisbon, Porto or the Algarve to one side, and take the time to discover this airlines ta om
fascinating area too. ou won’t be disappointed.
098-105 PORTUGAL2.indd 105 16/05/2019 20:55

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Latest
archaeological
news
107-111 ARCH NEWS.indd 107 16/05/2019 15:14

ARCHAEOLOGICAL NEWS
Enslaved Africans found in dump

Image: © MT Santos Ferreira
Adult female skeleton found at Valle da

Gafaria, Portugal, suggests a careless burial
A new archaeological study of more than 150 skeletons

dumped in Lagos, Portugal, reveals that many of the
enslaved Africans were not given proper burials and that several
of them may even have been tied up at death.
The skeletons come from the site of Valle da Gafaria, which
was located outside the Medieval walls of the port city of Lagos.
Used between the 15th and 17th centuries as a dumping ground,
the site also o ered up remains of imported ceramics, butchered
animal bones, and a few African-style ornaments.
New research has been undertaken by the University of
Coimbra into the bone data to understand how the 158 enslaved
Africans came to be buried in a trash pit in Lagos. The collection
is seen to be extremely important for slavery studies as Lagos is
the oldest sample to be discovered and studied in the world.
Discovery of untouched Mayan cave
Image: © Denis Gliksman, Inrap

A rchaeologists hunting for a sacred well beneath the ancient
Maya city of Chichén Itzá on Mexico’s Yucatán Peninsula
have accidentally discovered a trove of more than 150 ritual
objects—untouched for more than a thousand years—in a
series of cave chambers that may hold clues to the rise and fall
of the ancient Maya.
The discovery of the cave system, known as Balamku or
‘Jaguar God,’ was made by farmers in 1966, and was then
Pottery, bronze objects and mirror being excavated in the Etruscan tomb
visited by archaeologist Víctor Segovia Pinto, who reported the
presence of an extensive amount of archaeological material.
But instead of excavating the site, Segovia then directed the a e t u an tom n in o i a
farmers to seal up the entrance, and all records of the discovery
of the cave seemed to vanish.
Fifty years later it was rediscovered by a team of investigators
from the Great Maya Aquifer Project during their search for the
F rench archaeologists have unearthed an Etruscan tomb
containing a skeleton and dozens of artefacts in Corsica, a rare
discovery that could shed new light on the wealthy civilization of
water table beneath Chichén Itzá. northern Italy and its assimilation into the Roman Empire.
The archaeologists found the vault, chiselled into the rock
Inside the Jaguar Cave and dating back to the 4th century BCE, within a large Roman
necropolis containing thousands of tombs in Aleria, in the
east of the French Mediterranean island. It is one of the richest
Etruscan funerary sites known outside of Italy.
The discovery could yield new details on the existence of a
stable Etruscan population in Corsica and help archaeologists
understand the slow demise of the Etruscan civilization.
“We have some knowledge of Etruscan objects, but we
know very little about Etruscan subjects; here we have both,”
anthropologist Catherine Rigeade said at the site.
Beautiful Mughal gardens in Agra restored

Image: © V.V. Krishnan
O ften referred to as the ‘baby’

Taj, the tomb of I’timad-ud-
Daulah is the marble precursor to
Riverfront Gardens of Agra project.
The tomb of I’tim d-ud-Daulah
(loosely translated as ‘pillar of
the more well-known Taj Mahal, on the state’) was commissioned
the other side of the river. by Empress Nur Jahan for her
Now after four years, its gardens, father, Mirza Ghiyas Beg, in the
plus the site of Mehtab Bagh, have early 1620s in the typical Mughal
been restored by the Archaeological ‘charbagh’ style. It consists of four
Survey of India, the World equal square-shaped gardens
Monument Fund and the Ministry with the mausoleum sitting in the
of Culture, under the Mughal middle. The landscaped garden around the Tomb of I’timad-ud-Daulah in Agra
107-111 ARCH NEWS.indd 108 16/05/2019 15:14

