Explore History - Issue 9 2016

THE DOOMED JOURNEY OF MARY, QUEEN OF SCOTS

TRUTH BEHIND THE NAZI GOLD TRAIN The search for facts among Nazi fiction with Dr Sam Willis

How a dig to unearth the Curtain Theatre and its treasures has changed our view of the Bard

Snatch a glimpse of the Elizabethan capital

Finds that revealed the tricks of the early modern stage

Meet the archaeologists who uncovered the site

biggest Buddhas

Help for historic Durham Cathedral Stories of the stonemasons renewing the Central Tower

The inside story on the burial full of bounty in Greece

A new study claims to have solved the mystery of her disappearance

Discover a spectacular era of Latvian art and creation in Riga

PLUS FABIAN WARE 8 SPECTACULAR CASTLES IN NORTH WALES 8 SYNAGOGUES IN PRAGUE 8 BATTLE MEMORIAL SITES IN BELGIUM 8 RURAL LIFE MUSEUMS IN EAST ANGLIA 8 AND MUCH MORE…

ISSUE 009

Home of Art Nouveau

Digital Edition

Dr John Romer discusses his new book & radical ideas in Egyptology

Amelia Earhart's final days revealed

GreatDigitalMags.com

Everything we know about Egypt is wrong

Grave of the Griffin Warrior

WELCOME to

The search for new discoveries can sometimes be even more tantalising than what is found. In the recent hunt for a Nazi Gold Train, nothing may have been found as yet, but the prospect of treasure lurking within Poland’s mountains still intrigues and enthrals visitors. We speak to Sam Willis about his search for truth among Nazi secrets on page 44. A more fruitful excavation is taking place in London, however. The unearthing of the Curtain Theatre, one of Shakespeare’s lesser known playhouses, has been fascinating from start to finish. We take stock of what’s been found on page 20, and ponder what it means for our understanding of Elizabethan London. Elsewhere, we delve into one of history’s greatest mysteries and look at new theories about what really happened to Amelia Earhart (page 62), and discover the wealth of things we might well have got wrong about Ancient Egypt (page 28) – so prepare yourself for a few new revelations. Alex Hoskins

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Explore History

CONTENTS ISSUE 9

Every issue of Explore History is packed with places to visit and the amazing stories they tell, from ruins across the world to stately homes and museums that you can visit tomorrow

006 In Focus Incredible pictures of historical places

012 Discoveries News, interviews and reviews covering archaeological finds, events and more

020 Uncovering Shakespeare’s London Inside the excavation revealing the tricks of the trade in the Bard’s early theatre

028 Have we got Ancient Egypt wrong?

036 Saving Durham Cathedral’s

028 Have we got

036 Saving Durham

Ancient Egypt wrong?

Cathedral’s tower

Dr John Romer tells us about the surprising revelations in his new book on the ancient society

Discover the extraordinary work going into the preservation of the Central Tower

mighty tower

044 Investigating the hidden truth about the Nazis We speak to Dr Sam Willis about his hunt for the truth behind Nazi myths

052 City guide to Art Nouveau Riga 062 The last days of Amelia Earhart New evidence suggests we may know what really happened to the pilot who disappeared

068 Grave of the Griffin Warrior See the treasures that were unearthed alongside a particularly special skeleton in Greece

076 In the footsteps of Mary, Queen of Scots Journey to ten places that the doomed monarch visited in her lifetime

084 10 Treasures of the People’s

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088 Heritage Hero: Fabian Ware The story of the man who ensured each fallen soldier was remembered

098 Strange Places:

History Museum, Manchester

The Wonderful Barn

Witness some of the most important political artefacts in Britain

A peculiar looking place in Ireland with an intriguing story to tell

020 How discoveries from the Curtain Theatre are changing our view of the Bar

Subscribe & save 40% NEVER MISS AN ISSUE Turn to page 074

ini uides

091 Quick, practical guides to the best places you can visit on a theme, whether it’s castles, museums or beyond 8 Rural life museums in East Anglia 8 Giant Buddhas in Japan 8 Prague synagogues 8 Battle sites of Belgium 8 Castles in North Wales

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T H E

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036 DURHAM

098 COUNTY KILDARE

020 LOND ON

084 M A NCHESTE R

044 POLAND

068 PY LO S 093 PRAGU E

092 JAPAN

062 GAR DNER ISLAND

028 EGYP T

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076 EDINBURGH

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Temple of Hadrian, Ephesus, Turkey

Founded in 10th century BCE, the story of Ephesus goes that a prince of Athens, Androklos, founded the city having fled after the death of his father. Legend dictates that he was influenced by the oracle of Delphi. In 27 BCE, Emperor Augustus made it the capital of Asia Minor. At its height of success in the 1st and 2nd centuries, it was second only to Rome in importance in the empire.

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Hluboká Castle, Vltavou, Czech Republic

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This Czech masterpiece, originally built in the 13th century, was rebuilt in the 18th century in the fashionab le Baroque style, then in the 19th century was given extensive changes to emulate Windsor Castle. It is now described as ‘neo-gothic’. The aristocratic Czech and German Schwarzenberg family were the occupants of the castle until 1939, at which time the owner, Adolph Schwarzenberg, escaped the Nazis by moving overseas.

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Toledo Cathedral, Toledo, Spain

Constructed between 1226 and 1493, the cathedral of Toledo stands on the site of the previous mosque, while a Visigoth church stood there earlier in the 6th century. The grand cathedrals of France inspired its Gothic style, but there are notable differences that give it a Spanish identity. The choir stalls, located in the middle of the nave, are one such feature and they are often considered as the most beautiful and defining part of the building.

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RTHING THE LATEST ARCHAEOLOGICAL FINDS, BIG EVENTS & MORE

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The ruins of this important city have sat unnoticed atop a Greek hill for over 2,000 years – until now

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rchaeologists in Greece are exploring the remnants of an exciting ancient city, the full extent of which is only just emerging. Researchers from the University of Gothenburg had been hoping for a significant find in their work on Strongilovoúni hill at a village called Vlochós, north of Athens, when they unearthed the remains of the previously unknown city. The find consists of the remains of towers, city gates and walls, set into a slope. However, not much of this is visible on the ground, which might go some way towards explaining why

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the site has not been investigated until now. Leading the fieldwork was Robin Rönnlund, a PhD student in classical archaeology and ancient history, who said: “A colleague and I came across the site in connection with another project last year, and we realised the great potential right away. The fact that nobody has ever explored the hill before is a mystery.” The first field season at the village ended in September 2016, and uncovered archaeological remains throughout the area on the hill, which can be dated to several historical periods. It was, for the archaeologists, something of a surprise to find such an extensive site in this

area of Greece. “What used to be considered remains of some irrelevant settlement on a hill can now be upgraded to remains of a city of higher significance than previously thought, and this after only one digging season”, Robin said. The Thessaliska plains, over which the hill in question looks, were previously considered to be something of a ‘backwater’, largely uninteresting in terms of its contribution to Greek history. This find has certainly changed all that. “We found a town square and a street network that indicate that we are dealing with quite a large city. The area inside the city wall

DISCOVERIES

“The Thessaliska plains were previously considered to be largely uninteresting”

Fragment of pottery dating from late 6th century BCE

The steep terrain on the hill has protected the ancient remains from destruction

The participants in the first archaeological field season in Vlochós

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measures more than 40 hectares. We also found ancient potsherds and coins that can be used to date the city,” said Robin. The dating of the site led to the conclusion that it spanned across many centuries: “Our oldest finds are from around 500 BCE, but the city seems to have flourished – mainly from the fourth to the third century BCE – before it was abandoned for some reason, maybe in connection with the Roman Empire conquering the area.” Researchers from Bournemouth University have also been involved in the dig, and their work there will continue in 2017.

A four-metre-wide terraced, serpentine road leads to the city’s acropolis

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Peterborough hosts festival to celebrate Katharine of Aragon Event offers chance to glimpse into the life of the real Katharine through a programme of historical events in celebration of the former Tudor queen

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eterborough cathedral is commemorating the life of Katharine of Aragon with a long weekend of historical events. The Tudor queen was buried at the cathedral on 29 January 1536, and these celebrations will culminate on 29 January 2017 to celebrate the life of Henry VIII’s first queen. Among the events is a keynote lecture from Suzannah Lipscomb, in which she aims to turn the focus away from Katharine’s duties to reproduce, and instead look at her character, spirit and relationships with her mother, Isabella I of Spain, and her daughter, Mary I of England.

Historian and author Lauren Mackay will also give a talk entitled ‘The queen’s champions: Katharine of Aragon and her ambassadors’ which will address the relationships between Katharine and her ambassadors. Through their accounts, which were recorded at the time, we can see a new perspective of Katharine, which Mackay will express on the evening (28 January, 7.30pm). Elsewhere, Peterborough Museum will host ‘At Home with the Tudors’ in which visitors can meet costumed Tudor characters – the cook, the barber-surgeon and the Tudor lady among them. Walks around the city are also

taking place over the weekend to illuminate the places with Tudor stories around Peterborough, as a costumed guide describes the funeral of Katharine herself. A pottage and ale supper will give revellers a chance to eat as Katharine might have, too, on Friday (27 January) Commemorative events inside the cathedral itself will include a sung Eucharist on Thursday, 26 January and other services to remember the queen. Visit www.peterborough-cathedral.org.uk/ home/katharine-2017 for more information, including the programme and travel advice.

Burns alicht, Alloway, 28 January 2017 A special Burns birthplace tour is available for visitors to the Robert Burns Birthplace Museum, Alloway, Scotland. At £7.50 for adults (£5 for children), you’ll see illuminations and entertainment as well as historic tours, with traditional Ayrshire food and drink.

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Carnaval de Binche, Belgium, 26-28 February 2017 Recognised as a Masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO, this celebration sees the residents of Binche don folkloric costumes for processions and entertainment in the city.

Art Deco festival, Napier New Zealand, 15-19 February 2017 Napier and neighbouring Hastings were hit by an earthquake in 1931, devastating much of their landscape, but allowing Art Deco to move in as the main architectural style. Celebrations take place each February.

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MORE EVENTS TO LOOK OUT FOR

EXPLORER’S KNAPSACK B&O Beoplay H8 Headphones Ditch the wires and enjoy your music with freedom using the Bluetooth connection in these top-ofthe-range headphones. They’ll cancel noise around you, sit comfortably over your ears and even have a touch interface.

What do you need to make sure your next expedition goes smoothly? Here’s a selection of the latest accessories for your knapsack

A Tommy’s Life In The Trenches by Private Fergus Mackain The illustrations of Private Fergus Mackain have been collected here, with lengthy captions to explain context. Tinged with humour, it offers a unique perspective.

Price: £399/$489

Price: £16.99/$21

Google Pixel The main draw for explorers on the new Google smartphone is it’s incredible camera. It’s the highest rated camera ever to grace a phone, with 12.3mp and f/2.0 aperture. It promises quality photos in any light and has you unlimited storage for all your snaps.

Price: £599/$649

Gerber Bear Grylls Fire Starter If you’re planning a grand expedition, getting a fire started is likely going to be a priority at some point. This compact kit contains a ferrocerium rod and metal striker, with a handy compartment for keeping your tinder dry, so it won’t let you down.

Price: £19.99/$24

Britain’s Tudor Maps by John Speed This A3 book presents a beautiful insight into Tudor Britain. The full-page maps of counties in the Tudor age could soak up hours of inspection, while the information accompanying each one is insightful. A welcome addition to any coffee table.

Price: £30/$40

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Likely birthplace of Henry VII discovered A survey carried out at Pembroke Castle has found a spot that experts believe saw the birth of Henry VII

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he story of the search for the exact birthplace of the first Tudor king began in 2013. A simple aerial photograph of the imposing Pembroke Castle in Wales revealed curious parchmarks (areas of irregular grass growth). They were in the shape of what clearly looked like previously unknown buildings and a well in the outer ward. Pembroke Castle has long been known as the birthplace of Henry VII in 1457, but destruction and rebuilding of the fortifications over the centuries has meant the exact spot has been lost. The revelations arising from the aerial picture sparked an exciting new phase for the castle, and with the permission of the Pembroke Castle Trust, a geophysical survey – carried out by Dyfed Archaeological Trust, Tim

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Southern and TF Industries Ltd with funding by the Castle Studies Trust – was set in motion. The survey found that one of the parchmarks indicates the position of a late-Medieval building, thought to be a possible site for the birth of this iconic king. Neil Ludlow, the archaeological consultant for the project and coordinator for the survey, is excited by the fresh evidence in the search and is in the process of collecting the findings from Pembroke Castle so that they can be published in the next few years.

He told us: “The outer ward parchmarks registered well in the survey, and seem to belong to a winged, H-plan hall-house. It can be identified with a building that was partially excavated in the 1930s – we have two photos that show walls and a possible cesspit. “But this is the building that is significant regarding Henry Tudor. All the evidence so far amassed suggests that it was of a form typical of the period around 1450-1550. Jasper Tudor (Henry’s uncle), Earl of Pembroke in 1452-61, and again in 1485-95, was the first resident Earl

“With some investigation into Tudor family history, it seems that Ludlow and his team have found a compelling case”

Bid to protect precious items from conflict With war threatening heritage sites, authorities are being urged to come together to fund protection schemes

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nfluencers across the UAE and France have called for action to protect the most precious ancient sites from destruction. They have led a campaign asking for $100 million of funding in order to pay for the restoration and protection of important sites like the Temple of Bel in Palmyra, Syria, Nimrud and Yemen’s Old City. This fund would contribute to the costs of transporting the pieces to safe places and restoring those that cannot be moved, which have been affected by conflict. The threats to sites like these come from both natural disasters and man-made conflict, with deliberate destruction from IS and other extremists making the news recently, particularly in the case of Palmyra. This fund is specifically aimed at protecting antiquities from extremist conflict and includes a suggestion that moveable artefacts could be contained in ‘safehouses’ for the duration of war.

ABOVE The beautiful surroundings of Pembroke Castle, in Wales

at Pembroke for more than 100 years, and there were no resident earls after his death in 1495. Therefore, Jasper is the most likely builder of the winged hall-house.” With some investigation into Tudor family history, it seems that Ludlow and his team have found a compelling case for this being the place that had so long been wondered about. Contemporary sources also provide clues as to where the birth actually took place. “The best-known account regarding Henry’s birthplace was written by the Tudor antiquarian John Leland, who visited Pembroke in the 1530s and tells us that: ‘In the outer ward, I saw the chamber where Henry VII was born’.” It seems this 21st century search is far closer to the mark than that of the 1930s.

ABOVE The Temple of Bel in Palmyra, Syria, was considered the best-preserved ruin in Palmyra before being left in a state of devastation by an IS attack in August, 2015

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ABOVE (INSET) Henry VII was born in Pembroke Castle, and now we may know exactly where

The call for action has come directly from five Nobel Laureates: former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Myanmar’s de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi and authors Mario Vargas Llosa and Orhan Pamuk. They released a statement in early December to coincide with the beginning of a cultural heritage summit taking place in Abu Dhabi, which was attended by representatives from some 40 countries. The gathered Laureates spoke of the need for urgent action, stating, “…the time for powerless expressions of indignation is over,” and that, “…part of our history has been lost forever, with the goal of fanaticism being to undermine our hope for the future.” The extremists responsible for the destruction of the Temple of Bel and Nimrud consider shrines to be idolatrous, and so destroy them, taking the centuries of heritage and ancient craftsmanship in one fell swoop.

ISCOVERIES

DIG ISSUES

Wine press discovered

Roman villa in Cambridge Construction work taking place near Bottisham, England, has uncovered the site of a Roman villa complex, dated between the years 200 and 400. Part of the complex is thought to have been a bath house, and archaeologists believe the villa also had under-floor heating.

Odin amulet in Denmark Danish treasure hunter Carsten Helm was out on a recent trip with his sons when he came across a trove of gold. Included was an incredibly rare medallion from the Germanic Iron Age. The medallion is thought to represent Odin, based on an inscription in runes translated as one of his nicknames.

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Archaeologists trace earthquake history in Turkey Can the patterns shown by past earthquakes in Turkey uncover the secret to predicting new ones?

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eologists and archaeologists from Kocaeli University are combining their efforts to analyse historic damage to roads and buildings in Turkey. With a focus on the ancient city of Bathonea on the shore of the sea of Marmara, experts are looking for evidence of epicentres and magnitudes of earthquakes whose effects have been seen at other sites. Excavation work in the Istanbul suburb of Küçükçekmece in 2012 led the team to discover damage from an earthquake, which also hit the Hagia Sophia, that dated from 557. Bodies were also found buried underneath a structure, along with some Justinian-era coins that helped to date the finds. The investigations are led by Professor Şerif Barış, the head of Kocaeli University’s Earth and Space Sciences Research Center, who told hurriyetdailynews.com “Cracks occurred on the walls of some big structures, and later earthquakes caused great damage in Istanbul in the 6th, 10th and 11th centuries.”

The aim of this work is to create a full, accurate picture of the history of earthquakes in the area, as professor Barış commented, “If we reveal the age and traces of quakes that affected Istanbul throughout its history, we can eliminate the uncertainty in their formation. If you know the past, you can predict the future. Nature has a rule that if a disaster occurs in a place, it will reoccur in the same place. “The possibility of these earthquakes in the same region is clear. If a 7.5-magnitude quake occurs in a place every 400 years, this means it will reoccur after 400 years. Four different earthquakes occurred in Marmara over one century. We need to know their locations so we can predict where the next quake will occur.” The use of geophysics to determine the sites of earthquake damage, and also the places where structures used to stand, has not been widely used in Turkey before, and the team are hoping that the collaboration of archaeologists and geophysicists will reveal new ways to minimise future devastation.

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A 2,100-year-old wine press has been uncovered during works to a school in south Israel. The press is square-shaped, and includes a flat surface for stomping grapes, and a pit for filtering out skins. The press was covered in a layer of seashells that were mixed into plaster.

My favourite places

Michael Scott Classics historian, author and presenter Michael Scott tells us about his pick of places around the world

KRAK DES CHEVALIERS

I’m based at Warwick University so I’m a regular visitor to Kenilworth Castle. The castle is probably best known for its connections to Queen Elizabeth I, who granted the castle to Robert Dudley during her reign, but there’s also a fascinating Norman keep there and the gardens are absolutely beautiful and a joy to experience.

Without a doubt Krak des Chevaliers in Syria is my favourite – I was lucky enough to visit in 2010. It’s an imposing 11th-century fortress with history of the Knight’s Hospitaller and the crusades. It has been damaged in the Syrian Civil War by shelling in 2012 and again in more recent attacks, but the full damage done is still not known.

NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM, VENICE

TORTURE MUSEUM, SAN GIMIGNANO

The Natural History Museum in Venice has an absolutely fantastic new design and layout. What I love is that there’s plenty of interactivity for people of all ages and knowledge. I went there with my eightmonth-old daughter recently and she was totally spell bound.

The Torture Museum in San Gimignano, Italy is full of absolutely grim stuff but it’s all brilliantly displayed to show how different nations have approached the idea of torture throughout the ages – the museum really gets you to challenge your own ideas at every turn.

ATHENS

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I love how the city of Athens keeps changing and every time you go. There are always new and interesting places that you didn’t know about before to discover. It is all oscillating around the central hub of the ancient city, which is fascinating of course, and has stood there (kind of unchanged!) for some 2,500 years.

I think Sicily is widely underrated – and in particular its Western coast. I visited the island of Motya there recently when I was doing some filming and it’s a fantastically beautiful area, full of great history and also great food. You also get a sense of there being a really friendly local community there which is great.

“The island of Motya is a fantastically beautiful area, full of great history and also great food”

Italy’s Invisible Cities with Michael Scott airs on Wednesdays, 9pm, BBC One

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Archaeological excavations at a rediscovered playhouse are revealing new insights into theatre at the time of the Bard WORDS BY SCOTT REEV ES

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hen William Shakespeare travelled to late-Elizabethan London to begin his career as a playwright, he had no idea that it was a journey that would eventually lead to him becoming one of the most famous writers the world has ever known. However, Shakespeare was also lucky; the right man in the right place at the right time. Without doubt a supremely skilled playwright, he also happened to arrive in London just as a revolution was occurring in public entertainment. Prior to the Elizabethan era, plays were put on by itinerant companies who wandered from town to town and performed for payment and lodgings. It may have been one of these touring companies visiting his hometown of Stratford-uponAvon that ignited Shakespeare’s interest in theatre. But a seismic shift in the performing arts began to occur in the 1570s when the first permanent theatres were built in London. Watching plays quickly became a part of everyday

life. It was a leisure activity shared by all levels of society, from the aristocracy to the labouring classes; apprentices and merchants are recorded as taking afternoons off to see a play. In order to secure as much return business as possible, theatre companies changed the play they presented every day or two, returning to previously performed works weeks or months later. Mornings were spent in rehearsal, afternoons were used for performances. This meant that new plays were always in demand – perfect for a budding playwright like Shakespeare. Considering that the new playhouses represented a major change in how entertainment was consumed by the masses, historians and archaeologists are able to investigate them surprisingly rarely. It’s easier to discover and excavate a Roman amphitheatre than it is a Tudor or Jacobean playhouse. “There were only ever a handful of these purpose-built playhouses out in the suburbs of London,” explained Heather Knight from MOLA (Museum of London Archaeology), “and often we are only able to excavate them partly.”

The site of the theatre in progress, being excavated by MOLA

Drawing back the Curtain Archaeologists have uncovered many objects that shed light on everyday life in the Curtain Theatre

Drinking flask

Money boxes

Ceramic drinking vessels, like this impressive example in the shape of a lion’s head, were found all over the site. Some were found underneath the stage, some were found in the courtyard where the audience stood. The most likely explanation is that both actors and audience alike enjoyed a drink.

To stop members of staff pilfering the takings, entrance fees were put in ceramic money boxes and kept in a secure location – the box office – where they would be smashed to release the day’s profits. It was a risky business to be in, but successful theatre companies could enjoy a decent income.

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Clay pipes Tobacco was introduced to Britain by Francis Drake in 1573 and its use quickly spread, illustrated by these clay pipes pulled from the Curtain. Drake’s voyage also brought back the potato plant, although that was viewed with suspicion by the Tudors – unlike smoking tobacco, which was thought a healthy habit, they thought the potato was poisonous.

Gaming piece

Clay figurine

This fish-shaped bone gaming piece was one of several games found in the Curtain, others included round stones from a child’s game. Were they brought into the theatre to keep youngsters quiet during the performance, or were they used by the actors to stop boredom setting in between scenes?

Tudor theatres were often ribald and bawdy places with customers stumbling in from the nearby taverns, so it’s appropriate that the archaeologists dug this attractive little find from the dirt – it is a clay figurine showing Bacchus, the Roman god of wine, sitting astride a barrel.

Glass beads Intricate beads made from glass were used for decoration on clothes and these examples may have been used by the actors to liven up the costumes they wore on stage. Although it’s tempting to imagine these on the costumes of Romeo or Juliet, Shakespeare’s company actually moved on around 20 years before the Curtain closed.

SHAKESPEARE’S LONDON Archaeologists like Knight are trying to piece together exactly what these trailblazing playhouses looked like and what they can tell us about the development of performing arts during Shakespeare’s time, but they are hindered by the remains often being incomplete. The location of the first ever playhouse, known simply as The Theatre, was identified in Shoreditch in 2008 by MOLA. Their excavation of the walls of the playhouse revealed it to be polygonal, but the stage itself is thought to have been lost underneath modern housing. Not that much of the stage area would have remained anyway, because The Theatre was deliberately dismantled in 1599 so that the timbers and fittings could be used in the construction of another theatre: the Globe. Modern visitors to Shakespeare’s Globe, a reconstruction opened on the south bank in 1997, might think that they are viewing a replica of the original Globe in its heyday. It’s actually a little more complicated than that. Little excavation of the original Globe site (which is 230 metres away from the reconstruction) has taken place, and the archaeologists would probably struggle to find much from the Shakespearean era. The original Globe burned down during a performance of Henry VIII in 1613; the single casualty of the fire was a man whose burning breeches were put out with a bottle of ale. The Globe was rebuilt, only for the second version to be closed and pulled down during the ascent of Puritanism in the 1640s. Much of the evidence used to create the modern Shakespeare’s Globe was taken from a different playhouse altogether, the Rose Theatre, which was discovered and excavated in 1989. This provided a blueprint to what we consider to be the typical playhouse of the era: a polygonal building with an open-air, sloped yard in which customers watched the action on a thrust stage which surrounded the

ABOVE One key find from the dig is a ‘bird whistle’, perhaps for Romeo & Juliet BELOW Shakespeare and many of his most famous contemporaries

performers on three sides. Excavations at the site of another playhouse, the Hope Theatre, have mirrored the findings at the Rose. However, the recent discovery of another playhouse is questioning what we think we know about early theatres. This time, archaeologists had the chance to uncover the Curtain Theatre, one of the earliest London playhouses and a stage that Shakespeare will have known intimately. “The Curtain is the fifth purpose-built playhouse that we have dug archaeologically,” said Knight, who is the lead archaeologist in the Curtain excavation, “and it has the best remains of those five, so it is really adding to our understanding. The Rose Theatre had below-ground remains, but at the Curtain we have above-ground remains too.” Knight and her team of archaeologists have uncovered some fascinating objects that shed light on the everyday lives of both actors and audience, but they have also made discoveries that may rewrite the accepted history of Shakespearean playhouses. Extensive documentary research by scholars had already discovered that the Curtain was built in Shoreditch in 1577, a few years before the Bard set foot in the capital. It was London’s second playhouse, only postdating The Theatre. Little is known of the Curtain’s early years, but by 1585 the owner, Henry Lanman, made an agreement with James Burbage, actormanager of The Theatre, to use the Curtain as an ‘easer’ or supplementary playhouse to the more prestigious Theatre. When both were up and running, the total playhouse capacity of London was around 5,000 people. We don’t know exactly when Shakespeare arrived in London to seek his fortune – it was likely between 1585 and 1592 – but we do know that by 1594 he was a member of the Lord Chamberlain’s Men, a company based at The Theatre. In

“It’s easier to discover and excavate a Roman amphitheatre than it is a Tudor or Jacobean playhouse”

A vision of the London Shakespeare would have known

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SHAKESPEARE’S LONDON

ABOVE Frontispiece to The Wits by William Davenant

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The Red Bull Saint John’s Gate

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The Theatre

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we didn’t know what shape it was, exactly where it was, when it was built, who built it,” Knight told Explore History. “The Curtain is the least well documented of all of the London playhouses, the most absent from the historical record.” A clue to the Curtain’s location lies in the name – the Curtain refers not to a stage curtain but a curtain wall marking the edge of the city. The Lord Mayor had decreed that plays could not be staged in the city itself due to a fear that playhouses would help spread disease. The only contemporary illustration thought to show the Curtain at the edge of the city was no help. It revealed an implausibly idyllic location with a horse wandering across a rolling meadow and a wooded hill in the background. In reality, this part of London was flat, even in Shakespeare’s time, and rather than the meadows and woods of the engraving, the city limits were a place where smelly and dirty industries like slaughter houses and tanneries congregated. In 2012, when the streets of Shoreditch were scheduled for redevelopment, experts from MOLA were able to step in to explore the area in search of the Curtain. They uncovered two sections of the outer wall and, nearly four centuries after it disappeared from the map, the exact location and size of the theatre was known again. As it happens, the theatre was just metres away from a plaque which marked the historians’ best guess as to where it lay.

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1597 Shakespeare and his band fell out with Giles Allen, owner of the land that The Theatre was built on. As a result the Lord Chamberlain’s Men shifted their base less than 200 metres to the south and the Curtain became the new home of Shakespeare’s works. Here several of his renowned plays were performed for the first time, including Shakespeare’s most famous, Romeo And Juliet. However, the Lord Chamberlain’s Men didn’t just act the roles that Shakespeare wrote. While in residence at the Curtain they also performed Ben Jonson’s Every Man In His Humour, in which Shakespeare played the role of Kno’well, an old man. Shakespeare and the Lord Chamberlain’s Men spent two years at the Curtain, leaving in 1599 when the company built the Globe on the south bank of the Thames. The Curtain’s most famous artiste may have moved on, but it continued as a playhouse for around 20 years. In 1604 it became the home theatre of a new company, the Queen Anne’s Men, but they moved on within a year or so to the Red Bull Theatre. Documentary records begin to tail off, although the Queen Anne’s Men returned to the Curtain at least once. After 1624, the last-known reference to a performance there, the Curtain disappeared into the mists of history. By the 21st century the Curtain was well and truly lost. Historians knew that it had been built close to its predecessor, The Theatre, but the exact location was unknown. “For a long time

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Shakespeare the collaborator To be or not to be a Shakespeare play – did the Bard co-write with any other authors?

“Mechanics must have unknowingly stood centimetres above where Shakespeare once performed” Even more excitingly, it appeared that the Curtain was remarkably preserved, especially considering that Shoreditch is no longer on the city limits. Shakespeare’s London had a population of little more than 100,000; now it is far higher and Shoreditch is very much part of the inner city with all its construction and destruction. The Curtain’s survival was probably down to the fact that, over 400 years, the land under which it was buried was largely used for open spaces including the back gardens of housing and the yard to the Horse and Groom pub. That some of the more modern building work missed the Tudor theatre was just down to pure luck: the mechanics who stood in an inspection pit to work on cars in the garage built over the Curtain in the 20th century must have unknowingly stood centimetres above where Shakespeare once performed. Further redevelopment led to another excavation in 2016. Over a three-month dig during the autumn, archaeologists revisited the theatre ahead of a substantial new building complex. The discoveries that they made may alter the accepted history of Shakespearean theatre. The breakthrough began with the very shape of the theatre itself. One of the plays which premiered at the Curtain was Henry V, in which the chorus – possibly played by Shakespeare himself – proclaims “may we cram within this wooden O, the very casques that did affright the air at Agincourt?” Yet that line was probably rewritten after Shakespeare and his company moved to the Globe. The reason? The Curtain Theatre was not an O but a rectangular building, quite different to the Globe, Rose, Theatre and Hope playhouses.

ABOVE Archaeologists from MOLA at work on the Curtain Theatre site dig

The archaeologists excavating the Curtain are not the only ones attempting to shed new light on William Shakespeare. Scholars have also been closely examining the Shakespearean texts and have come to some astonishing conclusions. The title pages of some new editions of Henry VI, Part One, Two and Three will now credit William Shakespeare and his contemporary Christopher Marlowe as co-writers. The argument over who authored Shakespeare’s plays has been around for a long time. Conspiracy theorists have wallowed in the suggestion that Shakespeare was a total fraud and his plays were written by a committee, the Earl of Oxford, Francis Bacon or indeed Marlowe – including the fanciful suggestion that Marlowe faked his own murder in 1593 so he could carry on writing as Shakespeare. However, publishers at Oxford University Press have decided to take the plunge on more scientific grounds. Their new editions will co-credit Marlow for the three parts of Henry VI after a panel of experts deducted that complex statistical analysis of the writing can reveal who authored a particular work. “Shakespeare-plus” words – gentle, answer, beseech, spoke and tonight – appear in Shakespeare’s works more often than those of his contemporaries. On the other hand, “Shakespeareminus” words are rarely used by the Bard. Comparing such word uses, and the combinations of words and phrases used, enable researchers to identify not just a particular writer, but whether a writer worked with a collaborator. Although the 1634 edition of The Two Noble Kinsmen states that the play was written “by William Shakespeare and John Fletcher,” Shakespeare and his contemporaries were possibly far more collaborative in their approach to writing than we ever realised. All’s Well That Ends Well is another classic piece on which Shakespeare may have received help – this time from Thomas Middleton. However, it isn’t all bad news for Shakespeare’s admirers. The researchers also suggest that new plays on which Shakespeare contributed should be added to his canon. Arden Of Faversham is now listed as a Shakespeare work – co-written with an anonymous aide, according to the experts – while the painter’s scene in Thomas Kyd’s The Spanish Tragedy also probably came from Shakespeare’s pen.

ABOVE Possibly a portrait of Christopher Marlowe, who may have written Henry VI – it’s complicated

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SHAKESPEARE’S LONDON

The Bard’s city Much of London was destroyed in the Great Fire, but a sense of the Bard remains at these sites

The Clink

London Bridge

Royal Exchange

Saint John’s Gate

In 1598, the time Shakespeare was performing at The Curtain, he lived in an area known as the Liberty of the Clink on the south bank of the Thames and would have walked past the notorious prison daily. Perhaps appropriately, Shakespeare can be traced there because a case of tax evasion that he was involved in was referred to the Bishop of Winchester, and the only place the Bishop had jurisdiction was in the Liberty.

