York Museums Trust Blog

The YMT book club is going from strength to strength, writes Gaby Lees, assistant curator of arts learning,  with 16 of us escaping the biting winds and Christmas shoppers, to enjoy a mince pie in the comfort of the Yorkshire Museum last month.

Unlike the pies however, the book we were discussing was not to everyone’s taste. Pompeii by Robert Harris is a blockbuster of a novel, which at times feels more like a disaster movie than a book.

Each chapter was dated and began with a brief, scientific description of the progress of the volcano which we all felt worked well and helped to crank up the tension.  The main characters however were not hugely convincing, and the love story, which held the narrative together, seemed highly unlikely. 

We could not fault Harris’s research, which appeared extremely thorough, and the setting he created was impressive. We could see parallels between the political and financial intrigues in the book and recent political and economic events, but we did not agree with those critics who had suggested that this was Harris’s post 9/11 novel.

 If anything, it seemed more of an indictment of current policies on carbon reduction, highlighting man’s insignificance, and his egocentric view of the world; convinced that he can control the power of Nature.

Of course, we all knew where the story was going, so the author had set himself a difficult task, but everyone felt the ending was quite abrupt and some, the postscript a little saccharine.

So a mixed reception for Pompeii the novel, although clearly this was an event in history which intrigued us all.

Tempest Anderson in Colima, Mexico circa 1900. He is sitting next to a volcanic rock known as a 'breadcrust bomb'.

We went on to look at the photographs of Tempest Anderson. Anderson was born in York in 1846. He trained as a doctor but was a keen traveller, amateur photographer and volcanologist. He documented active volcanoes across the globe and took part in a Royal Society expedition to the Caribbean in 1902 to record the aftermath of volcanic eruptions on St Vincent and Martinique. 

The Martinique disaster had a number of similarities with Harris’s Pompeii. When Mount Pelee erupted on the morning of 8 May 1902, almost the entire population of St Pierre perished.

Despite increased volcanic activity in the weeks leading up to the disaster, local politicians, keen to maximise the turn out to an election on 11 May, had encouraged people to stay in the town. They had promoted its safety so effectively that people in surrounding villages had arrived, swelling the population to around 28,000. Only 2 people survived.

The YMT book club is led by Vicky Hoyle. Each month we also look at relevant objects from the YMT collections.  Every session is free and all are welcome; we just ask that you phone in advance on 01904 650333 to book a place.

The next book is How to Paint a Dead Man by Sarah Hall. We will be meeting at York Art Gallery this Saturday, 14 January, at 3pm.

The  latest report from our book club comes from Emma Williams, our learning development officer and features a book inspired by the museum itself:

1950s room at York Castle Museum

A healthy group of seven turned out on Saturday at York Castle Museum to discuss this month’s book.

Behind the Scenes at the Museum by Kate Atkinson sparked a lively discussion with regards to family attitudes, sibling rivalry, keeping up appearances, changing York, war and attitudes to death amongst other topics! 

The group then handled objects from York Castle Museum’s collection such as a Victorian tea set and propaganda documents distributed throughout the Second World War with tips of how to make your food go further with suggested recipes for stale bread and the like in order to reduce wastage (or pig food). 

They were then shown around the museum, looking at certain exhibitions including the 1950s period room that linked to the themes of the book.

The book club will meet again at the Yorkshire Museum on Saturday 10 December 2011 at 3pm to discuss the book Pompeii by Robert Harris.

• If you would like to read more about the writing of Behind the Scenes at the Museum and its links to York read this Guardian interview with Kate Atkinson

There were 13 of us at the first meeting of the new YMT Book Club, which was held at York Art Gallery this Saturday, writes Gaby Lees, acting learning manager. And we all liked the book.

A Japanese print by Hiroshige from York Art Gallery's collection

The Hare with Amber Eyes by Edmund de Waal is somewhat like an episode of Who Do You Think You Are? as it follows four generations of the Ephrussi family through Europe.

The focus of the book is a collection of Japanese netsuke, bought in Paris in the late 1800s, by Charles Ephrussi and then passed down through the family, eventually being given to Edmund (the author) by his uncle Iggy.

Much of the Ephrussi family’s wealth was lost during the turmoil of the Second World War, and this book tells the remarkable story of the nesuke’s survival. We were much taken by de Waal’s eloquence in writing about objects.

As an accomplished, successful ceramic artist he brings a maker’s sensibility to the words he chooses. His descriptions of the tactile quality of objects are really very beautiful.

In writing about the Europe in the 19th and 20th centuries it is inevitable that there are times when this small treasure of a book cannot do justice to the huge political and social changes taking place.