ARCHAEOLOGICAL NEWS
Human a i e in o hi e
Image: © Cotswold Archaeology
A burial from the Childrey Warren site
A multi-million pound Thames Water project to protect the

future of a rare Oxfordshire chalk stream has revealed some
fascinating and gruesome discoveries dating back almost 3,000
years. The excavations have uncovered an ancient settlement
containing an array of historic artefacts. Among the finds were
26 human skeletons believed to be from the Iron Age and Roman
periods, along with evidence of dwellings, animal carcasses
and household items including pottery, cutting implements
and a decorative comb. Cotswold Archaeology chief executive
Neil Holbrook said: “The Iron Age site at Childrey Warren is
particularly fascinating as it provides a glimpse into the beliefs
and superstitions of people living in Oxfordshire before the
Roman conquest. Evidence elsewhere suggests that burials in
pits might have involved human sacrifice.
Kirkwall castle walls discovered
Image: © University of Peshawar

A team from ORCA Archaeology have unearthed sections
of wall and cobbled surface while undertaking a watching
brief for an Orkney Islands Council infrastructure project in
the centre of Kirkwall.
So far, three walls have been uncovered during the works. One
substantial wall set back from the road junction is built using
immense stone blocks and lime mortar indicating that it is part
of the now demolished 14th-century Kirkwall Castle.
The castle itself was built without royal consent in the late
The Greek blacksmith’s workshop
14th century by Earl Henry Sinclair while Orkney was still ruled
by Scandinavian kings and was said to be one of the strongest
castles in the realm. In the early 17th century the castle was Greek forge found in Pakistan
defended by the rebellious Stewart Earls against the Scottish
King’s forces. Following the siege, an order was given by the
Scottish King James VI to dismantle the castle in 1615 so that it
could not be used again as a centre of rebellion.
A rchaeologists in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa have discovered
2,200-year-old ancient metal artefacts from Peshawar’s
Hayatabad neighbourhood.
After three years of hard work, professor Gul Rahim of
University of Peshawar and his team discovered the 2,200-
year- old relic of a Greek blacksmith’s workshop, which has
been identified as the oldest workshop of the Greek civili ation
discovered in the area.
Image: ORCA Archaeology
“We had discovered coins, knives, smelting instruments of

various metals, furnaces, while we have also found relics of the
Sikh, Mughal and Buddhist eras at the site, but we confirmed
that it would be traced back to the Greek civilization” Prof Gul
The ORCA Archaeology team working in Rahim stated. The Greek workshop remains belong to the Sateen
challenging weather conditions at the site tribe, which dates to the 2nd century BCE.
a ation to ol e m te o e ain Excavations hope to reveal the secrets of the Abbey Drain
A team of intrepid experts

will go underground to
solve a centuries-old mystery
and rediscovered in the 1990s.
Previous archaeological digs
have revealed carved slates
this summer during the biggest featuring the earliest written
exploration yet of Paisley’s unique polyphonic music – and largest
Image: © Renfrewshire Council
medieval Abbey Drain. collection of medieval pottery –

Paisley’s Abbey Drain is an ever found in Scotland.
ornate underground passageway, The two-month project this
around 100m long and believed to summer hopes to establish where
be more than 700 years old, which and how the drain reaches the
was discovered in the 19th century River Cart.
107-111 ARCH NEWS.indd 109 16/05/2019 15:14

ARCHAEOLOGICAL NEWS
l e t aleolithi a e a t in al an
Image: © Aitor Ruiz-Redondo
A team of archaeologists from the United States and Europe

has revealed the first example of Paleolithic figurative cave
art found in the Balkan region.
“The importance of this discovery is remarkable and sheds a
new light on the understanding of Paleolithic art in the territory
of Croatia and the Balkan Peninsula, as well as its relationship
with simultaneous phenomena throughout Europe,” said Dr.
Aitor Ruiz-Redondo, an archaeologist at the University of
Southampton. Dr. Ruiz-Redondo and colleagues found several
figurative paintings, including a bison, an ibex and two possible
anthropomorphic figures, in Romualdova Pe ina (St. Romuald’s
Cave), Croatia. Dating around 34,000-31,000 years ago makes
Painting of a bison from Romualdova Pe ina the first site where figurative Paleolithic rock
Romualdova Pećina, Croatia
art has been discovered in the Balkans.
l e t hi e e e oun in e
Image: © Tom Barnes_Channel 4