The only bridge across the Thames in Shakespeare’s time was London Bridge, although it was quite different to the modern bridge of the same name. The Tudor bridge was stone and held up to 200 buildings. The southern gatehouse was also used to display the severed heads of traitors, dipped in tar and impaled on spikes. In 1598, when Shakespeare would have used the bridge, a German visitor counted more than 30 heads.

Shakespeare would almost certainly have visited England’s first shopping mall, the Royal Exchange on Threadneedle Street, which first opened for business in 1571. It was a huge arcaded building with banking facilities and more than 200 shops, allowing a playwright to buy the tools of his trade and a few luxuries including spices from around the world. Stockbrokers, however, were not allowed due to their rude manner.

Originally the south entrance to the inner precinct of the Priory of the Knights of Saint John in Clerkenwell, during Shakespeare’s time Saint John’s Gate was the base of the Master of Revels. His office decided which plays could be performed and which would be censored – not always an honest task since it was common for the master to earn ten times his salary in bribes. Did any of Shakespeare’s work vanish here?

ABOVE Possibly one of, if not the oldest prison in Britain, the Clink is now open as a museum

ABOVE Old London Bridge in a 1616 illustration – note the severed heads of executed traitors

ABOVE The modern Royal Exchange is the third incarnation, the first two having been destroyed by fire

ABOVE Reclaimed by its monastic builders, Saint John’s Gate now houses the Museum of the Order of Saint John

“People could go to an inn, buy a drink and take in a performance but were under no obligation to give the performers any money” The Falcon Tavern, thought to have been visited by Shakespeare

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Within this wooden rectangle archaeologists discovered a stage, which also differed from the norm for theatres of the time. Rather than a thrust stage such as that seen at the other playhouses, jutting out and surrounded on three sides by the audience, the Curtain’s stage was more typical of that seen in modern theatres; a shoulder-high oblong, 14 metres wide and five metres deep. However, there was no backstage area. To aid access to and from the performance space a tunnel went underneath the stage with doors on each side of it – actors could leave from one side and reappear at the other without being seen by the audience. “The stage poses questions,” said Knight. “How did the shape of the stage influence the performances? Were people like Shakespeare writing for the shape of the stage?” Perhaps the unusual shape of the stage influenced the plays that Shakespeare wrote for performance at the Curtain. Were the battle scenes in Henry V improved by being able to include more people on stage in a single scene? Was the balcony scene in Romeo And Juliet specifically designed for a stage which did not jut out into the audience? These are questions which will engage archaeologists, historians and scholars alike for some time. The building and stage may have been unusual, but the audience stood in surroundings that would have been more familiar to the Elizabethan theatregoer. Those who bought the cheapest penny tickets for performances stood in a courtyard made from compacted gravel. It is popularly believed (although there is no evidence for it) that these groundlings threw things at characters they did not like. The groundlings would, however, have got wet when it rained – the courtyard was open to the elements. For those who didn’t

SHAKESPEARE’S LONDON

ABOVE The archaeological site hidden behind tantalising barriers and signage TOP RIGHT The Curtain could only be exposed when the land above it was redeveloped RIGHT Family portrait of the Shakespeares, dating from 19th century

ABOVE Title page from Shakespeare’s First Folio, dating from 1623 BELOW A selection of characters from the plays of Shakespeare

they used by the actors to pass the time when they were off the stage between scenes and performances? The discoveries at the Curtain have added significantly to our knowledge of Shakespeare’s theatres, but plenty of questions remain. In particular, was the unusual shape of the building and stage a one-off experiment, or was it actually copied by any other London playhouses? “We started off with a set of research questions, wanting to know how the Curtain could change our understanding of the development of early modern drama,” said Knight. “But the amount of new questions that the archaeology has thrown up is going to keep us very busy for quite a while” Scholars will continue to examine the results and the debate will no doubt go on. Meanwhile the remains of the Curtain have been carefully covered by a protective membrane and special pH-neutral sand while a new 40-storey residential, office and retail complex is built, which will include a visitor centre displaying the excavated finds. Shakespeare lived and worked in this busy corner of East London, so it’s fitting that, even 400 years later, the Curtain Theatre will once again help make these streets a vibrant and thriving area.

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© Museum of London Archaeology, Alamy, Thinkstock

want to be packed in the pit, three covered, timber galleries offered places at a higher price. We know that those who watched the plays paid for the privilege because the archaeologists at the Curtain discovered the tops of several ceramic pots in which the entrance fees were once collected. These pots were then taken away and stored in a separate office. Later, they were smashed so that the money could be counted. The place where the boxes were stored was called the box office, the origin of the term we still use today. “The finials of the money pots are everybody’s favourite find,” revealed Knight. “They are quite a depositional signature of Elizabethan and Jacobean playhouses, you find them associated with places of entertainment. You get an understanding that these playhouses were commercial ventures through those objects. Before this period these companies were playing in yards. People could go to an inn, buy a drink and take in a performance but were under no obligation to give the performers any money. I guess it was like busking in a way. Having a purpose-built venue switches that relationship. All of a sudden the audience now have to pay to see a play.” Other finds shed light on the individuals who both performed and watched at the Curtain. A ceramic pot has been identified by the archaeologists as a bird call, presumably used to set the scene. Glass beads and pins were dug from the soil which may have been used on the actors’ costumes. Drinking vessels and clay pipes could have been used by both theatregoers and actors. And what of the children’s games? Were they brought to keep a child quiet during the performance (not that it really mattered since theatre performances were often raucous affairs) or were

WORDS BY DA N RICH A RDSON

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t the age of 75, Dr John Romer shows no signs of letting up – and seems to relish the controversy that his latest book is sure to arouse in the world of Egyptology. Interviewed by telephone from his home in Tuscany, the distinguished archaeologist and documentary presenter (‘Mr Romer’, he insists) gets down to earth in the second volume of his History Of Ancient Egypt: From The Great Pyramid To The Fall Of The Middle Kingdom. After writing the first volume, A History Of Ancient Egypt: From The First Farmers To The Great Pyramid (2012), he’d expected to gallop through the ‘dark ages’ of the First Intermediate Period with little new to say about the Middle Kingdom – envisaging a two-volume history weighted towards later eras. However, during research, so much fresh evidence emerged that he expanded the book, leaving the New Kingdom for a third volume.

ABOVE Dr John Romer is widely known for his television programmes including Ancient Lives, and his scholarly work in the field of Egyptology

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ANCIENT EGYPT

Mentuhotep’s temple tomb, seen from above at Deir El-Bahari

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The pyramid complex of Sahure, looking west at Abu Sir, Egypt

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The pyramid and causeway of King Sahure at Abusir

ABOVE Some of the world’s oldest papyri was discovered in what used to be a boat depot in Wadi el-Jarf. It is believed to describe shipments of stone for the Great Pyramid.

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ANCIENT EGYPT

“The pharaohs in this story are barely known outside of Egyptology circles, with none of the glamour of Khufu or Tutankhamun” A large limestone statue that stood in front of Senwosret I’s temple at Karnak

Howard Carter opens the shrine of King Tutankhamen’s tomb near Luxor, Egypt

An inscription of King Mentuhotep II at Shatt er-Rigal in Egypt

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Durham Cathedral is regularly cited as one of the finest examples of Norman and Romanesque architecture in the world and is part of the UNESCO recognised Durham World Heritage Site

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DURHAM CATHEDRAL’S MIGHTY TOWER Stonemasons are getting to grips with a monumental project to restore the cathedral’s 500-year-old Central Tower to its commanding place in the city

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urham is dominated by its cathedral. However you approach the city –– by rail, road or even air – it’s usually the first thing you see: an awe-inspiring, lofty colossus planted on a wide promontory above the winding River Wear and centred by a robust but elegant tower. Built in 1484, some 350 years later than the main structure, the Central Tower is the most visible part of the whole cathedral and arguably the most cherished aspect of the skyline. The commanding views from its visitor platform take in the college rooftops and cobbled streets below and stretch as far as the Cheviot Hills on a clear day. The henchmen of the all-powerful prince bishops would have had a similar view as they stood guard on the Medieval battlements that encircle the cathedral and scanned the horizon for Scottish and Danish invaders.

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The threats of flaming arrows and cannon fire have long since gone. But years of exposure to the often harsh north-east elements have certainly begun to take their toll on the Central Tower, which houses the cathedral’s ten bells. The tower’s peachy coloured sandstone, which glints in the morning sunshine, had become smudged and darkened by soot and was highly susceptible to erosion. The time to step in and halt the damage had arrived. The restoration of the tower will take about two years but work on such a vast and historic building is, of course, never truly completed. There is always something that needs to be done, whether it’s a fissured drum arcade or fading ceiling fresco in need of attention. “The cathedral is made of beautiful, yet very vulnerable sandstone and the conservation work done on the fabric is never-ending,” said the then Dean of Durham, the Very Reverend Michael Sadgrove, in March 2015 after the government announced a £568,000 grant towards the repairs to the cathedral from its First World War Centenary Fund. It’s a view echoed by the cathedral’s project architect Christopher Cotton, a specialist in conservation who has worked on a number of cathedrals, including a £40 million restoration of Saint Paul’s in London: “One of the challenges is to conserve the historic fabric and character while also responding to how the cathedral might respond better to visitors’ needs and flow. It’s a rolling programme that falls to every generation.”

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“The cathedral is made of beautiful, yet very vulnerable sandstone and the conservation work is never-ending” ABOVE Open Treasure: pillars and burial stones on display in the fully restored monks’ dormitory

ABOVE Saint Cuthbert’s grave was originally found on Holy Island, but was moved amid a Viking invasion

So at the venerable age of 532, and for the first time since major restoration work took place on the cathedral in 1860, the tower is having a bit of cosmetic and structural work. It is a tall order by any stonemason’s standards. The work will require a massive 12 tonnes of new stone, the removal of any cement between the stones and the installation of molten lead joints to give structural strength to the 66 metre-high tower. The hard work began in February 2016, with the first three months of the project spent covering the upper parapet of the tower using an innovative and cost-effective scaffolding suspended from the tower’s top. Using a temporary external lift to reach it, the next six weeks involved carefully dismantling the ailing balustrade that crowns the tower, block by block. In total, the team of seven stonemasons and two assistants brought down around 200 blocks, which can weigh up to 750 kilograms each, to the workshop in the cathedral grounds. They used a tracking system and block and tackle pulleys with a hoist capable of supporting an

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The cathedral was founded in 1093 as part of Durham’s Benedictine monastery

325 steps up a steep, spiral staircase to the viewing platform

800-kilogram load. “In principle, it’s similar to the system that our historic colleagues would have used to build the tower,” says project supervisor Scott Richardson . Where the rapid growth of technology has radically changed most other professions, heritage stonemasonry remains largely unaltered. With the exception of a motorised saw and equipment to heat molten lead safely to the right temperature, the stonemasons use the same tools as those of the original craftsmen who built the cathedral. “It’s all being done with mallets and chisels and without CAD (computer aided design),” says Richardson. Stones that proved stubborn to shift, however, required a split-pin lewis, a lifting device first used by the Romans that inserts pins into holes in the top bed of the stone to enable the stone to be lifted. “It’s not so much the stone that’s deteriorated but rather the Victorian ironwork that has rusted over the years,” says Richardson. “It’s been rusting since the 1850s and where it’s bad the iron expands and jack lifts the stones out of place.” Once wet, iron can expand by up to seven times its original dimensions, playing havoc with the stone around it. This time around, the iron will be replaced with some longer-lasting bronze cylindrical rods and plates. According to Richardson the tower needed “drastic” attention. “The stonework may have lasted another 20 to 30 years but it gets battered by strong winds and

The Central Tower renovation project is led by supervisor Scott Richardson

DURHAM CATHEDRAL

HIDDEN TREASURES I N H I G H -T EC H RESTORATION

The cathedral’s centrepiece is the grave of 7th-century Saint Cuthbert, whose remains were brought here by monks fleeing Vikings

The most intact set of monastic buildings in Britain have been transformed into a £10.9 million state-of-the-art exhibition When the ornate Saxon coffin and cross of Saint Cuthbert, the 7th-century monk whose remains were originally brought to Durham Cathedral by monks fleeing Vikings, come to rest in the monastery’s great kitchen later in 2017, history buffs can rest assured that they will be well looked after. The octagonal, vaulted stone room, which once provided meals for hundreds of Benedictine monks, will be sensitively lit and impeccably climate controlled to keep the saint’s relics at world-class museum standards. Cuthbert’s treasures will be the icing on the cake of an already gripping exhibition, which opened in July 2016, and tells the story of this magnificent building and the rise of Christianity in the north east. The current display features an impressive collection of Roman pillars, Saxon burial stones and interactive copies of Medieval manuscripts. Fish bones and betting slips were also discovered during excavations. The restored monks’ dormitory, which houses the first part of the exhibition, is a splendid sight in itself. The whole-oak beamed roof was rivalled only by Westminster Hall in all of England for its scale and craftsmanship. Three of its sides are lined with high book cabinets that alternate with narrow enclaves where the monks would have slept – at least until morning prayers began at 1.30am. It has taken Durham Cathedral’s team of three in-house joiners more than 18 months to intricately craft the oak doors and brass screens by hand – each of which is slightly different. Open Treasure is open Monday to Saturday from 10am to 5pm and Sunday from 12.30pm to 5pm; tickets cost £7.50 ($9) for adults and £2.50 ($3) for children. 8 durhamcathedral.co.uk/open-treasure

ABOVE Blacking Altar cross, made from silver gilt and enamel, on display in the former Great Kitchen with its stone vaulted ceiling

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“If we hadn’t addressed it, there’s a chance that 750-kilogram stones may have plunged through the roof” horizontal rain. If we hadn’t addressed it now, there was a chance that 750-kilogram stones may have plunged 60 metres through the roof and vaulted straight onto the church floor.” Having the stones in the workshop (rather than in their usual position on the tower) may be labourintensive, but it gives the stonemasons the best access to carry out repairs. This is done, where possible, by patching in new bits of stone using moulds, or entire stones can be replaced where delamination has split the stone into layers. “We’re not cleaning, this is purely a safety repair,” adds Richardson. The stone being used in the restoration is Blaxter, a medium grained honey-buff sandstone from the Lower Carboniferous Age dug out near Otterburn, in Northumberland, at a quarry that has been open since the 1890s. It is a particularly durable stone that is not affected by acid rain or air pollution and has also been used before for restoration work on the library and castle

ABOVE Sir George Gilbert Scott helped with renovations to the tower

adjacent to the Palace Green. The cathedral’s original blocks were quarried in Durham, on the other side of the River Wear. “It will blend in well with the cathedral’s original sandstone,” says the project architect Christopher Cotton who is conscious of working with many layers of history – some more challenging than others. He describes a rendering of the tower in Atkinson’s Roman cement in 1812 as “a bit of a disaster” but praises the works on the cathedral, inaugurated by Sir George Gilbert Scott in 1859, which re-faced the belfry and preserved the Medieval stone of the lantern. “Scott gave us a good 150 years or so and it would have been longer if it weren’t for the ironwork,” says Cotton. “The whole of the balustrade tracery is carved work by hand, including a number of really complicated carved stones that have eroded away and need replacing because of the risk of them falling off. We want to make sure we don’t have to go back up there for another 200 years.” In such hands-on roles, it’s hard not to reflect on history and those who built the tower centuries ago. “There’s a real sense of history kicking around and it feels good to be making your mark,” says Richardson. “The other day I chanced upon some interesting old masons’ marks from 1840 and even some old penny coins, probably left by workmen in the 1960s.”