However, by focussing on the story of this set of objects owned by one family, these events take on a different shape. Read it. It’s a work of art. We then looked at a selection of Japanese Prints from the Art Gallery collection.

The YMT book club is led by Vicky Hoyle. Each month we also look at relevant objects from the YMT collections. The next book is Behind the Scenes at the Museum by Kate Atkinson We will be meeting at York Castle Museum on Saturday 12 November at 3pm.

For more information visit our website.

York Castle Museum recently welcomed back Dr Mary Brooks, a former curator, (pictured below) as part of a scheme run by The Monument Trust, writes guide Natalie Kingston.

She’s been sharing her in-depth knowledge of our textile collection with the staff, so we can share it with our visitors, and we met her for the first training session, focusing on the North Building.

Starting where the visitor does, with the Period Rooms, Dr Brooks pointed out how textile rich the Victorian rooms are, especially the Victorian Parlour. From the samplers on the wall to the lambrequin on the mantelpiece, there’s hardly a surface in the room that doesn’t have some kind of textile on it.

The needlepoint designs on the firescreen, piano stool and footstools could have been purchased complete, but more likely would have been made up from kits by the women of the household. Being wealthy enough to afford servants they would have had plenty of time on their hands.

One of the cushions has a design you wouldn’t see often these days: swastikas!  Before the swastika was adopted by the Nazis it was considered a symbol of good luck, and it’s not unusual to find it being used decoratively in this period.

The Moorland cottage lacks the luxuriousness of the Victorian Parlour, but it’s still a textile-heavy room. Both the rag rug (under the dog) and the bedspread are made up of re-used fabrics, while the spinning wheel in the corner suggests the family also make their own materials. Being able to do so provided an important extra income for the family, especially when there wasn’t a lot of agricultural work available.

 The press in the left hand corner – one of our most asked about artefacts – is a linen press, used to flatten damp fabric. The sharp creases it created were considered a sign of good housekeeping.

By comparison, the Georgian and Jacobean Rooms are relatively bare of fabric, but on the walls nearby is a selection of samplers from our extensive collection. What’s nice about the ones we have on display is several of them are made by sisters. I can’t imagine my sister or I ever having the patience to complete something so detailed!

Moving up to Spotless, Dr Brooks pointed out the antimacassars in the Fifties Room; a Victorian tradition stemming from men’s use of macassar hair oil. The carpet is a throwback to the thirties, as few families could afford to update their furnishings during the war, while the hearth rug was probably made from a kit. Though the Victorian obsession with covering every surface is beginning to retreat, you’ll still notice a little cloth on top of the radio.

The laundry section in Spotless is an interesting look at womanhood through the ages. For example, Norwegian mangling boards like the one on display were used as a way of proposing marriage. I’m not sure if  “I’d like you to do my laundry rather than my mother” would woo me. Then there’s the glass smoother, used to remove creases from linen. Glass smoothers have been around a long time, even being found in the graves of Viking women. That’s just what every woman wants in the afterlife: an iron.

I am glad I live in the twenty-first century; I don’t think I’ve ironed anything in over a year! We actually ran out of time at this point, the guides like myself being needed to open the museum (after all, we’ve got to let the visitors in so we can share this information!). Dr Brooks left us with notes for the rest of the North Building, and a promise to return to show us around the South Building.

There’s all sorts of miniature wildlife out there in the Museum Gardens and now young visitors can find it for themselves thanks to students from the University of York.

We’ve got a new display in our Extinct Gallery called Insects in the Gardens, together with trails which visitors can take away to make their own exploration of the ten-acre botanical gardens.

Gaby Lees, learning manager, said: “We’ve been delighted with the group of students who worked on this project - another group from the University have created some stories about Roman children for us which we also hope to include in the galleries soon.”

Find out more about the students’ projects at the University of York website.

Or download the trail and see if you can find ants, bees, butterflies, moths, slugs and snails!

Archaeologists have been on site at York Castle Museum as part of our plans to recreate a former prisoners’ yard, writes museum manager Ian Carlisle.

As you may or may not know, the space “between the wings” of the former Debtors’ Prison building (or the South Building) was a prison exercise yard in  the eighteenth century.

It had a low wall across the front, topped with railings to stop the prisoners escaping, and a gate in the centre for access. The citizens of York used to come and gawp at the prisoners exercising in the yard.

Eighteenth century view of the Debtors' Prison. The low wall and railings can be seen running across the space between the wings

Cropped print of another eighteenth-century image, showing a close-up of the low wall, railings and gate

We are hoping to reinstate the wall, railings and gate and resurface the yard so that visitors can go into it as part of the York Castle Prison exhibition.

