Unfolding the untold stories of an object d’art

02 June 2014

Art historian Dr Meredith Hale reveals that a 17th-century screen, commissioned by the Viceroy of Mexico for a palace designed to impress visitors with the immutability of Spanish rule, is a striking example of a transcultural work of art. In an article for the Burlington Magazine, she traces the many influences that went into its narrative imagery and luxurious embellishment. 

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From athletes to couch potatoes: humans through 6,000 years of farming

08 April 2014

Research into lower limb bones shows that our early farming ancestors in Central Europe became less active as their tasks diversified and technology improved. At a conference today, Cambridge University anthropologist Alison Macintosh will show that this drop in mobility was particularly marked in men. 

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Delegation from Tagai State College in front of the Torres Strait display at the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology

Museum embarks on cultural exchange

25 November 2013

From 11 – 14 November 2013 the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, Cambridge, welcomed five students from the Torres Strait Islands. The secondary school pupils, from Waybeni Koey Ngurpay Mudh Tagai State College (Thursday Island Secondary campus) visited the museum as part of a cultural and educational exchange and to embark on their own historical research

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The importance of university museums

22 November 2013

University of Cambridge museums are among those highlighted as examples of best practice in a new report focusing on the outstanding contributions made by the University Museums Group UK.

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Russia: Up close

18 May 2013

A new book prize aimed at furthering our understanding of the Russian-speaking world will help the West to come to terms with the complexity of post-Soviet Russian culture and overcome media stereotypes, according to a University of Cambridge lecturer.

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Books in the Murray Edwards Duse Collection

The lost library of Eleonora Duse

23 January 2013

How her personal library informed the phenomenal talent of the Italian actress Eleonora Duse is revealed in a newly-published book that catalogues the Duse Collection owned by Murray Edwards College.

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Circling the heavens: visual culture and the bird of paradise

24 November 2012

As voyages of exploration opened up the world from the 15th century onwards, European culture delighted in encounters with exotic items. Dr José Ramón Marcaida, a visiting scholar at Cambridge University, shows how portrayals of the spectacular bird of paradise reflect the intersection between art and science.

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Philippe de Montebello

A work of art has many lives

20 November 2012

Eminent art historian and former director of New York’s Metropolitan Museum, Philippe de Montebello will this week give two lectures that explore the multiple lives of works of art. Both lectures are free and open to the public.

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