Thousands of people come to visit Durham Cathedral every year

The rose window was inserted by James Wyatt

The journey of Saint Cuthbert from Lindisfarne

Nothing matched the English cathedral in size until the Crystal Palace

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DURHAM CATHEDRAL The cathedral’s Central Tower has had an unstable history. It witnessed tragedy in 1137, for example, when a tightrope walker, eager to entertain the monks, slipped to his death, but was also a site of celebration in 1346 when the monks learnt of the Scots defeat at the Battle of Neville’s Cross and began a tradition of singing with joy from the top of the tower. In its early Medieval form, the tower was struck twice by lightning before settling on its present-day look in 1484. Like the twin Western Towers, it was most likely conceived as a small structure, to be built up once the bulk of the cathedral had been finished, though structural evidence suggests that the second storey was an afterthought. In his newly published book, England’s Cathedrals, Simon Jenkins is inclined to agree: “The main tower is a curious design that seems to conclude with battlements above the bell stage, but finds a second wind and surges up a further stage. It is not so much handsome as powerful, as if late Medieval builders could not forget the history below.” Nevertheless, Durham is one of only

ABOVE Durham Cathedral is said to be larger than Saint Peter’s Basilica in Rome and contains an ancient bishop’s throne higher than the Pope’s

a handful of England’s 42 Anglican cathedrals to score a perfect five stars in Jenkins’ view. Richardson and his team are wisely waiting for the spring and the weather to improve to reassemble the balustrade. The current phase will be finished by late summer 2017. Then it’s onto phase two which is expected to take another year and focuses on the belfry – predominantly restoring windows, carved crockets and large tracery work, as well as repointing walls, doing internal work around the bells and installing a metal frame walkway to inspect the gutters. Other works to be completed include repairs to the roof-coverings and rainwater systems – due to an

“Durham is one of only a handful of England’s 42 Anglican cathedrals to score a perfect five stars” The Central Tower’s details are Gothic but its squareness is in keeping with the twin Western Towers

THE SANCTUARY K N O C KER What is that curious, angry face that hangs on Durham’s door?

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Durham Cathedral is commonly ranked in the “Big Six” alongside Canterbury, York, Saint Paul’s, Winchester and Salisbury

On the northern door of the cathedral, a particularly spookylooking bronze knocker keeps watch. It’s looking for the wrongdoers of the city, to whom the cathedral would offer 37 days of sanctuary. Whether the sanctuary seeker had murdered in self defence, run from prison or committed another crime, they could use this time to appeal to those who were looking for them, or even to plan their escape. While the knocker that adorns the door today is a replica, the original can still be seen inside the cathedral’s exhibition of treasures. In its heyday, the door would also have been watched over by monks, who sat looking out of windows above the door (these have now been removed), ready to help when fugitives approached. Once inside, the criminal would be given a black robe and the special Galilee bell would be rung to announce their arrival. They would be kept apart from the rest of the cathedral and given basic provisions – food, bed, water, clothing – to allow them to live until they had arranged their plans to leave. This tradition of offering sanctuary continued until 1624, after a period in which Henry VIII in particular sought to remove the right of sanctuary from consecrated buildings, claiming that the popes and bishops who had originally founded this right would not have expected it to be used to such an extent.

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increased intensity of rainfall in recent years – and new roof decking so that the 35,000 people a year who climb the 325-step spiral staircase can continue to enjoy magnificent views of the city from the tower. For the time being, however, there is talk of opening up one of the Western towers to give visitors access to the Lantern Gallery inside the church. What will it mean to Durham and the wider community to remove the scaffolding and have the cathedral back in all its glory? “In a world full of uncertainties, cathedrals show that some things can endure and continue to be valued,” says Becky Clark, the Church of England’s senior cathedrals officer. “A visit to Durham offers a chance to engage with some of the world’s finest architecture and experience a link going back over 1,000 years to a very different England.” Access for future generations to the work and memory of the past is what drives Cotton. “Durham Cathedral is one of the enduring icons of the north. It is a symbol of the spirituality of the north that emanated from Lindisfarne and spread across Northumberland. The rugged Central Tower is the crowning feature of all that represents.” When the stonemasons finally lay down their tools in 2018 they will have done their bit to ensure that a cathedral, described by the art historian Nikolaus Pevsner as, “…one of the great architectural experiences of Europe”, has a central tower that won’t disappoint.

When to visit It’s an active church and community hub but vast enough to accommodate hundreds of visitors. On early winter mornings you can have the place almost to yourself and it tends to quieten down in time to catch the choir at evensong at 5.15pm on weekdays. Time zone UTC Currency GBP

Where to stay Out of town Seaham Hall and Serenity Spa Lord Byron was married at this pristinely renovated Georgian mansion with views of the North Sea. It has plush roomy suites, an awardwinning Asian-inspired spa. Double room with breakfast from £185 ($230).

In town The Town House, Durham A boutique hotel based in a handsome Georgian townhouse in the heart of Durham. Staff are attentive, the food is decent and each of the 11 themed rooms have quirky interior designs; some even have an outdoor hot tub. Rooms from £99 ($120).

In front of cathedral Durham Castle Two stately rooms are available in the keep at this UNESCO World Heritage site which forms part of the university. Breakfast is served in the Great Hall and there’s an undercroft bar. Double room with breakfast from £200 ($250).

Links www.durhamcathedral.co.uk The main website for Durham Cathedral www.durhamworldheritagesite.com/heritage More about Durham’s World Heritage Sites www.justgiving.com/durhamcathedral Donations in support of the care and maintenance

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things to see & do

Revolutionary architecture Here, three main engineering breakthroughs of Gothic style meet: stone ribbed vaults, pointed arches and flying buttresses.

The cathedral in Lego In the Undercroft Foyer sits a 300,000brick Lego model of the cathedral. It took three years to build by tourists from all around the globe.

Track Harry Potter The magic atmosphere of the cathedral has provided the backdrop to two Harry Potter films and doubled as an exterior for Hogwarts.

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© Thinkstock, Nicholas Mutton, Flickr - Forest Runner, Durham Cathedral and Jarrold Publishing 2005

There is a shrine dedicated to 7th-century monk Saint Cuthbert

Durham Cathedral sits at the centre of the county town of Durham in north-east England. The Scottish borders are just 96 kilometres to the north. It’s easily reached by road via the M1 and A1 and by Virgin Trains on the London to Edinburgh route. Trains run hourly from London King’s Cross, and the journey takes around three hours. It’s a good stride from Durham station (which has a much loved view of the cathedral) so you may consider taking a taxi but, once in the centre, the town is best explored by foot.

INVESTIGATING THE HIDDEN TRUTH ABOUT THE

“They believed the mythic train full of gold bullion stolen by the Nazis would be discovered” WORDS BY M A RTY N CONTERIO

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NAZI MYTHS

From Nazi gold trains to crocodile attacks, the history of Hitler’s army has spawned many myths. We catch up with Dr Sam Willis on his search for truth

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hat was supposed to be a glorious new age for the ‘Aryan’ people – a 1,000-year Reich, as Hitler boasted to a British journalist in 1934 – lasted all but 12 years and ended in a thunderous defeat, the ruin of a nation and the unmasking of profound evil. Philosopher Hannah Arendt coined the expression ‘the banality of evil’, when covering the trial of Adolf Eichmann in 1961 for The New Yorker, for she was struck by the blandness of a man responsible for transporting millions to their deaths. However, the collective efforts of the Third Reich war machine were – and still are – mindbogglingly complex, extreme, clever, devious and arguably the lowest point in our supposedly civilised culture. There was a frenzy of activity as Stalin’s Red Army advanced from the east and the Americans, British and others from the west. There was rushed business to conclude – the burning of documents, the destruction of evidence of crimes, loot to transport. The demagogic leader of Germany wished to enact a scorched earth policy upon infrastructure; anything to frustrate the Allies. This wasn’t a captain honourably going down with the ship, his orders were equivalent to making sure there were no lifeboats for survivors. At Nuremberg and in his autobiography, Inside The Third Reich, Armaments Minister

Albert Speer wrote that he was so alarmed that he disobeyed such orders and contravened them. Then there were their crimes against humanity at the concentration camps and death camps. Officers involved in that vile business fled through a network set up to help them escape to warmer climes. They changed identities, passing as farmers, factory workers and the like. As the Führer and his inner circle, deep underground in the fortress-like Führerbunker beneath the Reich Chancellery, felt the quake of raging street battles above, Hitler’s time was up. His lavish architectural dreams, his fascistic vision of Germanic dominance over Europe, his plot to cleanse the continent of those he deemed to be undesirable people – Jews, communists, homosexuals, gypsies, the mentally ill, the disabled – had ceased due to Allied forces sweeping in from all sides. Germany was destroyed by the man who claimed that he could return it to glory. Since the end of the war, horrors, mysteries and myths about the Third Reich have gripped popular culture and historical discourse in ways few other eras or conflicts have managed to equal. It might well be tantamount to an obsession. Books, movies, television shows, documentary series and other cultural acts of remembrance – monuments, museums, archive projects, days devoted expressly to pay tribute to the fallen and victims – have kept all things Nazi-related permanently

Nazi Weird War Two airs on Tuesdays at 8pm on the National Geographic Channel until 17 January

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NAZI MYTHS in the ether. Much of it is respectful, even when focusing on things so profoundly grim (the concentration and death camps). However, there’s a whole other avenue focused on flights of fancy: rumours, occultism, propaganda, raving mad conspiracy theories (Nazi moon bases, Hitler was possessed by a demon) and other strange things. World War II has been generally depicted as the ‘good war’; Allied nations fought the peril of fascism as a moral imperative, a duty undertaken by all who valued democracy and freedom. This itself became a sort of cultural mythology. It was men and women fighting the good fight, both abroad and at home. Many family members grew up hearing about tales of their fathers, grandfathers and uncles having fought on the beaches at Normandy, in the fields of France, in Italy, in north Africa or in Asia. Dr Sam Willis, co-presenter of the National Geographic channel’s new show, Nazi Weird War Two, puts the war’s continuing popularity down to a range of factors, including those family links, a heritage that is both personal and cultural. “World War II is popular because the majority of people will know someone who fought in the war. With the sheer quantity of material that has been produced about it – harrowing images, so many wonderful stories about it – interest keeps getting piqued in new ways. These stories can be staggeringly unbelievable, a lot of them.”

ABOVE Urban explorer Robert Joe joins Dr Sam Willis to investigate Nazi myths and legends

BOTTOM RIGHT The Nuremburg rallies were an annual event for members of the Nazi Party

American commanders examine a suitcase of silverware in the Merkers Salt Mine

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Nazi Weird War Two, as its title suggests, is a show dedicated to investigating a variety of incidents, stories and myths, hopefully setting the record straight on a few. Hosted by historian and author Dr Sam Willis and urban explorer Robert Joe, topics include Himmler’s ‘occult’ castle at Wewelsburg; drug use (in an episode titled Hitler’s Meth Heads); the search for the muchdiscussed Nazi gold train in Poland; and the discovery of an Italian art collection stolen by the Germans and stored in Montegufoni Castle as an intense confrontation occurred a few yards away. Some tales are well known and others less so. Willis explained the idea behind the show to Explore History, and how the dynamic works: “Robert Joe, who is an urban explorer, had done a show before with National Geographic, and what they wanted to do was ally him with a historian, in a kind of ‘Mulder and Scully’ way, a bit like The X-Files, where one believes one thing and the other is slightly dubious. They asked me to be that historian. I loved the idea of investigating true stories behind the weird. I think some historians would run away from ‘weird’ but I was fascinated by how these rumours came about and their historical process of developing.” Deciding upon what to cover – the show also includes two episodes devoted to stories set in the Far East, related to the Pacific campaigns – was a matter of debate and very much inspired by the world of online conspiracy

Joe and Willis will set the record straight when it comes to the stories of the Nazis

Myths of the regime For decades, all sorts of myths have swirled around about the Nazi regime. Here’s just four of them

The Ark of the Covenant Don’t confuse history with movies. In Steven Spielberg’s classic, Raiders of the Lost Ark, intrepid archaeologist and college professor, Indiana Jones (Harrison Ford), attempts to beat the Nazis to the discovery of the fabled Ark of the Covenant. When the Nazis find it in Egypt, they take it to a Greek island, open the thing and are destroyed in a holy fire by a flying ghost. The Nazis looking for the ark is nothing more than the plot of a Hollywood film.

Hitler survived the war and moved to Argentina

“They wanted to ally an urban explorer with a historian, in a ‘Mulder and Scully’ way, like The X-Files, where one believes one thing and the other is dubious” theories and rumours. “We needed a variety of locations and we wanted stories that had significant amounts of online rumours and had the potential for us to actually investigate them from a historical standpoint.” One episode, the first to air, takes a gander at the infamous Ramree Island crocodile massacre, noted in the Guinness Book Of Records as the “worst crocodile disaster” ever recorded. Roughly 1,000 Japanese soldiers fleeing Allied bombing swam through crocodile-infested waters to reach safety, but were gobbled up by killer crocs in an all-you-can-eat buffet. Joe and Willis head off to Myanmar and solve not only the mystery but ensure history books are altered to correctly reflect what took place. Using local knowledge, archives and consulting scientists who study crocs, the Ramree Island massacre in Myanmar wasn’t quite the man versus nature battle passed down in legend. Is it even possible for crocodiles to eat that many people in one sitting? A current craze also covered by the show is the search for the Nazi gold train in the Silesia region of Poland (during WWII, the area was annexed to Germany). Is there any truth to it or is it a case of gold fever and a tourist board opportunity? It’s certainly plausible – after all, Nazi looting took place on an epic scale – but is there specifically a Nazi gold train at the location outside the

On 30 April 1945, Hitler blew his brains out as the Reds swamped Berlin. The body of Hitler and his wife Eva Braun, who took cyanide, were later taken outside the Führerbunker to the garden of the Reich’s chancellery and set on fire with cans of petrol, as he’d ordered. Rumours swirled for years that Hitler had somehow got out of Berlin and took a ship to Argentina. In 2011, two British authors published Grey Wolf: The Escape Of Adolf Hitler, a book about this hypothesised escape.

The Nazi moon base

ABOVE Episode one delves into the infamous Ramree Island massacre

While the Nazis certainly had technologically advanced weaponry, including the V1 and V2 rockets, one of the craziest myths and conspiracy theories about the regime was that they had implemented not only a space programme, but had a functioning base on the dark side of the moon by 1942. Many German scientists went to work for the US after the war and put a man on the moon in 1969, but it did not happen before then.

Buried treasure in Austria and New Zealand

ABOVE Episode three of the show delves into the mysteries of a secret Nazi art fortress

It’s not just the Nazi gold train that is a current obsession with treasure hunters, rumours abound that Hitler’s accruement of gold and art objects were also buried high in the Austrian Alps at Lake Toplitz and all the way down under in New Zealand. Nothing to do with moon bases, the occult or crazy escape theories, Nazi gold is a believable sort of story, but none of it can be proved unless anything ever turns up.

