Cathy's Art Diary

Interesting exhibition at the National Museum of Ireland: Archaeology looking at the monastic site of Glendalough in County Wicklow. The site was founded in the 6th or 7th century by St Kevin and, at its height, consisted of seven churches, a cathedral, a round tower and 1200 stone crosses. The exhibition told the story of the site and is role in pilgrimages in good, although wordy, information boards then showed objects excavated from the site and other monastic sites in Ireland to illustrate the narrative. I think the most moving item was some oat and barley from a kiln on the site. No closing date given.  

Great to see this exhibition at Birmingham Museums and Art Gallery of some of the items found in the hoard of Saxon treasure found in Staffordshire in 2010. Having see the news stories about this I was surprised at how small the items were. It became obvious that it must have been booty from war as it seems as if all the gold had been stripped from weapons. The quality of the garnet and gold work was wonderful and if this was taken during battle what must that battle have looked like with all the gold encrusted weapons. I think the shear quantity means this was off real weapons not just ceremonial bling. I was impressed listening to local people in the exhibition who had obviously been more than once and were telling each other which items had changed since they last saw it. They felt a real connection to the items. It also showed how the conservation work was a work in progress.