Before we can do this, English Heritage have insisted that we carry out a small scale archaeological excavation to define the position of the wall, to make sure we rebuild it in the correct position. They also wanted us to try to find out what the original yard surface consisted of.

We contracted On Site Archaeology to do the work and they spent three days excavating three trenches:

General view of the site. One trench can be seen across the yard in the foreground, where the remains of a wall running diagonally across it were found. This may be remains of one of the medieval castle buildings. There is a second trench at the corner of the building, middle left, to locate the low wall, the third between the two diggers, also to locate the wall.

Trench to locate the position of the low wall. The diggers think they have found the end of the wall next to the wrought iron access gate here.

Excavating the trench at the corner of the right-hand wing. This trench was to find the position of the wall where it meets the building, but it also shows the foundations of the building.

Close-up of the above trench. The arrow points to the foundations for the building, which are very shallow for such a large structure.

One interesting find was that of the base of a Romano-British pot. It was possibly a beaker, something like the Nene Valley Ware example below, but it is impossible to tell its exact form from such a small sherd. At the end of the life of the pot, such bases were commonly used as gaming counters. It was found in disturbed soil so does not necessarily indicate Roman activity on the site

Nene Valley beaker

Unfortunately, there was no indication of the original surface of the yard. The excavation team initially thought a layer of cinders could have been it, but a later drainage trench did not cut through it, so this theory was abandoned.

The next step is for the archaeologists to report back to us and to our architect before we decide how to proceed.

We have just finished installing our latest offering at York St Mary’s – Thirty Pieces of Silver by Cornelia Parker – and as it is every year, it’s been a challenge to say the least! writes Jennifer Alexander, assistant curator of art.

Don't look down! The view from the top of York St Mary's as the grid was installed

First of all, we had to build a system of grids to suspend from the nine metre-high ceiling. This was the first challenge – we are not permitted to screw into the beams, so we had to suspend the grids from timbers laid over the existing beams.

The work itself is 30 pools of silver, each with around 30-40 squashed silver objects suspended five inches off the floor. Each object supported by two to four individual wires.

Two technicians worked at the top of the scaffolding attaching wires at the top according to a plan, and four of us worked on the floor, attaching the other end of the wire to the objects themselves.

Jenny, right, is pictured at work carefully putting the silver objects into their correct positions, helped by curator of art Laura Turner

It sounds quite straightforward but if one of us attached a wire to the wrong object it meant twisted wires and a lot of work to untangle them. It really tested our communication skills – “can we do the handle of the third fork in from the big spoon at the edge of the circle?” and “I’m doing the funny shaped object between the knuckledusters and the Eiffel Tower!”. We felt like we were on the Crystal Maze at times!

It seemed like it would take forever to complete and took three days longer than planned, but the end result is fantastic and well worth a look.

A close-up of some of the suspended silverware

Finished! A view of the completed installation from above

Thirty Pieces of Silver by Cornelia Parker opens on 28 May, at York St Mary’s, Castlegate, York. Visit our website for more details.

Ever walked 800 miles in search of honour, adventure and wealth? This young man did. His name was Lucius Ducchius Rufinus – standard bearer to the Ninth Legion, son of Gaul and one of the founders of York. He is only known to us today because of his impressive tomb in the Yorkshire Museum.

 
Two thousand years later Lee Clark, York Museums Trust’s press officer, tells the story of his journey to Lucius’ homeland (by plane) to get a glimpse of the life he would have been used to before marching into the bleak, unknown badlands of the north.

Feeding “criminals” to wild beasts wasn’t that popular apparently. It was when most people chose to go and get their drinks and salty snacks. Even for the Gallo Romans, watching wild animals tearing into helpless, screaming individuals was a bit much.

As I sit in the peaceful surroundings of Nimes’ amphitheatre it is hard to imagine such a blood bath ever took place here. The 20,000 seat arena is the best preserved in the Roman world and with its other impressive remains, Nimes is the perfect place to get a sense of the grandeur of Gallo Roman life.

Wandering its cool, winding streets you stumble upon the almost complete temple called the Maison Caree, while high above, surrounded by parklands, you can climb the Tour Magne, for brilliant views over the city.

By the time of Lucius  (we know he died aged 28 in York between 71-120AD) Nimes had a population of 60,000, with fountains, thermal baths and even mains-connected houses supplied with water from an aqueduct. The source was 50KM away with a drop in height of just 17m – a gradient as low as 0.007 per cent in some places.

The Pont du Gard, 15 miles north of Nimes is an awe inspiring monument to this technological skill – a 490m long, 48m tall bridge where the aqueduct crosses a ravine. The most interesting thing is that they had technology not to build it – but they chose the more difficult option. Why? Maybe, just because they could. 