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NAZI MYTHS

Nazi Plunder The Nazis’ looting of art treasures from across Europe is still being uncovered to this day Adolf Hitler was a failed artist – rejected by the Vienna Academy of Fine Arts – and yet was an art devotee and most importantly, saw himself a connoisseur. Modernism was an atrocity to the dictator; he rallied against it and considered modern art to be a degenerate form. He was never going to collect German expressionist paintings for his 1,000-year Reich, but the treasures of the Renaissance were purloined from various different Italian churches, museums, galleries and monasteries. Hitler’s unifying theme was always the expression of Aryan taste and superiority, and much like his interest in art, the Führer also marvelled at classic architecture – he had gargantuan building plans for Berlin, which were drawn up under the supervision of Albert Speer, the architect who became a minister and later chronicler of Nazi Germany and its inner workings – and

even films, such as Leni Riefenstahl’s extraordinary two-part documentary/ propaganda effort, Olympia. There was a total aesthetic vision and philosophy at work in the Third Reich. Once the war got under way, organisations were set up to steal any cultural property deemed valuable. One such organisation was the Einsatzstab Reichsleiter Rosenberg, which operated in Poland, France, some Soviet territory, Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands and pretty much any country they could invade and loot. Artwork belonging to prominent Jewish families were targeted too as they were worth millions. In the wake of the war, Allied occupiers set up their own recovery teams, most famously the Monuments Men. Much has been found and returned, but it’s estimated that about 100,000 items are still missing.

town of Wałbrzych? This story has been featured in the press a lot since 2015. Two treasure hunters, Andreas Richter (a German national) and Piotr Koper, sought permission from the authorities to dig at a site of specific interest – an embankment known as Zone 65 – where they believed wholeheartedly that the mythic train full of gold bullion and artworks stolen by the Nazis from all over Europe would be discovered. All they wanted in return was ten per cent of whatever they found. The origins of the gold train tale began during the final days of the war and spread down the years. This is partly down to the warren of tunnels the Germans built – known as Project Riese – and their plans for turning the castle and the ground beneath it into a complex for what is most likely underground factories for the war effort. The plausibility factor is important because it can be a springboard. 257,000 cubic metres of reinforced concrete – from 30,000 concentration camp labourers – was used to build 213,000 cubic metres of tunnels. Many of the tunnels have not yet been discovered and, given the project was never completed, parts of it are submerged

ABOVE Some of Hitler’s watercolour paintings BELOW Courtyard Of The Old Residency In Munich

ABOVE General Dwight D Eisenhower inspects art treasures hidden in a salt mine in Germany

“There was a great deal of embarrassment at occultism in the Nazi echelons”

ABOVE A drawing by Adolf Hitler, of an unknown female

BELOW LEFT The Nazi gold train’s specific site of interest in Poland

in water and can only be accessed by divers or boats. The castle, too, was being refurbished and altered as a new headquarters for Adolf Hitler. Yet none of it was completed, leaving behind the complex to generate yarns about hidden Nazi loot and a train stuffed with treasure. The region was strategically placed and out of range from Allied bombers, and Organisation Todt was priming the area as a potential new base for Nazi activity. One man central to the Nazi gold train drama is Tadeusz Slowikowski, a former miner. In 2015, the octogenarian, who has spent more than 40 years searching for the tunnel, told the Daily Mail how a German soldier he’d helped in the final days of the war disclosed to him secrets about the tunnel. “I became aware of the tunnel after saving a German man named Schulz from being attacked by two men. As gratitude for Kiasz Castle, Poland, near the proposed site of the gold train

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An American soldier of the 90th division, 3rd army with a hoard of Nazi gold

saving him, he told me about the tunnel.” Only last year, Slowikowski was forced to place maps and documents he’d procured – essentially his life’s work (or obsession) – into a bank vault, when, he claimed, somebody attempted to break into his home and steal his secrets. Gold fever can lead to all sorts of chicanery and funny business. Having used ground-penetrating radar equipment, Koper and Richter were utterly convinced scans showed the very likely chance they’d hit the mother lode, the big one, the find that would force their names into the history books (and make them multi-millionaires). They began a dig to the tune of £28,000. All they got for their money and sweat was glacial deposits and empty pits. No gold train was found. The Nazi gold train scenario is certainly intriguing. The Third Reich plundered anything they could get their hands on and believed to be valuable. Europe’s rail networks enabled the administrators to co-ordinate not just the Holocaust, but also transferring stolen goods from the concentration and death camps all over the continent. Whether it was items used to enable the war effort or to enrich the Reich’s coffers, there is a moral dimension we must always remember when getting struck by Nazi train gold fever. “That’s absolutely a key thing,” Willis explains, “When we investigate the Nazi gold train in the episode, we go to Auschwitz. We also look into the banking system, the Reichsbank, and the administration behind it, which was absolutely extraordinary. We looked at files from a company involved in the smelting of gold. The Nazis stole gold from Jews. Even beforehand, during the time of the Kristallnacht, they had the Jews pay for their persecution and somebody then had to deal with that gold, and companies dealt with the smelting. All their records still survive. That side of things, the Jewish origins of much of the gold, it’s all there.”

ABOVE (TOP & BOTTOM) Dr Sam Willis and Robert Joe investigate the weirdest Nazi theories RIGHT Piotr Koper and Andreas Richter with pictures from groundpenetrating radar

ABOVE Head of the SS, Heinrich Himmler was a firm believer in the occult

Better known than any adventures hunting for gold, is the eldritch world of Nazism and the Occult. It’s been a fixture of movies, books and video games for decades. Did the Nazis derive their grand vision and power from supernatural sources? No, but since when did facts get in the way of a good story? There is a clear propaganda aim and purpose to depicting Nazi brass as a bunch of weirdos into silly things, but they also did a lot of real damage utilising – and perverting – science. Wewelsburg Castle in Westphalia was going to be the spiritual home of the SS, and while there is no doubt that Heinrich Himmler and a few other high ranking Nazis were super-into occultism, there was a great deal of embarrassment at it among the Nazi echelons. It wasn’t an across-the-board interest or a vital part of Nazism by any stretch. What was going on behind closed doors was hardly in line with any of the Indiana Jones movie series or even Castle Wolfenstein video games series, where a group of mad scientists intended on creating a race of mutant super-soldiers. Imagine being a GI walking into

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Hitler and the Occult Was Hitler a raving mad occultist or has myth got in the way of fact? Hitler sold the Third Reich as a new religion using advertising techniques and the latest propaganda tools. He most definitely believed in racial theories of Aryan supremacy and eugenics, but it’s a lurch into fantasy to say he was a full-blown occultist who literally believed in the supernatural, and things like the Spear of Destiny and the Holy Grail, as literal objects with mystical properties. Due to the appropriation of the ancient swastika symbol, interest in revising the history of the Germanic people, his penchant for big bonfires and torch-lit processions – as seen in propaganda film The Triumph Of The Will – the portrayal of Hitler as a messianic-like figure lasted well beyond his lifetime. Those in later years spoke of their dead leader’s aura of power. It was as if Hitler had Germany in his hypnotising grip; as if he was a man who had sold his soul for power, or derived his energy from supernatural means. One interviewee in a documentary called Hitler And The Occult, which first aired in 2000, even drew from the ‘fact’ that he came to power on 30 January 1933 during a pagan Sabbath (not quite true as Imbolc begins 1-2 February – but so does Groundhog Day) and shot himself in the head on the afternoon of 30 April 1945 (Walpurgis Night) as evidence of a magical spell being broken. It is exactly the type of pseudo-historical tripe that feeds the myth machine. Hitler and the Occult is a fevered field of propaganda and fiction slimly based on fact.

ABOVE Black Sun symbol on the floor of SS Generals’ Hall at Wewelsburg Castle

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Adolf Hitler speaks in 1941 of the war in the Pacific

“There is no doubting this guy had seriously warped ideas and beliefs”

ABOVE Karl Maria Wiligut saw Wewelsburg as a home for Nazi occultism

ABOVE The Occult Roots Of Naziam by Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke

some of these abandoned, ghostlike places, all of their leaders and henchmen long gone from its halls, and some of the first things you see are a bunch of really weirdlooking symbols and rooms that look like they were built for some kind of ritual gatherings. Little wonder all the rumours begin to develop from here; it may well have looked creepy and deranged to their eyes. The Medieval castle overlooking the town of Büren definitely looks the part of a place filled with secrets. Himmler chanced upon the castle as early as 1933 and decided it would be perfect for his burgeoning SS group and would be a centre to provide training. Himmler’s friend, Karl Maria Wiligut, a man deeply invested in occultism, saw the potential in Wewelsburg as the home of Nazi occultism. There is no doubting that he held seriously warped ideas and mystical beliefs (the kind that would have deeply embarrassed Hitler and others who saw it as mumbo-jumbo). Yet for all his big plans for the SS and Wewelsburg, by 1938, Wiligut had gone insane and was committed to an asylum. Wewelsburg has a power over the imagination, Willis says, because it’s a genuinely eerie place. “As the Americans are approaching it, Himmler orders for it to be destroyed as there are things he doesn’t want them to see, but when they attempt to blow it up, it totally fails.” “In one of the towers in this extraordinarily shaped castle, there’s what appears to be a crypt and a symbol

NAZI MYTHS

Wewelsburg castle is at the centre of much of the mythology of the Nazi obsession with the occult

Some conspiracy theorists believe Hitler escaped to Argentina

Moloch, the Canaanite god of child sacrifice

During the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, people were forced out of their homes by German forces

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© Thinkstock, Alamy, Getty Images, Bundesarchiv Bild, Shutterstock, Rex Features, National Geographic Channel

emblazoned on the floor – it all looks a bit Harry Potter – it’s strange when you go there. You can see very clearly why rumours began because you can’t help but think, ‘What the hell were they up to?’ but then it unravels. It’s actually one of my favourite stories and it’s all to do with the Nazis’ obsession with race.” To understand that obsession, and how it fed into their total vision, we must go back to the late 19th century and the revival of esoteric nonsense under the purview of conservative-nationalist theosophists obsessed with racial purity and tracing it back to the dawn of humankind. That is a key aspect of what drove the Nazis: racial purity, theirs specifically. While race interested Nazis greatly, they weren’t so hot on Freemasons, astrologers and other mystical theories. The Nazis wanted to prove their superiority through science – which is how and why they bent it to their will. Nazi medical experiments at Auschwitz and other places; racial segregation like the Mischling Test; breeding what they believed to be superior human specimens; these things drove the Nazis more than any Tarot readings. Occultism was banned and was clamped down on ruthlessly by the late 1930s. “It’s kind of like historical one-upmanship,” Willis explains, “It’s to do with race and it’s a fascinating view into the Nazi belief system. Yes, they were interested in pre-Christian, Germanic religion, I suppose you could call it, but when war broke out it got very marginalised and I think that’s also fascinating. It was loopy, but there is historical evidence for it. Himmler and a couple of his honchos who really believed in it marginalised it.” There were no mad schemes to dominate the world by consulting astrology charts or a belief that finding the Holy Grail – as if it were a literal item in a cave somewhere in the Middle East – would ensure Nazi domination through supernatural means for all eternity. While Himmler and a few fellow travellers believed along those lines, Willis certainly doesn’t think occultism in the Nazi top brass was widespread. The fact that when it came down to kicking off the war, they were told to shut up about it. ‘Calm this down, it’s nonsense, we need to start concentrating on making tanks’ is the gist of what they were saying.” “It’s more to do with the early roots of Nazism and rather than being extreme in their beliefs, it’s actually the opposite of that, it’s controlling it and isolating it to this castle. The fact that it’s in Himmler’s castle doesn’t prove it’s everywhere. The Nazi war machine was enormous, of course you’re going to have people with differing opinions, it just so turned out that Himmler was interested in this kind of pre-Christian, early Germanic history.” Fascination with World War II and its weird tales and myths isn’t going away any time soon, and Willis makes the good point that, “…if the Nazis can operate and run a Holocaust and kill that many people, everything else becomes kind of believable, because that’s unbelievable, it’s so difficult to get your head around. So, if they did that, then why not X, Y, Z?”

CITY GUIDE TO

ART NOUVEAU

RIGA

For half of its time as an independent nation, Latvia has been occupied, yet its beautiful Art Nouveau buildings survived its tumultuous past WORDS BY MIKE COLLIER

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Riga across the in the Daugava River ry early 20th centu

“There is no better city in the world to walk through with your head tilted up at a 45-degree angle ”

LATVIA

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here can be few countries on Earth as obsessed with history as Latvia. This small land on the eastern coast of the Baltic Sea has seen more than its fair share of remarkable events, whether as Medieval Livonia, a state ruled by the crusading warrior-priests of the Teutonic Order; as a province of the Russian Empire in which German barons enjoyed total dominance; or since 1918 as an independent state in its own right. Yet even then, the tides of history continued flowing over Latvia so that when the republic of 2 million people (a European Union and NATO member since 2004) celebrates its centenary in 2018, for half of those 100 years, the country was occupied, first by the Soviet Union in 1940, then

R IGA

by Nazi Germany and then again by the Soviets, with independence only regained in 1991. Throughout its history, the economic and political powerhouse of the region has been the capital city Riga, the only true metropolis in the Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. An important port since the start of the 13th century and one of the leading members of the Hanseatic League, Riga has always been to some extent a state-within-a-state. The British Navy was reliant upon timber, tar and hemp ropes from Riga and so by the end of the 18th century, many of the leading merchants in Riga were British. The economic importance of Riga has always been reflected in its architecture, with the Medieval Old Town

One of Eisenstein’s Art Nouveau masterpieces

TOP RIGHT A plaque dedicated to iconic Art Nouveau artist Eisenstein

surrounded on all sides by districts with very different characters, including Scandinavian-style wooden architecture, Baroque churches and numerous examples of Soviet brutalism. It was in the early years of the 20th century that an unprecedented influx of both wealth and population created the conditions for one of the most remarkable architectural booms in European history. Between 1897 and 1914, Riga’s population almost doubled, reaching 530,000. By comparison, Stockholm on the other side of the Baltic Sea, had a population of 350,000 and Tallinn, capital of neighbouring Estonia, just 140,000. It was also extremely cosmopolitan, with the population at the turn of the 20th century at 45 per cent Latvian, 23 per cent German, 16 per cent Russian and 6 per cent Jewish. In a manner that in some ways is reminiscent of Haussman’s rebuilding of Paris, which created the conditions for the first Art Nouveau boom in Europe, crumbling old districts of Riga were torn down, a system of broad boulevards was laid out and public transport, sewerage and electricity were introduced. All that was required to complete this thoroughly modern city for the new century, awash with cash, were buildings, and to that end, a remarkable rollcall of mainly German architects (plus occasional Russians and increasing numbers of Latvians who

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ABOVE George Armitstead, Riga’s much-loved mayor

had studied under German masters) was assembled and handed commissions as quickly as they could take them up. Among the most notable names are Wilhelm Bockslaff, Friedrich Scheffel, Konstantīns Pēkšēns, Mikhail Eisenstein, Paul Mandelstamm and Eižens Laube, the last of whom might, with some justification, be regarded as Latvia’s national architect for the way he blended traditional folk motifs into the fabric of these state-of-the-art buildings. The strong German influence is also reflected in the common use of the term ‘Jugendstil’ for Art Nouveau. What’s most remarkable is the quality of the buildings raised during this 20-year golden age, considering the sheer numbers that were being constructed. An international industrial and trade exhibition held in Riga in 1901, marking the 700th anniversary of the city’s founding, acted as an important catalyst. The temporary pavilions designed by many of these architects were so impressive and innovative, municipal and mercantile interests alike gained confidence that buildings with ornate decorations, unusual lines and bold concepts could also be extremely practical and would enhance the prestige of their owners. One of the humbler

“The temporary pavilions designed by many of these architects were so impressive and innovative” eet (Kalku People on Lime Str a c.1900 Rig n tow old in ) iela

ART NOUVEAU RIGA pavilions, that was designed to showcase the skills of master bricklayer Krisjanis Kergalvis, still exists in the pretty Kronvalda park, with few passers-by realising its original purpose. The building boom of the early 20th century was truly remarkable: 1,172 new buildings were approved in 1901 and 1,359 in 1910 with comparable numbers every year in between. In nearly all cases, buildings were designed and built within the year. Today, Riga still boasts more than 800 Art Nouveau buildings, the ravages of war miraculously having avoided them for the most part when other districts of the city were destroyed. The very ornateness and complexity of the Art Nouveau style even offered some protection during the grim years of Soviet occupation. While many Jugendstil interiors were gutted by the Soviets, and the grand apartments of the well-to-do were divided into municipal apartments or the dreary

Riga’s stock exchange, c.1900

Even beyond its Art Nouveau credentials, Riga glitters at night

offices of totalitarian bureaucracy. The fact that the Soviets lacked the craftsmanship and financial resources required to renovate such buildings meant that the exteriors were just left to crumble. With the regaining of Latvian independence in 1991, these remarkable edifices were valued once again, with Rigans realising that they could be a major tourist attraction – which they now are. While the Art Nouveau ‘district’ is generally held to be the area around Alberta and Elizabetes streets, there are examples scattered throughout the city. Even in the most obscure suburbs, it’s not unusual to come across a smaller, but no less impressive, Art Nouveau house, sometimes built as trial projects for the grand designs of the city centre or just as a modest ‘country’ residence for a discerning patron. In central Riga today, even when a modern shop front now occupies the ground floor of a building, it’s worth looking at the floors above, where you’ll frequently see a Muse, nymph, sphinx, distorted face, lion, peacock, bear, wolf or other fantastic creation staring back at you. There is no better city in the world to walk through with your head tilted up at a 45-degree angle.

How to spot Art Nouveau Think you might be looking at an Art Nouveau classic? Here’s how you can tell Art Nouveau began in France, at art dealer Siegfried Bing’s gallery, but its elements range from mosaics to Japanese motifs. Some of the main recurring shapes and forms to look out for when identifying an Art Nouveau building are: an abundance of ornamentation, including the addition of plants, animals, faces and patterns; a proliferation of arches and curved forms; bright colour in the form of paintings or an overall block colour to the exterior; and asymmetry.

There are also other features, such as curved and stained glass, and flowing lines, which can indicate a building’s origins in the Art Nouveau movement. Art Deco, however, is defined by its geometric style, influenced by Fauvism, Cubism and the art of Egypt, China, India and other countries. It came to the fore in the 1920s and 30s, and was particularly prevalent in the United States, as well as seeing popularity in western Europe.