The skeletons
examined included
that of Cheddar Man;
A rchaeologists have announced the discovery of a shipwreck

loaded with copper ingots in the Aegean Sea that dates
back 3,600 years, making it the oldest shipwreck ever found.
the oldest near-
complete human
skeleton found in
It is the most important finding in underwater archaeology Britain
in at least the last decade. The discovery was made by a team
of experts from the Underwater Research Center of the Akdeniz
University in Turkey.
The wreck was found in 160 feet ( 0 metres) of water o
the western coast of Antalya. The wooden wreck is over 50 feet
long (15 metres). Despite its age, much of the ship is still intact
and still carries its cargo – a massive haul of copper ingots Migrants introduced farming to Britain
that weighs of 1.5 tons. Preliminary research has found that
the ingots were removed from the mines located in Cyprus
and moulded in 15th or 16th centuries BCE and were being
transported to Aegean shores or Crete when the ship sunk.
F arming was brought to Britain by migrants from continental
Europe, and not adopted by pre-existing hunter-gatherers,
indicates a new ancient DNA study led by the Natural History
Museum (NHM) and UCL, together with Harvard University.
Copper ingots among the Bronze Age shipwreck
Scientists investigating the origins of farming in Britain
examined DNA from 47 Neolithic farmer skeletons dating from
6,000 to 4,500 years ago and six Mesolithic hunter-gatherer
skeletons from the preceding period (11,600-6,000 years ago).
NHM’s Dr Tom Booth says: “We looked at the genetic ancestry of
human remains from both before and after 6,000 years ago to see
if we can characterise any changes, and as soon as these Neolithic
cultures start to arrive, we see a big change in the ancestry of the
British population. It looks like the development of farming and
these Neolithic cultures was mainly driven by the migration of
people from mainland Europe.”
New history museum opens in Dubrovnik
T he first interactive museum

of everyday life in Croatia
during the Yugoslavian communist
museum transforms it into a
learning experience for people of
all ages.
regime has opened in Dubrovnik, Red History Museum (RHM) was
one of the most visited cities on founded by a team of young local
the Croatian coast. Using new designers, historians, journalists,
technologies, visitors are invited photographers and archaeologists,
to explore history by themselves. and supported by people all over
An augmented reality app makes Croatia who donated various items,
history come to life, and hidden photographs and even their own
information throughout the life stories.
107-111 ARCH NEWS.indd 110 16/05/2019 15:14

ARCHAEOLOGICAL EXHIBITIONS
Rivers of London reveal their secrets
T he rivers of London, their use and abuse and the

inspiration they have provided over the centuries are
the focus of a major exhibition at the Museum of London
Docklands until 27 October.
Secret Rivers draws from the archaeological collections of
the Museum of London and recent excavations to uncover
the forgotten secrets of London’s rivers, streams and brooks,
revealing clues about how the rivers were used through
millennia of human habitation.
The exhibition also features paintings and prints that
record how these waterways have changed over the centuries,
and include contemporary art that will provoke visitors to
consider their relationship with the water that ows around
us and beneath our feet.
Making your mark at British Library
W riting: Making Your Mark (showing until 27 August 2019)

is a landmark British Library exhibition, which spans
5,000 years across the globe, exploring one of humankind’s
greatest achievements – the act of writing.
Beginning with the origins of writing in Mesopotamia,
Egypt, China and the Americas, the exhibition charts the
evolution of writing through technology and innovation,
exploring more than 40 di erent writing systems, from
the 5,000-year-old Jemdet Nasr clay tablet with very early
cuneiform to digital typefaces and emojis.
Featuring an ancient wax tablet with a schoolchild’s Basrah opens new archaeological galleries
homework from 100-199 CE, Florence Nightingale’s diary
alongside a 10th-century psalter, the exhibition highlights how
writing can be personal, functional, beautiful or political and
will challenge our preconceptions of what writing is through
T he archaeological museum in Basrah which opened in 2016
and showcases Iraq’s history and civilisations has opened
three new galleries with the financial and moral support of the
examples of writing as art, expression and instruction. British Council.
The museum is housed in the Lakeside Palace built for
Saddam Hussein in 1990, and with its four galleries makes it the
second largest museum in Iraq.
The museum is run by Qahtan Al Abeed, Basrah’s director of
antiquities and heritage, who took over from the former director,
who was shot dead. The new galleries cover Sumer, Assyria and
Image: © Tony Antoniou
Babylonia and have c.1,200 objects dating from 3,000 BCE to

