State Archaeological Museum

I have been passing Państwowe Muzeum Archeologiczne every time I catch the metro to the physiotherapist. I have (of course) photographed its door, its windows, its balconies and its lamps (dripping icicles, under a cap of snow and in afternoon sun). But until Sunday I hadn't visited it. I wasn't planning to go out after a chilled and exhausting morning collecting Canaletto but late-arriving sunshine tempted me.

 

As with every Warsaw temptation, yielding gave me great pleasure.

 

The first gallery I visited documented the archaeological work that preceded the building of the Kraków – Tarnów motor way, which runs through some of the most intensely settled territory in prehistoric Europe. The oldest site explored was 15000 years old. The exhibition consisted of photos of the dig in action, videos of reconstruction work, models of people going about their business and displays of artefacts recovered. I was entranced by the beauty of ordinary objects from long ago and the skill involved in their making.

The process

Vessels after reconstruction

Female figure: depicted about 6000 years ago

Bronze Age jewellery

 

Yet again I was a sloppy documenter: meticulously photographed the “what” signage, and failed to photograph the “when”.

 

The other rooms I perused were more general, taking the viewer through Polish pre-history and early history.

Cache of chocolate flint nodules, 9th millennium BC

Loom weights - undocumented by museum, I think

Ceramic ram between 1200 & 400 BC

Lusation ornaments, 800 - 650

Imports, 800 - 400 BC

Items associated with amber trade

Reliquary box, 10th century AD (copy )

Baba idol (copy)

 

My pleasure in these treasures from the human past was an aesthetic pleasure: however I am shamed by my lack of chronology and detail.

 

Posted with Blogsy

State Archaeological Museum

I have been passing Państwowe Muzeum Archeologiczne every time I catch the metro to the physiotherapist. I have (of course) photographed its door, its windows, its balconies and its lamps (dripping icicles, under a cap of snow and in afternoon sun). But until Sunday I hadn't visited it. I wasn't planning to go out after a chilled and exhausting morning collecting Canaletto but late-arriving sunshine tempted me.

 

As with every Warsaw temptation, yielding gave me great pleasure.

 

The first gallery I visited documented the archaeological work that preceded the building of the Kraków – Tarnów motor way, which runs through some of the most intensely settled territory in prehistoric Europe. The oldest site explored was 15000 years old. The exhibition consisted of photos of the dig in action, videos of reconstruction work, models of people going about their business and displays of artefacts recovered. I was entranced by the beauty of ordinary objects from long ago and the skill involved in their making.

The process

Vessels after reconstruction

Female figure: depicted about 6000 years ago

Bronze Age jewellery

 

Yet again I was a sloppy documenter: meticulously photographed the “what” signage, and failed to photograph the “when”.

 

The other rooms I perused were more general, taking the viewer through Polish pre-history and early history.

Cache of chocolate flint nodules, 9th millennium BC

Loom weights - undocumented by museum, I think

Ceramic ram between 1200 & 400 BC

Lusation ornaments, 800 - 650

Imports, 800 - 400 BC

Items associated with amber trade

Reliquary box, 10th century AD (copy )

Baba idol (copy)

 

My pleasure in these treasures from the human past was an aesthetic pleasure: however I am shamed by my lack of chronology and detail.

 

Posted with Blogsy