Tuesday 31 May 2011

Was the world's first museum in Ur?

Report on Sir Leonard Woolley's excavations at Ur in the 1920's, focusing on the discovery of what seems to be the world's oldest museum, dating from around 530 BC.
Artifacts from Ur's earlier history seem to have been purposefully collected by Princess Ennigaldi, daughter of Nabonidus, the last king of the Neo-Babylonian Empire.
The article also discusses the motives for making such a collection. Ur in this last phase of its development was, according to Woolley, obsessed by its history. The rulers of the city preferred to dwell on past glories and not look to the threatening future ...

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