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When
10 March - 25 September 2016
Where
National Museum of Scotland, Exhibition Gallery 1, Level 3
#Celts
This major exhibition, organised in partnership with the British Museum, unravelled the complex story of the different groups who have used or been given the name ‘Celts’ through the extraordinary art objects they made and used.
Spanning more than 2,500 years, the exhibition explored history through these powerful decorated objects and examined how art styles have changed considerably over time, often flourishing during periods when different cultures came into contact.
Iron Age gold torc, found in Blair Drummond as part of a hoard comprising four torcs.
Massive armlet of bronze from Belhelvie, Aberdeenshire, 200-300 AD.
Sculpture of the goddess Brigantia depicting a native goddess from northern Britain in the guise of Minerva, from Birrens, Dumfriesshire.
Comb made of bone, probably used to comb a beard or moustache, from Langbank Crannog, Renfrewshire, AD 1-200.
8th century brooch-pin from Westness, Rousay, Orkney.
Reconstruction of the Deskford carnyx (80 - 200 AD), in bronze and brass, made by Dr John Purser and John Creed.
Bronze pony cap found in a moss at Torrs, Kelton, Kirkcudbrightshire, 300–100 BC.
Slab of grey sandstone with a cross on one side. From Monifieth, Angus, Scotland, c. AD 700–800.
Double-faced horned Iron Age statue, perhaps representing a god. Holzgerlingen, Germany, 4th–2nd century BC. © P Frankenstein/H Zwietasch, Landesmuseum Württemberg, Stuttgart.
The Battersea shield. Iron Age, c. 350–50 BC. Found in the River Thames, London, England. © The Trustees of the British Museum.
The Gundestrup cauldron. Iron Age, c. 100 BC–AD 1. Found in Gundestrup, northern Jutland, Denmark. © The National Museum of Denmark.
Bull-headed torc from southern Germany. © P. Frankenstein / H. Zwietasch; Landesmuseum Württemberg, Stuttgart
The Druids: Bringing in the Mistletoe (1890) by George Henry and Edward Atkinson Hornel. © CSG CIC Glasgow Museums Collection.
The exhibition displayed magnificent Iron Age treasures adorned with intricate patterns and fantastic animals, rich with hidden meanings, which were used for feasting, religious ceremonies, adornment and warfare. It also explored how these distinctive art styles were transformed and took on new influences in response to the expanding Roman world and the spread of Christianity, and examined how the decorative arts of the late 19th century were inspired by different ideas about Europe’s past, and played a key role in defining what it meant to be Irish, Welsh, Scottish and British.
Featuring more than 300 treasured objects from across the UK and Europe, assembled together in Scotland for the first time, the exhibition provided a unique opportunity to explore the idea of ‘Celts’ as one of the fundamental building blocks of European history.
To complement the exhibition the British Museum and National Museums Scotland are lending two unique Iron Age mirrors to five partner museums across the UK in 2015-16.
Ever wondered what an ancient Celtic war horn sounds like? Or how to wear an Iron Age torc that weighs over 1kg? Exhibition curators Julia Farley and Fraser Hunter introduce some key objects from the exhibition in this Periscope film.
