09-08-2008, 11:34 AM
Went to see this at the end of August.
£12 to get in, booked in advance for entry at a timed point (every 10 minutes). For those familiar with the venue, it is held in the old Reading Room in the centre of the courtyeard.
Starts with the recently found head of the statue, other busts of relatives, goes on to more statues of the man, inc a bronze one with a head of dubious provenance. Some explanation of the importance of imagery. Moves on to stuff on Hadrians Wall, with some Centurial stones and other artefacts inc Vindolanda tablets.
Section on the Jewish revolt, with bits of Jewish finds, keys, something on the Jews banning hobnails on Sundays because they were associated with soldiers(?) . Big feature on the Pantheon and it's later influence on architecture. Section about the Tivoli villa (complete with huge model). Section on Antinous (spelling?) and Hadrians wife, finishing with a section about his mausoleum, including a model and some of the statues.
Overall - lots of architectural artefacts, less on personal items and little on general Roman life during his reign. Some nice artefacts but a bit too crowded. Wall projections about Judea and the Tivoli villa were nice.
A bit cramped, lots of people milling about listening to the audio guides with vacant looks and so on, so progress could be slow and reading the descriptions with the artefacts was a problem (low lighting too).
Was it worth £12? Probably not, but there were things you wouldn't see in one place again so it had to be done.
Great selection of books in the bookshop, which is outside of the exhibition, and I got a pair of the "gladiator helmet" cufflinks.
I liked the bit in the exhibition about the army being able to beat contractors.....
£12 to get in, booked in advance for entry at a timed point (every 10 minutes). For those familiar with the venue, it is held in the old Reading Room in the centre of the courtyeard.
Starts with the recently found head of the statue, other busts of relatives, goes on to more statues of the man, inc a bronze one with a head of dubious provenance. Some explanation of the importance of imagery. Moves on to stuff on Hadrians Wall, with some Centurial stones and other artefacts inc Vindolanda tablets.
Section on the Jewish revolt, with bits of Jewish finds, keys, something on the Jews banning hobnails on Sundays because they were associated with soldiers(?) . Big feature on the Pantheon and it's later influence on architecture. Section about the Tivoli villa (complete with huge model). Section on Antinous (spelling?) and Hadrians wife, finishing with a section about his mausoleum, including a model and some of the statues.
Overall - lots of architectural artefacts, less on personal items and little on general Roman life during his reign. Some nice artefacts but a bit too crowded. Wall projections about Judea and the Tivoli villa were nice.
A bit cramped, lots of people milling about listening to the audio guides with vacant looks and so on, so progress could be slow and reading the descriptions with the artefacts was a problem (low lighting too).
Was it worth £12? Probably not, but there were things you wouldn't see in one place again so it had to be done.
Great selection of books in the bookshop, which is outside of the exhibition, and I got a pair of the "gladiator helmet" cufflinks.
I liked the bit in the exhibition about the army being able to beat contractors.....
a.k.a. Simon Frame
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hock:
