The British Museum
Fine silk and foul murder I Tom Objects!
When is a scarf not a scarf? When it's a royal murder weapon. Curator Tom Hockenhall recounts the tale of Radama II of Madagascar and his ill fated attempt to ban ancestral dress. Curator Tom Hockenhull has selected key objects from the...
The British Museum
Making beauty: Noda Tetsuya
This series celebrates the work of living Japanese artists and craftspeople. Noda Tetsuya is an extraordinary printmaker, who since the 1960s he has been creating prints under the title ‘diary’. Now comprised of over 500 prints, these...
The British Museum
Royal fat shaming I Tom objects!
Curator Tom Hockenhull has selected key objects from the Citi exhibition I object; Ian Hislop's search for dissent to discuss the history of objection, rebellion and protest. In this episode he take us through a satirical Georgian print-...
The British Museum
Mesopotamian ghostbusting with Irving Finkel I Curator's Corner +
Is your neighbourhood infested with the ancient Mesopotamian spirits of portly women or wise sages from distant times? Fear not dear viewer! Irving Finkel is here to show you how the exorcists of Assyria drove out those pesky spectral...
The British Museum
Bronze casting process I A modern take on Rodin's work
Auguste Rodin worked in clay but often had his sculptures cast in bronze. Learn how bronze sculptures are made in the 21st century by following the casting process from clay sculpting to the finished piece. Rodin and the art of ancient...
The British Museum
How to make 5,000 year old beer I Pleasant Vices episode 3
In episode 3 of the Pleasant Vices series food historian Tasha Marks is joined by brewer Michaela Charles and beverage consultant Susan Boyle to make Ancient Egyptian beer. To find out more about ancient brewing, read Tasha’s article on...
The British Museum
How to make an Ancient Egyptian inspired cocktail I Pleasant Vices recipe
In the third recipe video of the Pleasant Vices series Tasha is treating us to a cocktail inspired by the ancient Egyptian beer she made with Michaela and Susan in episode 3. Using an Alpha Beta ale Tasha makes her version of a Henket, a...
The British Museum
Pleasant Vices episode 4 I Sugar
In the fourth and final episode of Pleasant Vices Tasha is tackling the history of sugar in Europe using objects and prints from the British Museum collection to explore this foodstuff's tumultuous past. To find out more about sugar you...
The British Museum
How to make a Renaissance sugar sculpture I Pleasant Vices recipe
Want to add some punch to your dinner parties? Or make a political statement at Sunday lunch? In this final recipe video of the Pleasant Vices series Tasha demonstrates how to make a sugar sculpture to adorn your table. The history of...
The British Museum
How to make Mesoamerican 18th century mash up hot chocolate I Pleasant Vices episode 2
Tasha Marks is back for episode 2 of the Pleasant Vices series. This week she is joined by master chocolatier Paul A. Young to discuss chocolate’s introduction to 18th London as a delicious and beneficial drink. In this episode, Tasha...
The British Museum
Why aren't you wearing gloves? The conservators' guide to object handling in the British Museum
Whenever we upload a video that features a member of staff handling an object without gloves we receive a flood of comments asking why. To help clear up the confusion, we asked our conservators to tell us when you should (and shouldn't)...
The British Museum
How to make aphrodisiac nut balls I Pleasant Vices Recipe
Inspired by the British Museum collection and a 15th century publication known as The Perfumed Garden of Sensual Delight, Food Historian Tasha Marks has invented an aphrodisiac that you can make at home to delight your loved ones. The...
The British Museum
Assyrian envelopes I Curator's Corner +
Welcome to Curator's Corner +, a new occasional series featuring bonus content that for one reason or another didn't make it into the main episode. In this episode Curator Mathilde Touillon-Ricci explains the ancient Assyrian postal...
The British Museum
Rodin and the art of ancient Greece
Discover how ancient Greek sculpture inspired Auguste Rodin to set a radical new direction for modern art. Rodin and the art of ancient Greece 26 April – 29 July 2018 #RodinExhibition Book now for this major exhibition:...
The British Museum
Bridging cultures in post-Daesh Iraq: safeguarding the world's oldest bridge
The bridge at Tello (ancient Girsu) was built in the third millennium BC, making it the oldest bridge still in existence. This remarkable survival is being preserved by a team of British Museum archaeologists and Iraqi heritage...
The British Museum
Pearls, sapphires, diamonds & toadstones I Curator's Corner Season 3 Episode 8
Curator Naomi Speakman has already told us about bestiaries – medieval books of animals both real and mythical. Here, she takes us through another type of medieval compendiary – the lapidary, an encyclopaedia of jewels, their properties...
The British Museum
A 4,000-year old tale of trade and contraband I Curator's Corner season 3 episode 9
Curator Mathilde Touillon-Ricci shares her research into the letters of Old Assyrian traders and the sometimes surprising ways in which they get around paying taxes. #CuratorsCorner #taxevasion
The British Museum
Laser cleaning of a wall painting from Byzantine Egypt
Museum Scientist, and Andrew W. Mellon Foundation fellow, Dr. Lucia Pereira-Pardo explains how the Museum employs the latest laser technology to conserve heritage objects. The wall painting currently undergoing conservation is part of...
The British Museum
Gina Athena Ulysse: Remixed ode to rebel's spirit
Haitian-born artist-anthropologist Gina Athena Ulysse offers a multivocal remix of words (archival and oral history, poetry, personal narrative) interlaced with chants that honour this decolonial spirit of defiance in response to the...
The British Museum
Alfred Maudslay's legacy I Curator's Corner season 3 episode 10
Curator Jago Cooper shares the story of innovative archaeologist Alfred Maudslay and explains how explorations in 19th-century South America have inspired research for the British Museum in collaboration with Google in the 21st century....
The British Museum
Who were Ghika, Craxton and Leigh Fermor?
Nikos Hadjikyriakos-Ghika, John Craxton and Sir Patrick Leigh Fermor were significant cultural figures of the 20th century. The three first met at the end of the Second World War, becoming lifelong friends and spending much of their...
The British Museum
5,000-year-old tattoos I Curator's Corner season 3 episode 6
Physical anthropologist Daniel Antoine shows us the oldest figurative tattoos in the world and explains their significance today. To find out more please visit the British Museum blog: http://bit.ly/2tdtbYp #CuratorsCorner #tattoos #mummies
The British Museum
How clocks work (in 5 easy steps) I Curator's Corner season 3 episode 3
British Museum horologist, Oliver Cooke, explains step by step how a clock works in 5 easy steps. #CuratorsCorner #Clocks #time
The British Museum
How to take a clock apart (and put it back together again) I Curator's Corner season 3 episode 4
Previously on Curator's Corner, Oliver Cooke took us through the various components of a wooden Davos clock. This week he shows us how to take a clock apart and put it back together, but will it still be ticking at the end?...