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CITY GUIDE

Things to see The Corner House

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5 Hotel Neiburgs

DOME SQUARE

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Audeju iela 1

Statue of George Armitstead

ART NOUVEAU RIGA

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Riga Latvian Society House

Nu Audeju iela

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Generally held to be the first example of Art Nouveau in Riga, seven Audeju Street is rather modest in comparison to the ornate masterpieces that followed it, but most of the essential elements are in place. Designed by architect Alfred Aschenkampf in 1899 at number seven Audeju iela (Weavers’ street) in Riga’s Old Town, the facade with its swirling plant motifs and beautifully balanced geometric devices looks not unlike an elegant book plate – which may not be surprising given that the owner was the publisher, Alexander Grosset. Aschenkampf was, at the time, a teacher at Riga’s Craft School, putting him at the forefront of new design in the city. He went on to work with other prominent architects on buildings in Riga, including one structure which was unfortunately gutted by a fire in 2014. From the beginning of Art Nouveau, the style quickly spread – as a glance next door at number nine shows, designed by architect Konstantīns Pēkšēns. Here, it seems almost as if Art Nouveau has been grafted onto a more conventional classical style, but explodes in the amazing combination of face, sun and shell at the top of the building. This use of plasterwork as full-scale statuary was to become one of the most striking elements of the Riga Art Nouveau style. Pēkšēns (1859-1928) was the first of a new breed of home-grown Latvian architects and was also the most prolific, being credited with more than 250 buildings in Riga alone.

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TAKING IN THE CULTURE What to listen to, read and watch for an Art Nouveau experience in Riga Listen to: Latvian National Opera Riga’s wonderful opera house boasts a magnificent high-class orchestra and offers some amazingly affordable tickets, should its spectacular opera shows or its ballet shows take your fancy.

Read: Arthur Ransome’s Racundra’s First Cruise In 1922, The Swallows And Amazons author sailed around the Baltic Sea from Latvia. This is his tale of the adventure, perfect for anyone embarking on their very own Latvian odyssey.

Watch: Chronicles of Melanie This is a new feature film that will certainly appeal to history buffs, following one woman’s tale of endurance during deportation to Siberia. Despite its subject matter, it is a unexpectedly uplifting film.

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Number ten Elizabetes iela

The building located at 10a and 10b Elizabetes iela, or Elizabetes Street, is perhaps the most ornate of all Riga’s Art Nouveau treasures. It is loaded with so many fantastical beings, faces with a range of facial expressions, rings, pillars and wreaths that the eye is never at rest. Indeed it is almost psychedelic in its intensity, employing an architectural principle known as horror vacui, or fear of empty space. Designed in 1901, the architect was Mikhail Eisenstein, father of the great Russian film director Sergei Eisenstein, who was born in Riga in 1898 and spent his early years there, graduating from the Realschule in 1915. Sergei’s memories of his life in Riga are not particularly happy. His father raised him after his parents divorced and Sergei resented the controlling tendencies of his father, who expected his son to follow in his footsteps and become an architect. Looking back on this time in the city, Sergei wrote: “My protest against what was ‘acceptable’ in behaviour and art, and my contempt of authority, were certainly linked to him... when I had to draw plaster figures, teapots and Dante’s mask, it came out all wrong.” Eisenstein fans can also find a permanent exhibition dedicated to the great director at the small Riga Film Museum on Peltavas street.

The Corner House

Few buildings have seen such a radical change of purpose as this large building at 61 Brivibas iela, or ‘Freedom’ street, the Latvian capital’s main artery, which leads north from the elegant (but Art Deco, rather than Art Nouveau) Freedom Monument, the iconic heart of the Latvian nation. Designed by architect Aleksandrs Vanags in 1912, it was one of the most desirable residences of its day, combining neo-classical design with less flamboyant later-period Art Nouveau. The ground floor was occupied by high-class boutiques selling the latest Parisian fashions, while above, spacious and roomy apartments catered to the needs of the wealthy middle classes. It was given the name ‘Corner House’ because of the unusual positioning of the main doorway, right at the corner of the building. When the Soviet Union occupied the Baltic States in 1940 as a result of the infamous MolotovRibbentrop pact, the building was taken over by the Cheka or KGB. They wasted no time turning the interior into cells, torture chambers and an execution room, as well as their administrative offices. The door on the corner became a place where people could post requests for information about missing relatives – a dangerous act in itself – or where denunciations could be deposited into a convenient letter box. Trucks would be left running in the central courtyard to cover the sounds of executions taking place. According to one piece of grim Latvian humour, the Corner House was the “tallest building in the country” – because you could see Siberia from it. If any evidence is needed of the frequency with which Riga has been buffeted from one regime to another, we need only consider the various other names by which Freedom Street has been known: Great Sand Street, Alexander Street, Revolution Street, Adolf Hitler Street and Lenin Street. The Corner House now houses an excellent exhibition outlining the KGB’s crimes against humanity, and the guided tours in English are particularly recommended. Yet perhaps the building was always cursed – architect Aleksandrs Vanags was executed here by the Bolsheviks in 1919.

ART NOUVEAU RIGA

Art Nouveau: Going beyond the buildings 4

ALBERTA IELA

Alberta iela is quite simply one of the most beautiful streets in Europe, with every single building a masterpiece. Only the buildings at numbers five, nine and ten could be argued to be in the eclectic rather than Art Nouveau style, but even those show a clear influence. Most of the buildings on the right (even numbers) were designed by Mikhail Eisenstein, while those on the left (odd numbers) were designed by a variety of the other star architects of Art Nouveau including Pēkšēns and Laube. What is remarkable is that despite every building being different to its neighbour, they somehow seem to hang together as a perfect ensemble and the closer you look, the more remarkable they become. Quite apart from the staggering decorations, which incorporate everything from ancient Egyptian sphinxes to rustic Livonian barns, there are a series of optical illusions and architectural tricks such as false floors, mismatched window shapes and materials such as metal that appears to be wood or jade. It’s an intoxicating experience simply to walk along the street, and every time you do so, something else leaps to your attention.

A plaque outside number 2a reveals that British philosopher Sir Isaiah Berlin was born here and lived in the building from 1909 until 1915. Berlin’s thought, which stresses the importance of liberal democratic values, has been undergoing a notable renaissance in recent years and every year Riga hosts an ‘Isaiah Berlin Day’, dedicated to its famous son. This year’s event saw hundreds of people packed into the wonderfully named Splendid Palace Cinema (an architectural gem in its own right, dating from 1923) to watch 1970s British TV interviews with Berlin. In 2014, an award-winning Latvian film titled Escaping Riga was shown, chronicling the parallel lives of Berlin and his neighbour Sergei Eisenstein. At number 12 Alberta Street (entrance just around the corner on Strelnieku street), you will find the Riga Art Nouveau Museum, which has a must-visit collection showcasing not only architecture but all the other ways in which Jugendstil expresses itself, from books and posters to furniture and household objects. The interiors (which are difficult to access in most privatelyowned buildings) are beautiful and the sight of the central stairwell is gorgeous.

While Riga’s most impressive displays of Art Nouveau design adorn its beautiful buildings, Latvian designers used Art Nouveau way beyond architecture. The style extended in to silverware, porcelain, furniture and even clothing. Some of these incredible items are held in the Riga Art Nouveau museum, on Alberta iela. The re-created home was the apartment of Konstantīns Pēkšēns, a renowned Latvian architect, until 1907. While the museum is undoubtedly beautiful on the outside, the interior offers a rare chance within the city to see a house fully restored to its early-20th century design. In 2008 and 2009, experts studied the apartment to determine its original design, and set about renovating it so that they could bring it as close as possible to its original appearance in 1903. The result feels like something close to time travel. One of the most prominent features in the museum is a spiral staircase, thought to have been designed by Janis Rozentāls, one of the more prominent Art Nouveau designers. Looking up at the ceiling, an incredible fresco is revealed, repeating a colourful painted pattern of lines and what look like plants on a light background. You can also step inside several rooms, from the bedroom to the lavatory, which have been furnished with authentic Art Nouveau antiques. Look out for the huge collection of pottery, dining ware, cabinets, armoires and period mirrors adorning the different rooms. A rare display of Art Nouveau clothing is also on display, from an intricate white dress embellished with fabric flowers to a classic men’s top hat for formal occasions. These exhibits truly help to bring the Art Nouveau period to life for visitors, as costumed tour guides wander the floors adding to the atmosphere. You can even pop an Art Nouveau hat on yourself and have a picture taken for posterity. Some items of early kitchen technology bring the art of Art Nouveau cookery into focus, including a bread slicer and very early refrigerator, complete with the ultimate luxury – a compartment for ice blocks, so that guests could be wowed with chilled drinks and foods at turn of the century cocktail parties. Also on Alberta iela stands the Riga Graduate School of Law, which has been completely refurbished with its original Art Nouveau features restored (but with modern heating and technology added). The outside of the building is spectacular, but if you get the chance to go inside, it’s a unique example of Art Nouveau co-existing with modern comforts.

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CITY GUIDE

Take the family

5

Riga Latvian Society House

One building tourists with an interest in architecture often miss is the Riga Latvian Society House, as its location, 13 Merkela iela (Merkel’s street), is a little away from many famous buildings of the style. If it seems strange that a ‘Latvian society’ should exist in Latvia itself, it is worth remembering that for 700 years, Latvians were essentially second-class citizens in their own land. The building was erected in 1909 by home-grown architect Ernests Pole to provide a space suitable for the musical performances and folk dances, which form an essential part of Latvian culture. Eižens Laube added further modifications in the 1930s.

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Statue of George Armitstead

The man acknowledged by Riga residents as the best mayor they ever had possessed a name that is decidedly non-Latvian, non-Russian and nonGerman: George Armitstead. Armitstead (1847-1912) was born in Riga but of Yorkshire stock, descendant of merchants trading in the Baltic. He was elected mayor of Riga in 1901, a position he retained until his death in 1912 and which coincides with the Art Nouveau boom. For new architecture to flourish, it needed the latest amenities: electricity, piped water, street lighting, sewerage, schools, hospitals. Armitstead’s administration either introduced or improved these efficiently. He treated Latvians as equals, not inferiors. The statue of Armitstead, his wife and their dog stands at the entrance to the Latvian National Opera.

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DOME SQUARE

Doma or Dome Square (from the German ‘Dom’ or cathedral) is Latvia’s equivalent of Trafalgar Square, a scene of national gatherings, demonstrations and celebrations. In winter, it’s also the scene of one of the best and largest Christmas markets in northern Europe. While the red brick Dom cathedral, founded in 1211, dominates the south side, two buildings on the north side contribute both to Latvia’s Art Nouveau heritage and the country’s history. To the left at six Doma Square is the former Riga bourse, now an art museum. It predates Art Nouveau, having been constructed 1852-55 in the style of a Venetian palazzo, but subsequent restorations have given it more than a hint of Jugendstil. Tucked away at the back of the square is a pleasant little French-style cafe, if you’d like a brief reminder of Art Nouveau’s Parisian origins. Facing it, across Smilsu iela (Sand street – its winding course explained by the fact it used to be a river) at eight Doma Square, is the Radio House, home to Latvia’s national

broadcaster. Built in 1913 as a bank based on the designs of Paul Mandelstamm, the allegorical sculptures adorning its pediment are worth craning your neck for. In January 1991, thousands of people gathered and barricades were erected in the square and surrounding streets to protect the Radio House as die-hard Communists attempted a coup d’etat to restore Soviet rule. The people won the day and Latvia remained independent. The building that is found next door, on the corner of Smilsu iela, which now houses a restaurant, is another fine Jugendstil effort from Saint Petersburg architect Nikolai Proskunin. In the centre of Doma square is a bronze plaque testifying to the fact that you are standing in the centre of a UNESCO world heritage site. Look around and you’ll see seven streets leading away from the square in different directions. It makes a pleasant game to choose one at random and see how long it takes you to spot some Art Nouveau. The answer in all cases: not long!

Architectural details in Riga’s Dome Square

RIGA EX P L O R E R’S

ESSENTIALS

ESTONIA

RUSSI A

Riga

Where to sta

LATVIA

Hotel Neiburgs, Jauniela 25-27

LITHUANIA BELARUS

PO LAND

Essential information Where Latvia is the middle one of the three Baltic states on the east of the Baltic sea. The capital Riga is on the coast. There is busy Riga International Airport, a ferry port with boats sailing to Stockholm several times a week and a rail terminal with overnight trains to Moscow. Most regional transport is by bus or car. Roads outside Riga are not great, however Riga has an extensive and cheap public transport network of buses, minibuses, trolleybuses and trams that make it easy to get around the city.

When to visit The biggest festival of the year is midsummer – much more important than Christmas. Winter is cold but beautiful with guaranteed snow. Time zone UTC+3:00 Currency Euro

Links www.lsm.lv/en English language daily news about Latvia www.latvia.eu Official information about the country www.liveriga.com Riga city tourism information

Eat & drin

Need to know

Cafe Sienna

Just around the corner from Alberta iela on Strelnieku iela (Riflemen’s street) is Cafe Sienna. Despite its Italian name, this selfstyled ‘art café’ it is definitely more Art Nouveau than Dolce Vita, with the sort of elegant pastries, cakes and coffee that wouldn’t look out of place in any other Art Nouveau metropolis such as Vienna, Paris or Budapest. Grab a window seat if you can because directly opposite is the Mikhail Eisenstein-designed Stockholm School of Economics, another of his masterpieces, with a bust of George Armitsead standing right by the entrance too. If you want to prove that’s the case, you can take a virtual tour of the cafe at their website. Visit www.sienna.lv for more information.

Baltic, not Slavic

Forget ‘former Soviet’

Odd flowers

While nearly half of Riga’s population speaks Russian, Latvian is the official state language. It is not a Slavic language, belonging instead to the Baltic language group with Lithuanian and Old Prussian.

People in the country can get offended if people say that Latvia is a “former Soviet” country. As far as most Latvians are concerned, they were occupied by the Soviet Union against their will.

Latvians love to give flowers to one another, however, if you do likewise, and follow suit by giving someone else flowers, make sure it’s an odd number of flowers – even numbers are given at funerals!

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© Duru Eksioglu, Thinkstock, Alamy, Cafe Sienna, Shutterstock, Flickr - Bryan Ledgard, Thomas Gartz, xiquinhosilva

Built in 1903 to designs by the great Riga city architect Wilhelm Bockslaff, the first things to strike you upon arrival are the amazingly expressive stone heads staring out at you from the building’s textured façade. The building now housing the hotel was commissioned by Ludvigs Neiburgs, a Latvian peasant who arrived penniless in Riga in 1891 and became one of the first of a new breed of self-made Latvian entrepreneurs. In 1941, the Neiburgs family was deported to Siberia, along with tens of thousands of other Latvians, for no other crime than being kulaks, or middle class businessmen. The hotel was divided into apartments for Soviet military officers. Following the restoration of Latvian independence, the Neiburgs regained possession of their property and restored it to its former glory. Rooms are of varying sizes, with full hotel facilities, and the décor is a modern take on the elegant lines and geometry of Art Nouveau.

THE LAST DAYS OF

AMELIA EARHART

In 1937, pioneering aviator Amelia Earhart vanished over the Pacific Ocean. But has the mystery of her disappearance finally been solved?

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melia Earhart made history. The first female to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean, the holder of multiple other records and a celebrated author, she is at the centre of one of the most enduring mysteries of the 21st century. On 2 July 1937, as she crossed the Pacific Ocean with navigator Fred Noonan, Amelia Earhart disappeared. She was at the controls of a Lockheed Model 10 Electra and intended to make history by becoming the first woman to fly the longest route around the globe, but it was a feat she was destined never to complete. Instead of becoming lauded for the monumental journey, her fame has endured for a far darker reason. What happened to Earhart has been the subject of ongoing investigations, debate and theory, but one organisation believe they have finally solved this mystery. Born in Kansas in 1897, Amelia Earhart was raised to believe that anything was possible. Far from being moulded into the perfect ladylike little girl, she was encouraged to express herself and glory in her tomboyish nature. Drawn to excitement and the thrill of danger, at just seven years old she built her own roller coaster and, constructing a ramp on the Earhart tool shed, sat in a wooden box and launched herself into space. She crashed down to earth with a few bruises, flushed with excitement and ready to go back for more. As the years passed, Earhart began to develop an interest in aviation, nurtured during visits to air shows and airfields at which pilots undertook daring stunts and demonstrations.