550 BCE. Objects include statues, cylinder seals, tablets and
jewellery, with many objects coming from the National Museum
in Baghdad. The galleries were financed with a 0,000 grant
from the UK government Cultural Protection Fund.
Ancient glass on show in Netherlands Excavations

Glass in thehope
shapeto reveil the secrets of the Abbey Drain
of bunch of grapes,
Trier, from Heerlen,
T he glassmakers of antiquity
were exceptionally adept
A number of the earliest glass
objects from ancient Egypt, such
2nd century CE
Image: © Rijksmuseum van Oudheden
at creating beautiful shapes as cosmetic asks and amulets

and colours. The exhibition are on display. Highlights also
Glass, currently on show at the include Roman glass, armbands
Rijksmuseum in Leiden, testifies and bracelets from the European
to their craftsmanship. Iron Age (the period known as ‘La
A wide selection of the most Tène’), plus jewellery, gems, play
beautiful glass objects in the stones, Greek glass, remarkable
museum’s collection are on show Merovingian cups, and several
until 1 September. early Islamic glasses.
107-111 ARCH NEWS.indd 111 16/05/2019 15:14

The Many Faces of Tudor England
The Mary Rose Museum, Portsmouth Historic Dockyard, England
Showing until: 31 December 2019
Left: Remains of the Mary Rose ship at the

Mary Rose Museum (Image: © Hufton + Crow)
Above: Painting of the Mary Rose in Battle
in the Solent (Image: © Geoff Hunt)
Right, top: Permanent Exhibition – Battle of the
Solent Projection (Image: © Gareth Gardner)
W ere the crew of the Mary Rose white

Englishmen or did diversity reign
on board Henry VIII’s favourite warship?
roles on board the Mary Rose but deeper
into their lives. Based on new scientific
evidence derived from isotope analysis as
discoveries have the potential to reverse
long-held assumptions about diversity
in Tudor England. Once again, the Mary
Through interactive screens, documentary well as DNA testing of teeth and bones, Rose is rewriting what we know about the
footage, print material and a reproduction the exhibition takes you on a journey of 16th-century world.”
of an intriguing crew member nicknamed discovery, exploring the backgrounds of a Dr Richard Madgwick, Lecturer
Henry - a new exhibition, The Many Faces number of the crew. It also considers what in Archaeological Science at Cardi
of Tudor England, helps answer important the finds from the Mary Rose can tell us University explained, “It’s only with the
questions about the crew. What did they about diversity and globalisation in Tudor integration of a range of biomolecular
look like? Where were they born and what England, 500 years ago.” methods that we’re able to provide these
was their genetic heritage? The research that led to these remarkable new insights into the diverse crew of
Before now, theories on the crew’s findings was carried out by experts at the Mary Rose, with some coming from
identity have been based on where Swansea niversity, Cardi niversity and southern Europe and perhaps beyond.
they were found and what possessions the University of Portsmouth, and a new It’s exceptionally rare to reconstruct past
surrounded them. Records preserve only documentary Skeletons of the Mary Rose: life histories in such detail, from earliest
a few names of those who worked on the The New Evidence, part of the award- life to death.”
Mary Rose over her 34 years of service, and winning series Secret Histories, was shown ‘Henry’, one of the most complete of the
the identities of most of those who lost on Channel 4 in March. 92 reconstructed crew skeletons, is among
their lives on 19 July 1545, the day the Mary Steven Perring, Story Producer at the most intriguing discoveries. His bones
Rose sank fighting the French in the Battle Avanti Media, the production company and teeth tell the story of his life. He was
of the Solent, will never be known. behind the documentary, adds: “The aged between 14 and 18. His left shoulder
Dr Alexzandra Hildred, Head of Research recent scientific studies carried out on blade had deep depressions where the
and Curator of Ordnance and Human eight of the crew suggest that several ligaments attached, and he had well-
Remains at the Mary Rose, says: “The Many were foreign born, including Europeans, developed muscles. His spine showed signs
Faces of Tudor England delves not just and even possibly two members of of osteoarthritis and degenerative disease.
into the crew’s physical appearance and North African origin or heritage. These Oxygen isotope analysis of his teeth
112-113 MARY ROSE.indd 112 17/05/2019 10:11