Arles, 20 miles from Nimes, has an amphitheatre which is almost the twin of Nimes, probably created by the same architect. The town was the main Roman shipping port on the Mediterranean and its excellent museum, the Musee Departemental Arles Antiques, gives a brilliant insight into the huge international trade pouring into Gaul at the time of Lucius.

These days Arles is drenched in the charm of a provincial town, it is easy to see why Van Gogh spent so much time here. Cafe culture abounds and surrounds the ancient monuments.

As well as the amphitheatre, Arles has a beautiful theatre, built in 1BC, showing that more refined entertainment was also enjoyed by the Gauls. It could house 7,500 people and was once fitted with sumptuous green and red marble and statues of gods.

From Arles I travelled north, roughly following the Roman road to the town of Vienne. Once capital to the Gaulish tribe the Allobroges, it was here, a few miles south of Lyon, that Lucius was born. 

At the time, Vienne was one of the most important towns in the Empire and in 100 AD Tacitus described it as “historic and imposing.” It has a fantastic temple and the less impressive remains of a temple to Cybele, the Oriental Mother Goddess, where you could bathe in the blood of a sacrificed bull.

The stunning remains of the theatre housed 10,800 people and was the second biggest in Gaul. Sitting on one of its stone seats overlooking the whole town, it is strange to think Lucius probably sat here at some point enjoying the latest production.

Like Arles and Nimes, Vienne became rich on trade, with sixty thousand square metres of warehouses housing supplies such as skins, dried fruits, wine, fish in brine, fabrics and olive oil.

Nearly every spice we enjoy today would have been available – coriander and caraway from Egypt, cumin from Ethiopia and pepper from India. Marble was brought from the mines of Italy and Greece and even exotic pets such as panthers and lions would have been sold.

Lucius was born into this world and would have undoubtedly eaten Roman food, worshipped Roman gods and enjoyed Roman pastimes – but he didn’t abandon Gaulish beliefs completely.  It is likely he would have worshipped Sucellus, the Gaulish god of agriculture and forests.

There is a statue to him in the museum, and, looking through the collection at the Yorkshire Museum, there is a ring with the name of the same God. It is one of the very rare examples outside France, once worn by a Gaul serving or working in York.

Sucellus was also the god of alcoholic drinks, something which was in keeping with Vienne’s Roman reputation for being an excellent area for wine production. While I was in the town there was a Roman wine festival, with the museum unveiling the first bottle of Allobroge/Roman wine produced using the tools, skills and ingredients they would have used 2,000 years ago.

For research purposes I gave it a try, while watching men in Roman costumes squash the grapes with their feet, ready for the next vintage. I am pretty sure Lucius would have longed for this, warmed by a red hot iron, on the long cold nights of the Yorkshire winter.

Indeed, it became clear that Lucius would have probably missed a great deal about his homeland. Even if Lucius arrived at the end of the Ninth’s time in York it would still have been very much a garrison town. It was also at one of the most northern points of the Empire, with only a trickle of supplies getting through compared to the vast warehouses that surrounded Lucius in Vienne.

The roasted duck seasoned with cumin and coriander, the beautiful decorated gardens, marble floors and the grandeur of Vienne’s forum would have seemed a long way away. Did he long for the great gladiator battles, the plays and, of course, the climate?

You can imagine him writing home, like soldiers do today, requesting items to be sent. Maybe he missed Gaul’s famous snails, cooked in garlic butter? They were a delicacy at the time revered throughout the Empire. I tried them, and personally I would not miss them a great deal.

Lee’s trip was paid for by the Robin Guthrie European Travel Award,  a new annual award giving a member of York Museums Trust staff  the opportunity to travel to Europe on a fact-finding trip. It was established in memory of our founding chairman, Robin Guthrie.

Take a look inside the walls of the new-look Yorkshire Museum in this clip from M&H Online, the website of Museums and Heritage magazine. Lee Clark, our media co-ordinator, talks about what we’ve been doing to improve the museum as well chatting about new offers for visitors like our Kids Go Free scheme.

Here are some exclusive photos of yesterday’s press viewing of the all new museum.

With 30 minutes to go it was the classic case of everyone running around tidying, brushing, polishing and hiding the power drills. Even the glass was still being put in some of the cases.

(you are free to reproduce these images)

But I think it went amazingly well. Janet, our CEO, and Andrew who has led the project made the introductions standing on the beautiful new floor map of the Roman Empire.

The ladies and gentlemen of the press were then set free to wander around and enjoy the smashing new museum. Some of their stories are here:

BBC

Yorkshire Post

York Press

The Guardian

Michael Binyon of The Times also gave the museum 4 stars – you can read his review if you subscribe to their site.