AMELIA EARHART WORDS BY CATHERINE CU RZON

ABOVE Amelia Earhart was a pioneer of aviation but her fate has since been a mystery

LEFT Aerial view of the TIGHAR work site on Nikumaroro (also known as Gardner Island) BOTTOM LEFT Fred Noonan, who was navigator on Amelia Earhart’s last flight, has not been found BOTTOM RIGHT A map showing the sites where objects have been found, and when

Her first flight took place in 1920, when she took a short ride as a passenger at a local airfield and from that day, her mind was made up. She took every job she was offered, squirrelling away every cent to pay for flying lessons that would change her life and make her name. Her determination and hard work was rewarded quickly and Earhart proudly brought her first plane in 1921, naming it The Canary. Just a year later, she set her first world record when she piloted The Canary to a height of 4,270 metres, the highest any female pilot had flown. A cavalcade of achievements and honours followed and Earhart became famous across the world for her escapades, eventually crossing the Atlantic Ocean in 1928. The first woman to make the trip, it wasn’t quite enough for the adventurous Amelia. Four years later, she undertook the journey again and this time, she was alone. Her place in history was sealed by this remarkable flight; it seemed as though nothing was out of Amelia Earhart’s reach. Earhart was determined to fly around the world and, in 1937, she took to the skies intending to do just that. Her first attempt was hampered by mechanical failure but, undaunted, she set off on her second attempt on 1 June 1937, accompanied by navigator Fred Noonan. Although Earhart wasn’t familiar with her new navigational system and Noonan had complained of technical problems, at first all seemed well, but it wasn’t to stay that way. After a series of communication problems, the pair made their last known contact with radio operators just before 8am on the morning of 2 July. Their last definite position was recorded as somewhere in the vicinity of the Nukumanu Islands and from there, they were due to land at Howland Island. This stage of the flight was beset with problems as the radio operators, who were charged with guiding the plane

“Her place in history was sealed by this remarkable flight; it seemed as though nothing was out of Earhart’s reach”

TANK FROM SHIPWRECK, 1999 PIECES OF AN AEROPLANE, 1958-1962 AIRCRAFT WHEEL, 2002 PIECE OF AEROPLANE WING, 1958-1962

PARTS OF AN AEROPLANE, 1940-1941 PRESUMED AIRCRAFT BREAKUP, 1937

SHIPWRECK

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AMELIA EARHART

“Here, they believe, she and Noonan continued to send out distress calls, which went unanswered. Operators heard faint distress calls that were dismissed as hoaxes” down, realised that they had lost radio contact and couldn’t communicate with the Electra. Helplessly, they listened as Earhart reported that she couldn’t see the land due to clouds and that her fuel was low. When efforts to communicate by Morse code failed to help Earhart get her bearings, the radio operators could only search fruitlessly and desperately for some way to bring the plane safely to land. Instead, it vanished from the skies.

Significant finds have been made on the Nikumaroro atoll

But what became of Amelia Earhart? Immediately after the apparent loss of the plane, search and rescue efforts began. The US Navy combed the area around Howland Island, searching for any trace of the downed flier. For weeks the search continued, yet it found no evidence that Earhart, Noonan or the plane in which they had been travelling had ever been there at all. Less than two years later, in January 1939, Amelia Earhart was officially declared dead. The memory of the adventurous aviator, however, proved considerably more difficult to lay to rest. She continues to fascinate researchers who have devoted their lives to uncovering the fate of Earhart and solve this enduring mystery. One of the most prominent researchers was United States Navy Captain Laurance Safford, who devoted his

Finds on Nikumaroro The zipper Discovered in 2007 at the Seven Site – a forgotten, remote corner of the island – a brass zipper pull bearing the name Talon offered the tantalising possibility that it might once have been attached to Earhart’s flight suit. Investigations have proved that the zipper was manufactured between 1933 and 1937, so how did it come to be on a supposedly uninhabited island? This heavy-duty fastener would have been perfect for the sort of flight wear favoured by Noonan.

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Freckle ointment The remains of a glass ointment pot were found in 2010 at a suspected campsite were perhaps the most famous artefacts were found on the atoll. The pot matches Dr CH Berry’s Freckle Ointment, though the glass is not frosted as would have been common for the ointment at the time. For a woman known to be aware of her freckles, it’s possible that Earhart would have carried a pot of ointment on her round-the-world trip. Could this have been hers?

TIGHAR expeditions have uncovered evidence of an American woman inhabiting Nikumaroro; here are some of the finds

A pocketknife

Human waste

Another item uncovered at the theorised Seven Site campsite during the 2007 expedition was a piece of a pocketknife that was manufactured by Cattaraugus in the 1930s. It bears a striking resemblance to a similar knife that was included in an inventory taken of Amelia Earhart’s plane after her initial failed attempt to fly around the world in 1937. Although the knife blades were missing, it was clear that they had been deliberately removed, perhaps to use as tools.

In 2010, a TIGHAR expedition found clumps of what appeared to be human faecal matter. Although the matter contains human DNA attributed to two individuals, there wasn’t sufficient DNA in the samples to enable identification. As technologies increase, of course, this might prove to be an invaluable find when it comes to DNA matching Earhart and Noonan, or excluding this unusual find from the ever-growing collection of evidence accumulated by TIGHAR.

A compact mirror One of the most compelling pieces of evidence found at the Seven Site in 2007 was a 1930s cosmetic compact. Though the mirror is shattered, the compact still contained the remains of a woman’s rouge. Earhart always carried a compact and the possibility of such a culturally specific object finding its way into a distant corner of a remote Pacific island by chance is highly unlikely. Did Amelia Earhart lose her compact when she was marooned?

AMELIA EARHART

considerable expertise in communications technology to investigating the case. His efforts were further supported by other experienced navigators and professionals, who sought to prove that the plane had been forced to ditch in the ocean, having run out of fuel. Other researchers concluded that Earhart landed on Gardner Island, also known as Nikumaroro, though multiple search parties found no definitive proof that remains later discovered there were those of Amelia Earhart or Fred Noonan. Frustratingly, a skeleton found on the island in 1940 was sent to Fiji for analysis and has long since been lost. In 1988, The International Group for Historic Aircraft Recovery (TIGHAR) began its own pioneering investigation into the case, determined to discover what had happened on that fateful morning once and for all. TIGHAR believe that Earhart, unable to locate Howland Island, successfully landed on a reef that was located just off the coast of Nikumaroro instead. Earhart was already following the line towards Gardner and in her last transmissions she had confirmed this. Here, they believe, she and Noonan continued to send out distress calls, which went unanswered. Over the next few nights, operators around the region and in the USA heard faint distress calls that were dismissed as hoaxes, though perhaps they were not. With their exact location unknown, the stranded pair were at the mercy of nature and, alone on the atoll, all they could do was sit and wait for the rescue that never came.

ABOVE Amelia Earhart in an aeroplane, taken in 1936. Earhart was an experienced and well-known pilot ABOVE, TOP RIGHT Ric Gillespie is executive director of the TIGHAR search for clues to Earhart’s fate ABOVE, BOTTOM RIGHT Fragments of a bottle thought to be for a product contemporary with Earhart

ABOVE A prominent researcher in the search for Earhart was US Navy Captain Laurance Safford

Although the US Navy flew a search party over Nikumaroro a week after the disappearance, no evidence of the Electra was seen. Of course, by this time the plane would long since have been claimed by the tide. Although the naval pilots did see evidence of recent human habitation, they didn’t realise at the time that Nikumaroro had been uninhabited since 1892 and, thinking they had seen nothing untoward, they continued on their way. To add to this compelling theory, when a small party of local people set up temporary residence on the island months later, they built a rudimentary settlement using salvaged materials. Archaeological work on the site later revealed that these islanders had access to Plexiglas and aluminium, exactly the sort of items that one might salvage from a plane wreck. TIGHAR researchers believe that Noonan and Earhart survived on the atoll for at least a short period. Perhaps injured and with few supplies, the castaways would have faced a miserable fate, foraging for food and left without any drinking water other than rain. TIGHAR hypothesise that Noonan likely died first, if not in the plane, then soon after they landed. Left alone, Earhart survived for a short time on the atoll before her eventual death. They believe that the skeleton lost long ago in Fiji was that of the pilot and that, using computer modelling to recreate the measurements and weights recorded at the time of the discovery, they can demonstrate that the remains were most likely those of a woman of North European descent with the same build as Amelia Earhart.

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AMELIA EARHART

The other theories While TIGHAR have uncovered what they deem to be the truth, others have reached different conclusions about Earhart’s fate

Ditch and sink

The most popular theory is that the plane was forced to ditch of the coast of Howland Island as a result of technical problems and lack of fuel. Unable to radio for help, Noonan and Earhart would have been claimed by the waves, if they had even survived the crash that brought them down. This theory has long been accepted as the most likely explanation behind the mystery, and some speculate that the remains of the plane and its crew are almost 6,000 metres beneath the surface of the Pacific Ocean.

What became of Noonan, however, remains open to conjecture. To add further fuel to this compelling fire, a photograph that was taken at the reef in October 1937 was examined and enhanced in 2012. It showed, as TIGHAR have claimed, the unmistakable remains of the landing gear of the Lockheed Electra. TIGHAR’s efforts to prove their theory regarding the lost flight have continued for almost three decades. During this time, they have undertaken multiple archaeological excavations and uncovered several artefacts that appeared to be consistent with the presence of a western woman of the 1930s. They have also investigated a sextant box discovered on Nikumaroro in 1940, demonstrating that it was Noonan’s favoured make and model. If Earhart and Noonan died on the atoll though, what became of the Electra? Certain that the plane now rested at the bottom of the ocean, TIGHAR undertook an expedition made up of professionals from a variety of disciplines in 2007 and combed the reef for the missing aircraft. In 2010, they returned, this time to employ sonar-mapping techniques, suspecting that the badly degraded remains might rest deep in the ocean. Unfortunately, efforts to reach the area were thwarted by technical difficulties, so what might be concealed at the bottom of the deep reef remains a mystery.

Captured by the Japanese When Japanese research by Mitsubishi appeared to include components inspired by the Electra, a theory emerged that Earhart had actually crashed on Saipan. Author Fred Goerner theorised that she and Noonan were captured by the Japanese and placed in prison, where they later died. Others claim that Japanese forces deliberately shot down the plane or that Amelia Earhart was the infamous Tokyo Rose, a claim her husband rejected out of hand after conducting a private investigation.

A new life One of the most outlandish theories emerged in 1970, when it was claimed that Earhart successfully flew to New Jersey and began a new life as Irene Craigmile Bolam. When Bolam read the theory in a book by Joe Klaas, she took legal action that resulted in the book being withdrawn. Although Bolam and Earhart had mutual friends, Bolam’s life was well documented, and there was no evidence that she was a construct of a woman seeking to leave her old life behind. Later forensic investigations by craniofacial specialists resulted in this audacious theory being discredited.

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ABOVE Nikumaroro’s lagoon, a beautiful but likely unyielding place to become stranded

LEFT A fragment of a glass bottle found on the atoll, with evidence for a link to Earhart in time and production of the bottle

AMELIA EARHART LEFT TIGHAR at work digging up the finds that support their theory that Earhart and Noonan died on Nikumaroro

© R Barrel, TIGHAR photos, Getty

RIGHT Amelia Earhart pictured looking carefree in Waikīkī, Hawaii, also in 1935 BELOW A memorial commemorates Earhart’s landing in Burry Port, 1928, at the end of her flight across the Atlantic BOTTOM Earhart inspecting maps of Hawaii in 1935

“‘What I have learned is that ‘smoking guns’ are in the eye of the beholder,’ yet TIGHAR has revealed more than its fair share” Now, however, plans are underway for TIGHAR to return to the island and investigate a lagoon where they hope wreckage from the plane might have been washed in from the ocean. Investigating this lagoon, a far smaller search area, means that the chances of finding evidence proving that Earhart and Noonan crashed around the island are much improved. The group is also striving to bring more attention to their investigations to find out what happened to the pilot by means of published works, expanding on their previous projects and investigations. The evidence that Earhart did indeed survive to live at least for a short time on Nikumaroro might initially have appeared circumstantial but, as TIGHAR’s extensive investigations and research have gone on, it has become increasingly compelling. We know that Earhart was headed for Nikumaroro and that someone did live there in 1937 when it was supposedly uninhabited, but who that was, we don’t know. As TIGHAR’s Ric Gillespie comments, “What I have learned is that ‘smoking guns’ are in the eye of the beholder,” yet TIGHAR has revealed more than its fair share. With technological insights improving at a rate of knots, it is surely only a matter of time before that tantalising anomaly on the ocean floor is properly investigated, and each new expedition to Nikumaroro uncovers fresh evidence of the case. Perhaps TIGHAR’s efforts will see the spirit and mystery of Amelia Earhart finally be laid to rest, nearly a century after she disappeared from the skies.

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GRAVE GRIFFIN WARRIOR OF THE

The discovery of the treasure-filled grave of a warrior buried in Greece 3,500 years ago continues to astonish archaeologists

WORDS BY REBECCA FORD

GREECE Excavations at the site have continued to yield fascinating objects since the first discovery

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GRIFFIN WARRIOR

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t is the stuff that archaeological dreams are made of – a dig that uncovered the intact grave of a Mycenaean warrior who was buried around 1500 BCE, his tomb filled with an extraordinary range of treasures including silver cups, a sword, golden rings, precious stones and even a bronze mirror. Not only that, but the discovery is considered to be of such immense historical significance – with the potential to deepen and inform our whole understanding of the ancient world – that it has been hailed by the Greek Ministry of Culture as the, “…most important tomb to have been discovered in 65 years in continental Greece.” The grave is situated in a field near the famed Palace of Nestor at ancient Pylos – which is near the modern day town of Chora in Messinia – however, it predates the palace by several hundred years. The earliest advanced civilisation in Europe is said to date back to around 2600 BCE with the Minoans of the island of Crete. Named after the mythical King Minos, they developed Linear A – an early script, traded widely across the Mediterranean and Aegean – and were skilled artists, metalworkers and makers of ceramics. They are widely portrayed as gentle merchants and agriculturalists who revered female deities and built sophisticated cities with stone roads, sewage systems and grand palaces. The largest known Minoan site is the palace of Knossos, on Crete. However, by around 1450 BCE, their influence seems to have given way to that of the Mycenaean culture of the mainland – perhaps, many scholars think, after the Mycenaeans invaded and conquered Crete and the palace of Knossos was burned. The name Mycenaean derives from the fortified palace of Mycenae in the Peloponnese, which was excavated in the 1870s by German archaeologist Heinrich Schliemann, a pioneer who also uncovered Troy. Uncovering a wealth of

The key finds

A facial reconstruction of the Griffin Warrior by the University of Witwatersrand

Unlike most Mycenaean graves, there were no ceramics, but glittering gems, carved stones and weaponry instead

The rings

Seal stones

Sword and dagger

The mirror

Four rings were found, made of layers of gold and etched with scenes depicting typically Minoan motifs. One shows a leaping bull, another depicts a woman offering a bull’s horn to a goddess who is seated on a throne and holding a mirror. Then there are five finely-dressed women at a seaside shrine, while the fourth shows a woman holding a staff with two birds on either side. The Cretan artistry provided excellent evidence for cultural exchange.

Archaeologists discovered more than 50 seal stones (a sort of amulet) in the grave around the warrior’s skeleton. These seal stones were adorned with Minoan-style carvings that were depicting various things such as goddesses, lions, bulls, reeds and altars. It is thought that they were originally made in Crete. The sheer number of stones alone is highly unusual in a grave of this type and attests to the high social status of the Griffin Warrior.

The grave contained a number of different weapons including a stunning 91-centimetre-long sword with a hilt that is made of ivory and gold. It was on the left side of the grave, by the man’s chest. Beneath it was a dagger with a hilt, intricately decorated with gold. The positioning of these items within the grave must have been of some symbolic importance, perhaps reflecting his skill as a fighter or his political or social power.

The presence of a traditionally feminine item such as the bronze mirror is highly unusual in a male grave – at least in the sites that have been excavated to date. The bronze mirror has an ivory handle and was placed above the Griffin Warrior’s legs – this position may be suggesting that the mirror might hold some special significance. There could be some kind of allusion to the second of the golden rings in which a goddess holds a mirror.

