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Reposted by Becky Wallower

Becky Wallower @bwallower.bsky.social · 7h

#FindsFriday 🏺
Bronze chimera: likely emblem (episema) on C6 BC warrior's shield w lion's head on flame-like mane + scaly fierce snake striking from centre.
From high status tomb w arms, tools, ceramics + iron wheels of chariot excavated in Melfi, Basilicata.
Now in Nat Archaeological Museum there.

A large thin bronze decoration probably for a 6th C BC warrior's shield. At the top the head of a beast with a stylised lion's head and snout, on a long neck with incised flame-like mane, emerges from a scaly circle. This serves as the body of a fierce snake (which probably wrapped round the lion's body), which extends to the top right with a long head and open mouth, with wing below lower jaw.

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Becky Wallower @bwallower.bsky.social · 7h

#FindsFriday 🏺
Bronze chimera: likely emblem (episema) on C6 BC warrior's shield w lion's head on flame-like mane + scaly fierce snake striking from centre.
From high status tomb w arms, tools, ceramics + iron wheels of chariot excavated in Melfi, Basilicata.
Now in Nat Archaeological Museum there.

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Reposted by Becky Wallower

Becky Wallower @bwallower.bsky.social · 1d

#AdoorableThursday
In fact a false door, painted to left of tablinium, in house of local #Pompeii official C. Iulius Polybius w early style facade.
Like in recent discoveries in the city, owner was in process of upgrading 2C BC property, hence amphorae + heap of lime piled in the corner.
#Roman 🏺

A painted door, included in the layout of the tablinium for symmetry. It's actually plaster, showing four panels within a red and white doorframe.
The four panels have the appearance of being on two doors, white with red borders bounded by darker outlines, and three circles on the section dividing upper and lower panels on each one.
A heap of building material and some broken amphorae are shown to the left of the false door.

A view showing the layout of the tablinium and the painted false door. The room has white painted walls with a red border at the top, a large entrance through the facing wall leading to other parts of the site. The painted false door is to the left of this, and an empty doorway is on the right - clearly intended to hold a 'real' door.
Remains of an upper level are also evident, with five window openings in the wall over the doors/entrance.

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Reposted by Becky Wallower

C20 Society @c20society.bsky.social · 1d

Happy 60th Birthday to the BT Tower!

Built 1961-65 to the designs of Eric Bedford, Chief Architect at the Ministry of Public Works, the 582ft telecommunications tower is one of Britain's most distinctive post-war buildings and after being sold in 2024, is set to be converted to a destination hotel.

BT Tower, Fitzrovia, London - Eric Bedford, Chief Architect at the Ministry of Public Buildings, 1961-65
Image credit: James Burbs (@londonfromtherooftops)

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Becky Wallower @bwallower.bsky.social · 1d

What fantastic preservation.

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Becky Wallower @bwallower.bsky.social · 1d

www.theartnewspaper.com/2025/10/08/w...

With works by Munch and Mamma Andersson, the British Museum reveals the darkness of Nordic noir

The survey brings together more than 150 works by 100 different artists for a peek behind the clichés of apparently idyllic Nordic life

www.theartnewspaper.com

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Becky Wallower @bwallower.bsky.social · 1d

www.theartnewspaper.com/2025/10/09/d...

Discovery of 11,000-year-old carved face in Turkey offers new insight into early human expression

A pillar featuring detailed facial features was unearthed in Karahan Tepe near the Syrian border

www.theartnewspaper.com

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Becky Wallower @bwallower.bsky.social · 1d

Yes - symmetry figures in many a room in many a house.

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Becky Wallower @bwallower.bsky.social · 1d

#AdoorableThursday
In fact a false door, painted to left of tablinium, in house of local #Pompeii official C. Iulius Polybius w early style facade.
Like in recent discoveries in the city, owner was in process of upgrading 2C BC property, hence amphorae + heap of lime piled in the corner.
#Roman 🏺

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Reposted by Becky Wallower

Becky Wallower @bwallower.bsky.social · 2d

Woodensday
Very fine Nonsuch Chest probably given to St Saviour's Church (now Southwark Cathedral) by the Sheriff of London 1588.
Likely work of Flemish refugees who had settled in Borough:
oak w walnut, pear, cherry, box, rosewood, ash, yew, holly + ebony inlay. Used to hold parish records.

Very large oak chest decorated with multiple panels of fine inlay in walnut, pear, cherry, box, rosewood, ash, yew, holly + ebony. Panel themes include exotic townscapes, coat of arms, geometric and floral ones. It rests on ball shaped feet, six of which are visible from the front.

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Becky Wallower @bwallower.bsky.social · 2d

Definitely olive - Puglia is olive central, and has been for centuries.

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Becky Wallower @bwallower.bsky.social · 2d

Woodensday
Very fine Nonsuch Chest probably given to St Saviour's Church (now Southwark Cathedral) by the Sheriff of London 1588.
Likely work of Flemish refugees who had settled in Borough:
oak w walnut, pear, cherry, box, rosewood, ash, yew, holly + ebony inlay. Used to hold parish records.