EXHIBITION FOC S
Upon becoming king in 1509, Henry

VIII immediately commissioned two
warships with his own money, one of
which was the Mary Rose. Five and a
half wives later, in 1545, he watched her
sink outside Portsmouth harbour.
The story of the Mary Rose

in numbers
1510
the year the Mary Rose was built
1545
the year in which the Mary Rose sank on
the 19th July during the 3rd French War
500 men on board, only 35 survived
5 foot 7 inches
was the average height of
a crew member
1971
the year the Mary Rose wreck site was
rediscovered and excavations began
27,831 dives
were logged from
1971-1982 during the excavation
of the Mary Rose
Bottom right: These forensic artist’s impressions of the Archer Royal demonstrate how
22,710 hours
much these discoveries have changed what was previously known about the crew. (Image
© Oscar Nilsson and the Mary Rose Trust)
were spent excavating the seabed
between 1971-1982
437 years
suggests that he was raised in Britain, in and lead bioinformatician on the project, the Mary Rose spent underwater
areas of high rainfall – the West or South, at the University of Portsmouth, says
whilst his sulphur value suggests that he this research: “Has been an incredibly 1982
was born within 50 km of the coast. This is interesting story to be a part of, and we the year the Mary Rose was raised
consistent with his strontium isotope ratio, have learned a huge amount along the from the seabed
which suggests he was raised in an area of way. Being able to take a snapshot of the 19,000 artefacts
Palaeozoic geology, such as North Devon. past and uncover previously unknown have been recovered from the site
His nitrogen value is high, so he ate lots information about these characters from so far including:
of animal protein, whilst his carbon value centuries ago has been very insightful.”
points to more of a land-based rather than Another particularly surprising discovery 257 shoes and boots (including 70 pairs)
marine-based diet. Analysis of Henry’s rib is that of the Archer Royal, who was found 86 chests
shows similar results to his teeth, so he trapped under the rear axle of a bronze 172 longbows and
probably didn’t have any great change in his cannon on the main deck, his longbow 2,303 complete arrows
diet in adolescence. beside him. Because of the famed longbow
One of Henry’s teeth was extracted skills of English forces, it has always been
for DNA analysis. His nuclear DNA presumed that this Archer was English. Tickets for the Mary Rose and The Many
(information coming from both parents) In his early 20s and standing 5ft 10in, he Faces of Tudor England exhibition can be
suggest that he came from North Africa, was taller than most of the crew. Although purchased from the website (below),
making Henry genetically similar to well-built and with particularly strong or from The Mary Rose Visitor Centre
current day Moroccans, Mozabite Berbers legs, the centre of his spine was twisted, or museum reception.
of Algeria or individuals from the Near a common feature of the Mary Rose crew Mary Rose tickets cannot be purchased
East. His mitochondrial DNA (passed found with archery equipment. This high- from the Portsmouth Historic Dockyard
website or Visitor Centre.
almost exclusively from mother to status individual was wearing a leather
The Mary Rose is not included in any
o spring through egg cells) is consistent wristguard decorated with the Royal Arms
of the ticket combinations o ered by
with this ancestry but may also suggest of England and Katherine of Aragon’s Portsmouth Historic Dockyard.
that his mother hailed from Britain. badges – the triple turret of Castile and the www.MaryRose.org
Dr Sam Robson, Senior Research Fellow pomegranate symbol of Granada.
112-113 MARY ROSE.indd 113 17/05/2019 10:11

TT Loves...
THE CATACOMBS OF PARIS

The old limestone quarries under Paris were put to good use by filling
them with the bones of the inhabitants who died over four centuries
Map of former underground mine

exploitations in Paris (1908)
L arge numbers of limestone and

gypsum quarries exist under Paris.
Quarrying had begun in Gallo-Roman
A spate of subsidence incidents in
the late 18th century alerted the
authorities to the danger. In 1777 Louis
T he first cemetery to be transferred
in 1786 was The Innocents, the most
densely packed of the cemeteries. The
times, and in the Middle Ages, the XVI created the ‘Inspectorate of Quarries bones were piled into a space 20 metres
quarries were used to supply major beneath Paris’ to inventory and map the underground at a place called La Tombe-
construction projects such as Notre-Dame old quarries and shore up the cavities Issoire (in the 14th arrondissement), which
Cathedral and the Louvre Castle. located in the public spaces. at the time was outside the city limits.
Initially located on the outskirts of At the same time, Paris was becoming The catacombs are a memorial to all
Paris, when the city expanded the old aware of the dangers of having cemeteries the people who lived and died in Paris
quarries were abandoned leaving vast in the middle of the city. Moving the from the 14th - 18th centuries. Now poets
cavities beneath the city. bones from the cemetery to the quarries and scholars, such as La Fontaine and
seemed a perfect idea. Rabelais, lie with revolutionaries such
as Danton and Robespierre. RIP.
098 TT LOVES.indd 114 14/05/2019 14:29

