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Read more at: Exhibition: Silk Roads

Exhibition: Silk Roads

The term ‘silk road’ likely conjures up images of a well-trodden track, somewhere in central Eurasia, walked by merchants and camels carrying exotic cargo. From the outset, the British Museum’s new major exhibition, Silk Roads, challenges this image with the addition of a single letter – this fabled route was no single road. It also involved much more than silk.


Read more at: Exhibition: 15,000 visitors for ‘The Golden Age of the Jews of Al-Andalus’ (La Edad de Oro de los Judíos de Alandalús)

Exhibition: 15,000 visitors for ‘The Golden Age of the Jews of Al-Andalus’ (La Edad de Oro de los Judíos de Alandalús)

From 15 September 2023 to 31 March 2024, the Centro Sefarad-Israel in Madrid hosted a new bilingual Spanish-English exhibition ‘La Edad de Oro de los Judíos de Alandalús’ (The Golden Age of the Jews of Al-Andalus). In its 6-month run in the atmospheric brick-lined basement of the Centre, the exhibition received 15,000 visitors.


Read more at: Exhibition: Tastes of Heaven - Tales of the Arab Kitchen

Exhibition: Tastes of Heaven - Tales of the Arab Kitchen

Food represents culture without boundaries with flavors, changing fashions, and personal preference all gaining expression in our plates.


Read more at: Exhibition: Geniza in the Gulf

Exhibition: Geniza in the Gulf

The Arabic Poetry in the Cairo Genizah project (APCG) recently embarked on a tour of the United Arab Emirates, showcasing its collection of poetry manuscripts to scholars and the public in Abu Dhabi and Dubai. Dr Mohamed Ahmed, head of the project, organized the tour in the Gulf with the aim of highlighting the significance of the Cairo Genizah as a repository of Arabic literature and an important – but little known – resource for Arabic textual history.


Read more at: Exhibition: Coins of the Cairo Geniza

Exhibition: Coins of the Cairo Geniza

A new online exhibition ‘Coins of the Cairo Geniza’, curated by Matthew Dudley and Alan Elbaum of the Princeton Geniza Lab, brings together data on the many coins and currencies that crop up in Genizah manuscripts. The exhibition presents coins from the Princeton Numismatic Collection and images of Genizah documents, according to state authority, regnal years, production thresholds, alternative names, and etymology.


Read more at: Hear, O Israel: The Magic of the Shema

Hear, O Israel: The Magic of the Shema

The Israel Museum’s new exhibition, Hear, O Israel, The Magic of the Shema, explores the complex relationship between ‘religion’ and ‘magic’ in the story of the Shema – a text recited by Jews since time immemorial. The exhibition brings together artefacts from Qumran tefillin to Babylonian magic bowls, with protective incantations covering all eventualities and amulets of all descriptions.


Read more at: Art history from below: the imagery of the Cairo Genizah

Art history from below: the imagery of the Cairo Genizah

Scattered through the many Genizah manuscripts from the Cairo Genizah are doodles and page decorations, drawings and designs. When studying and cataloguing thousands of pages of text you will only come across these pictures on occasion, and often, if you are busy deciphering the handwriting and identifying the author, the pictures can be an interesting sideline, a bit of light-hearted amusement or only given a brief glance.


Read more at: Palimpsests, recycled manuscripts, are the focus of ‘Ghost Words: Reading the Past’, Cambridge University Library’s current major exhibition

Palimpsests, recycled manuscripts, are the focus of ‘Ghost Words: Reading the Past’, Cambridge University Library’s current major exhibition

With the relaxing of Covid restrictions on museums and galleries from the middle of May, I’m pleased to report that ‘Ghost Words’ will finally be open to visitors, six days a week from 24th May. Booking is essential, however, as restrictions have been relaxed but not entirely removed. For more information on what to expect and how to book go to:

https://www.lib.cam.ac.uk/ghostwords