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Reposted by Becky Wallower

Becky Wallower @bwallower.bsky.social · 3d

#ThickTrunkTuesday
May have lost a bit of its middle, but an undeniably thickly trunked, several hundred year old olive tree by the #Roman city/archaeological park of Egnazia, Puglia.
Still thriving, and one amongst many.

Gnarly old olive tree with hollowed out trunk in late summer leaf.

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Becky Wallower @bwallower.bsky.social · 3d

#ThickTrunkTuesday
May have lost a bit of its middle, but an undeniably thickly trunked, several hundred year old olive tree by the #Roman city/archaeological park of Egnazia, Puglia.
Still thriving, and one amongst many.

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Reposted by Becky Wallower

Dean Wilson @deanwilson.bsky.social · 3d

One moon, two seagulls.
#Withernsea
#Harvestmoon

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Reposted by Becky Wallower

Dr Matt Pope @mattpope.bsky.social · 3d

Awful news from Wales, the St Fagan's Museum has been broken into and prehistoric goldwork has been taken. Its painful to think what objects might now be at risk. Thoughts with the museum team who must be devastated, all speed to the police and a curse on the crooks.
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

St Fagans: Bronze Age gold jewellery stolen from musuem

Police are investigating a burglary at St Fagans museum in the early hours of Monday morning.

www.bbc.co.uk

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Reposted by Becky Wallower

Becky Wallower @bwallower.bsky.social · 4d

#MosaicMonday 🏺
One of the many superb floors of #Roman Taranto - a triclinium floor from late 2C high status home.
Scenes of Dionysian satyr abducting nymph in a cave, w panther + tiger at sides, plus lion attacking horse, but also gorgeous little birds and fruits.
MArTA - Nat Arch Museum Taranto

Large elaborate mosaic. Within two black lines on white background, a guilloche border surrounds the large floor, and each of the panels within.
Large panel in centre has Dionysian satyr abducting nymph in a cave, and another large one nearest viewer shows lion attacking horse. Rectangular panels either side of centre have tiger and panther facing sides, and 4 square panels either side of lion/horse panel have birds and fruit. At top are 12 further panels, all facing viewer: 4 with birds/fruit and 4 at the top with intertwining geometric designs.

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Becky Wallower @bwallower.bsky.social · 4d

www.theartnewspaper.com/2025/10/03/f...

From dangerous erotica to secret smoking canteens: ten things you didn't know about The British Museum

Behind its ordered, Neo-Classical façade, the London institution has been home to plenty of intrigue and eccentricity

www.theartnewspaper.com

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Becky Wallower @bwallower.bsky.social · 4d

www.theartnewspaper.com/2025/10/06/v...

Victoria & Albert Museum to expand Gilbert Galleries to explore looting and provenance

Opening next March, the revamp will increase the number of galleries from four to seven as part of the museum's Future Plan development programme

www.theartnewspaper.com

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Becky Wallower @bwallower.bsky.social · 4d

#MosaicMonday 🏺
One of the many superb floors of #Roman Taranto - a triclinium floor from late 2C high status home.
Scenes of Dionysian satyr abducting nymph in a cave, w panther + tiger at sides, plus lion attacking horse, but also gorgeous little birds and fruits.
MArTA - Nat Arch Museum Taranto

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Reposted by Becky Wallower

Becky Wallower @bwallower.bsky.social · 5d

#StoneworkSunday #SundayStonework
Remnants of 4 storey high Great Cross in Cheap, 1 of 2 erected in London by Edward I along 1290 route of wife Eleanor of Castile's coffin from Lincoln to Westminster.
One in Cheap featured these arms of England and Castile. Dismantled in 1643.
ex London Museum

A large fragment of the memorial cross set up along Cheapside in the City of London in 13th C by Edward I to mark funeral route of his wife Eleanor of Castile.

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Becky Wallower @bwallower.bsky.social · 5d

Hmm. Shall ask again. She was saying that it was ticket only and they just couldn't get any. It must have been earlier in the summer though, so perhaps it's settled down now. They have a river/canal boat that they sail around, so also possible that mooring availability was a limiting issue.

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Reposted by Becky Wallower

Andy Brown @andybrown1951.bsky.social · 5d

"They created a desolation and called it peace". Tacitus

www.bbc.co.uk/news/resourc...

The frantic race to protect historic treasures from Israeli bombs - BBC News

As Israel continues its bombardment, Palestinians are trying to protect what remains of Gaza’s ancient artefacts

www.bbc.co.uk

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Reposted by Becky Wallower

Dan Snow @thehistoryguy.bsky.social · 9d

This is an astonishingly good news story, it will bring enormous health benefits, it will be noted by historians of london in centuries to come. But it will change no one’s vote, he will get no credit. More people will be talking about trans toilet habits at the next election.
It’s a conundrum.

Josiah Mortimer @josiah.writes.news · 9d

Some good news.

London is meeting legal limits for toxic NO2 pollution for the first time – almost 200 years earlier than predicted – following the Mayor’s "world leading air pollution policies," City Hall announces.

The Ultra Low Emissions Zone - and similar policies - really do work.

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Becky Wallower @bwallower.bsky.social · 5d

So you got in!! Was talking with an Australian friend last night who'd been in Paris for 3 weeks, trying for entry tickets every day and nothing every available.

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