PETER SOMMER
TRAVELS
“Peter Sommer Travels continue to excel. The tour was a fantastic couple of weeks of history,
archaeology and mythology combined with beautiful scenery, wonderful food and fantastic wine.”
EXPERT-LED ARCHAEOLOGICAL & CULTURAL TOURS FOR SMALL GROUPS
Tour Operator of the Year

2015 Gold Award, 2016 Silver Award, 2017 Gold Award & 2018 Silver Award
- AITO (The Association of Independent Tour Operators)
One of the world’s “Top Ten Learning Retreats”

- National Geographic
WALKING AND CRUISING

EXPLORING HADRIAN’S WALL A GASTRONOMIC TOUR OF SICILY
THE DODECANESE
CRUISING THE COAST OF DALMATIA: CRUISING THE AEGEAN: CRUISING THE COAST OF DALMATIA:
FROM ŠIBENIK TO ZADAR A FAMILY ADVENTURE FROM DUBROVNIK TO SPLIT
EXPLORING CRETE: CRUISING TO EPHESUS

ARCHAEOLOGY, NATURE AND FOOD CRUISING THE DODECANESE
www.petersommer.com
Escorted Archaeological Tours,
Tel: 01600 888 220 Gulet Cruises and Private Charters
[email protected]
115 IBC Peter Sommer.indd 79 16/05/2019 07:57

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Timeless - NBTC.indd 116 1 17/05/2019
09/05/2019 09:47
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FOR LOVERS OF TRAVEL, ARCHAEOLOG AND ART

. . 6.00 . 0 Summer 2019

TAN ANIA ALES CAMBODIA AE C ECH REP BLIC PORT GAL

VIETNAM INDIA GEORGIA

Natasha’s Dance: 12th September

The Romans in Portugal 6th April 2020

For help arranging your group or escorted tour or to request a brochure

002 IFC TCE.indd 79 1

research. Another exclusive scoop in this issue is an interview with Colonel

Editor-in-Chief, Founder & Publisher: Fiona Richards

Editor: Judith Casey

Timeless Travels Summer 2019

003 WELCOME.indd 3 15/05/2019 16:05

EUROPE REMEMBERS: QUICK GUIDE:

4 Timeless Travels • Summer 2019

004-005 CONTENTS.indd 4 17/05/2019 09:40

PHOTO DELIGHT: ARCHAEOLOGICAL

Timeless Travels • Summer 2019 5

004-005 CONTENTS.indd 5 17/05/2019 09:40

Paul Beston Sarah Crake

Damian Evans Linda Falcone

Neil Hennessy-Vass Matt Hoorspool

Lynn Houghton Theresa Thompson

6 Timeless Travels • Summer 2019

006 CONTRIBUTORS.indd 6 15/05/2019 16:17

ETERNAL SPLENDOURS: THE UNIVERSAL ARTIST:

ROMAN, MEDIEVAL & SUGAR PLUM FAIRIES:

Gallery of Ancient Paintings, Winter Palace, State Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg

+44 (0) 1869 811167 | [email protected] | www.ciceroni.co.uk

City guides for independent

• Explore unique locations, hidden

007 CICERONI OIG.indd 7 15/05/2019 21:01

Image: © Nick Johanson/shutterstock

008-017 ZANZIBAR.indd 8 16/05/2019 15:02

Timeless Travels • Summer 2019 9

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ginger and black pepper. The rich scents became

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Timeless Travels • Summer 2019 11

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Previous pages: Ladies

14 Timeless Travels • Summer 2019

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PRINCESS SALME MUSEUM

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Travel tips for visiting Zanzibar, Tanzania

Flying The Essentials i Cultural information

Stone Town is a great place to wander

Timeless Travels • Summer 2019 17

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