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GRIFFIN WARRIOR artefacts including weapons, pottery and treasures made of silver and gold, he identified Mycenae as the palace of King Agamemnon, who was celebrated by Homer as the ruler who led the Greek forces in the Trojan War. The discoveries attested to the wealth and prosperity of Mycenae, which Homer had referred to as, “rich in gold.” Schliemann also uncovered a number of shaft graves – deep rectangular tombs that have traditionally been viewed as typical of early Mycenaean practice, later superseded by their characteristic beehive tombs. The Mycenaeans built other strongholds across the Greek mainland at Tiryns, Thebes and Athens as well as at Pylos. Their culture, which has traditionally been portrayed as more warlike, male dominated and less artistically sophisticated than that of the Minoans (one academic once described them as ‘barbarians’ in comparison with the Cretans), spread from the Peloponnese across the eastern Mediterranean. They traded extensively – probably in commodities such as oil and wine, as well as ceramics – and appear to have been skilled engineers, building bridges, fortifications and both drainage and irrigation systems. Their civilisation flourished until around 1100 BCE when it rapidly declined – perhaps, most scholars think, due to waves of invasion during which Mycenaean sites were destroyed and plundered. However, it was Mycenaean culture that provided the roots of Classical Greece, the civilisation immortalised by Homer in The Iliad and The Odyssey. Although the Mycenaeans might appear to be very different peoples to the Minoans, there was a degree of

ABOVE A decorated ivory comb found in the grave with the Griffin Warrior

cultural interchange – though to what extent is unclear. It is an issue that scholars have long debated. “We have known for a century that people on the mainland started importing objects from Minoan Crete,” explained Professor John Bennet, director of the British School at Athens and professor of Aegean archaeology at the University of Sheffield. Conclusive evidence for Minoan influence on Mycenaean culture came when Carl Blegen of the University of Cincinnati discovered King Nestor’s Palace, Ancient Pylos, in 1939. The clay tablets he found, on which Linear B script were inscribed, proved similar to ones found in Knossos, thus demonstrating

Digital reconstruction

Bronze mirror

Necklace

This digital reconstruction of the grave as it was discovered shows the most impressive finds, including the skeleton of the warrior himself.

This, along with the jewellery, challenges previous assumptions that these objects were the preserve of wealthy women.

A gold necklace more than 75-centimetres-long was found in the grave, which had avoided being looted over the centuries.

Weaponry

Gold cup

Lone skeleton

In the grave, weaponry and paraphernalia including a blade, bronze short sword and a hilt of a Minoan sword were found.

Also found in the grave was a gold cup, adding to the extensive collection of precious items buried with this person of authority.

The item at the centre of the team’s excitement was of course the skeleton, particularly as it appears to have been buried alone.

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Palace of Nestor It is the best preserved Mycenaean palace in Greece and has now re-opened after restoration This impressive complex in the Peloponnese was built around 1300 BCE by King Nestor, ruler of ancient Pylos – who is mentioned by Homer in both The Iliad and The Odyssey and is reputed to have taken part in the Trojan War. Perched on a hilltop with glorious views of Navarino Bay, it was an administrative, political and financial hub. In addition to the main palace stood the king’s residence – a smaller, older palace – and a large workshop or guardhouse. The residential buildings were two storeys high with 105 rooms on the ground floor alone. The site was first excavated in 1939 by Carl Blegen of the University of Cincinnati, who discovered a large cache of clay tablets written in Mycenaean Linear B script, an adaptation of Linear A script used by the Minoans in Crete, therefore demonstrating a clear link between the two cultures. Linear B is the precursor to Modern Greek. Excavations resumed after the war in 1952 and continued until the 1960s where the works revealed the presence of a huge throne room with a circular hearth, a brightly coloured geometric floor and walls decorated with fine frescoes. Storerooms were filled with hundreds of wine cups. Perhaps most famous is the bathroom, which boasts a deep, decorated bathtub ideal for luxurious royal soaks; according to legend Nestor’s daughter bathed Telemachus here. The complex burned down in 1200 BCE and was never rebuilt. According to Homer, Nestor was a wise old king with a voice that flowed as sweet as honey. His palace has now re-opened to visitors after a three-year restoration, costing €2.5 million, in which a new protective roof has been erected, along with raised walkways and improved interpretation.

“The discovery of the griffin warrior’s tomb looks set to shed new light on this aspect of the history of the ancient world” ABOVE Wilhelm Dörpfeld (peeking through a hole) and Heinrich Schliemann at the Lion Gate at Mycene

ABOVE The excavated skull of the Griffin Warrior

ABOVE One of the Linear B Mycenaean script tablets found at the Palace of Nestor

a strong cultural link. In Linear B script, each symbol stands for a syllable. It formed the basis for the Greek alphabet, where a symbol represents a vowel or consonant. Now, the discovery of the griffin warrior’s tomb looks set to shed new light on this aspect of the history of the ancient world. The tomb was discovered in May 2015 by Jack L Davis, professor of Greek archaeology at the University of Cincinnati; and Sharon Stocker, his wife and fellow archaeologist who represents the University of Cincinnati in excavations at the Palace of Nestor. They assembled an international team of experts, with the initial intention of searching a field near the palace for evidence of settlement, perhaps domestic dwellings. They began to dig where some stones were sticking out of the ground and soon realised that they had not uncovered a house, but a grave. Work commenced in earnest and it was not long before Davis and Stocker received a text: “Better come. Hit bronze.” The bronze artefacts discovered were just the start. The shaft grave – around 1.5 metres deep, 1.2 metres wide and 2.4 metres long – contained the well-preserved skeleton

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The team delve further into the site in search of fresh treasures The progress that had been made on the excavation by late May 2015

Tholos of Atreus, a Mycenaean monument in Greece

Fragment of a Pylos fresco showing a hunter

of a man in his early 30s. The warrior was lying on his back and had been buried in a wooden coffin, which had long decayed, but the grave was otherwise undamaged. The astonished archaeologists soon realised the grave also held a dazzling treasure trove, for the skeleton was surrounded by an extraordinary array of artefacts: weapons to his left and at his feet, jewellery to his right. Pitchers and other items that had originally rested above the body were on his chest. The researchers dated the burial to around 1500 BCE, several hundred years before Nestor’s palace was built and in the early years of Mycenaean civilisation. Among the weapons was a large bronze sword, with a gold and ivory hilt, and a golden-hilted dagger. There were cups and pitchers – unusually these were all made of gold, silver and bronze (no mere ceramics for him); delicately etched seal stones (a sort of amulet) and jewels that included a golden chain and pendant, and four gold signet rings. Thousands of beads made from materials such as amethyst, amber, carnelian, jasper and gold lay beside him, many drilled with holes suggesting

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ABOVE A necklace with two gold pendants and jewels, found in the grave

that they would once have been strung together to form necklaces. Perhaps to ensure that the warrior looked his best for his passage to the next world, the grave also contained a bronze mirror with an ivory handle and six ivory combs. The final touch – which gave the man his nickname – was an ivory plaque embellished with the image of a griffin, which lay between his legs. The griffin, a mythological beast with a lion’s body and eagle’s head, was associated with power. Most Mycenaean graves appear to contain more than one body; “It’s extremely unusual to find an undisturbed tomb of a single burial,” explained Professor Bennet, who added, “We have also all been astonished by just how many objects it contained.” What makes the findings particularly significant is that although buried on the mainland, the vast majority of them appear to have come from Minoan Crete – or at least have been made in Minoan style. They therefore provide evidence for extensive cultural interchange and a strong Minoan influence on early Mycenaean society. Did the Griffin Warrior himself come from Crete? Was he a Mycenaean

PALACE OF NESTOR

“We might well have questioned their authenticity had they not been found in an intact grave”

EX P L O R E R’S

ESSENTIALS

ALBANIA

GREECE

Athens

Palace of Nestor

Essential information The Palace of Nestor is situated in Messinia, in the south-west corner of the Peloponnese peninsula, four kilometres from the village of Chora and 14 kilometres from modern Pylos. If you are driving, take route EO9. The journey should last about 25 minutes. The trip from Chora in a taxi takes around seven minutes. Bus from Pylos to Gargalianoi at 8.45am, calls at the palace at approx 9.15am; 11am bus calls at palace around 11.30am. The return to Pylos is around 12.45pm (MondayFriday only).

When to visit Try and arrive early in the morning to beat the crowds and avoid the heat of the day. Time zone UTC+2:00 Currency EUR

Where to stay Luxury Costa Navarino Dunes; Costa Navarino, Messinia The luxurious Romanos and the family oriented Westin, are both good bases for visiting archaeological and ecological sites. Deluxe double rooms start from €157 (£130/$160) per night. www.costanavarino.com

Standard Hotel Navarone, Petrochori, Pylos Family-run hotel, villas and apartments situated beside beautiful Voidokoilia beach, above which is a natural feature known as Nestor’s cave. Standard double rooms start from £50/$60 per night. www.hotelnavarone.gr

Budget Artina Hotel and Nuovo Apartments Situated in the harbour town of Marathoupli, this is a family oriented hotel with a swimming pool, just some 11 kilometres from Nestor’s Palace. Rooms start from €46 (£35/$50) per night. www.artina.gr

Links www.visitgreece.gr/en/culture/monuments/nestors_palace_x General tourism information pylos.info Travel and tourism tips for visits to Pylos www.griffinwarrior.org Official site of the Griffin Warrior excavation with news and images

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things to see & do

Chora Museum Visit the museum at Chora, where artefacts from the palace are displayed. Look out for decorated pots and fragments of wall paintings.

Beehive tomb There is a tholos, or beehive, tomb by the palace on the other side of the car park. It’s a smaller version of other tombs, like the Treasury of Atreus.

Pylos wildlife The area around Pylos is notable for its wildlife – the Gialova lagoon is the only mainland European habitat of the African chameleon.

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© T Houlton and L Schepartz, HVIRU, University of the Witwatersrand

who had looted goods from the island or had he had them custom-made locally in Minoan style? Had the items been imported by traders, supplying mainland markets with desirable Minoan goods? As yet, no one can be sure. While the presence of martial items, such as the sword, suggests he was a warrior, the vast amount of jewellery confuses the picture, as it was commonly believed that such trinkets were only buried with wealthy women. One explanation could be that the jewels were offerings to a deity. Then there are the many seal stones, small gems used as amulets, which might suggest he was a religious leader. He was however, certainly wealthy, and certainly important. The extent to which the grave goods exhibit Minoan imagery, and showcase Minoan art, is fascinating. “The four rings bear scenes of such distinctively Minoan iconography that we might well have questioned their authenticity had they not been found in an intact grave,” said Professor Bennet. One ring, for instance, shows a leaping bull – a motif commonly associated with Minoan culture and one that gave rise to the legend of the Minotaur. Then there are the seal stones, intricately decorated with typically Minoan scenes – goddesses, lions, bulls and men indulging in their favourite Minoan sport: leaping over a bull’s horns. Although we know little about him, we do have some idea of the appearance of this 3,500-year-old man, as specialists at the University of Witwatersrand have performed a facial reconstruction, revealing the warrior was dark and handsome with strong features and a powerful neck. Researchers will soon carry out DNA analysis on the skeleton of this mysterious man. His teeth are in good condition and so they may yield information about his genetic background, while tests should also provide an insight into his diet and help to determine the cause of death. If plant material is found, it might be able to be used to provide a radiocarbon date for the burial. The grave has now been sealed over and the artefacts taken away for careful scientific analysis. As Professor Bennet explains, though, the grave is not just significant for its contents but also for the very nature of the tomb itself. It has traditionally been thought that the early Mycenaeans buried their dead in shaft graves but that the practice was later superseded by the use of beehive tombs. However, the Griffin Warrior is buried in a shaft grave not far from a beehive tomb that was excavated by Carl Blegen in the 1950s – and that beehive tomb was built before the Griffin Warrior was laid to rest. It seems that this discovery will cause scholars to question and re-think much of what is known about this period in Greek history. It will also likely pique public interest in the identity of the swarthy stranger from another age; a man who was ceremonially buried with possessions that even he – powerful though he undoubtedly was – could not take with him when he died.

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IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF…

Mary,

of Scots Queen Explore the sumptuous palaces

T

he gripping journey to the places in which the most dramatic events of the life of Mary, Queen of Scots were played out covers almost 480 kilometres. Born in 1542, Mary spent her early years under the supervision of her mother, Mary of Guise. In 1548, she was taken to France where she continued her education at the French court and eventually married the French Dauphin, Francis in 1558. Following his death, Mary returned to Scotland in 1561 where she began a rule that would prove to be disastrous. Married to Henry Darnley in 1565, the couple had

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and romantic ruins in England and Scotland that witnessed the rise and fall of Mary, Queen of Scots WORDS BY NICOLA TA LLIS PL ACES VISITED

2 7 1 3 4 5 6 8 10

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one child, James, but the marriage quickly turned sour. In February 1567, Darnley was murdered in mysterious circumstances and it was widely believed that Mary was involved. Shortly after, she made an unwise third marriage to the Earl of Bothwell, before being forced to abdicate by her lords in July 1568. Having escaped from imprisonment at Lochleven Castle, Mary fled to England where she threw herself on the mercy of her cousin, Elizabeth I. For the next 19 years she was forced to endure a captivity that became increasingly stringent, before she was executed for conspiring against Elizabeth on 8 February 1587 at Fotheringhay Castle.

Queen Margaret awaited her husband’s return from battle in a chamber in the north-west turret

MARY, QUEEN OF SCOTS The Return Of Mary, Queen Of Scots To Edinburgh by James Drummond

DATE VISITED: DECEMBER 1542

LINLITHGOW PA L A C E builder, added royal apartments On 8 December 1542, and a chapel and gave the palace James V’s queen, Mary to his wife, Margaret Tudor, as of Guise, gave birth to a a wedding gift. In 1513, James daughter at Linlithgow. The left Scotland to fight the English baby was named Mary and six and tradition has it that it was days later, she became queen of from Queen Margaret’s Bower, a Scots when her father died at small chamber at the Falkland Palace. At top of the north-west the time of Mary’s turret, that Margaret birth, the palace was sat waiting for her one of the principal husband’s return. It residences of the never came as he was Scottish royal family killed at the Battle of and Mary’s father had Flodden. also been born there. The palace in There has been a which Mary was born palace on the site at ABOVE Mary ascended to was one of the most Linlithgow since at the throne at six days old splendid Renaissance least the 12th century, after her father’s death palaces in Scotland and was much of which was swept away described by her mother as a by fire in 1424. James I ordered “very fair palace.” Mary spent the building of a new palace and the first seven months of her life the ruins of his once splendid at Linlithgow before leaving for great hall, which witnessed the the greater security of Stirling feasting and entertainments Castle. She did not return until of the court, still dominate 20 years later. the east quarter of the palace. James’s work was continued Linlithgow is open from 9.30-5.30pm and embellished by subsequent daily, 1 April-30 September, and monarchs and the results were 10am-4pm daily, 1 October–31 March. magnificent. Mary’s grandfather, Entry is free for Historic Environment Scotland members. James IV, an enthusiastic

1

Look out for

James V’s impressive Renaissance fountain, made in 1538. It still functions.

ABOVE Mary’s parents King James V and Mary of Guise

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IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF... Look out for

The Stirling Heads that represent different members of the Stuart dynasty.

Mary, Queen of Scots was crowned here at Stirling Castle in 1543

DATE VISITED: 1543-48

ST I R L I N G CAST L E 2

Today, Stirling Castle appears much as it did in Mary’s day. Stirling was Mary’s childhood home and it was here in the Chapel Royal that Mary was crowned on 9 September 1543. The day was ominous, being the 30-year anniversary of the Battle of Flodden, which saw the slaughter of her grandfather. Perhaps the infant

queen was aware of the tension on the day as she is said to have screamed throughout the entire ceremony. Moreover, English Ambassador Sir Ralph Sadler reported scathingly that Mary was crowned, “…with such solemnity as they do use in this country, which is not very costly.” Mary’s son, James, was later baptised in the chapel.

The queen’s bedchamber

ABOVE The Chapel Royal where Mary was crowned and James was baptised

078

ABOVE King James IV of Scotland

When Mary returned to Scotland from France, her visits to Stirling were frequent, but dramatic. Tragedy almost struck one evening when she retired for bed and a lighted candle set fire to the curtains and tester of her bed while she slept. Though panicked, she was unharmed. Stirling Castle is open Mon-Sun from 9.30am-5pm, adult tickets cost £14.50.

ABOVE James VI was also King James I of England

MARY, QUEEN OF SCOTS DATE VISITED: 1561-67

PA L A C E O F H O LY R O O D H O US E Situated at the end of Edinburgh’s Royal Mile and overlooked by Arthur’s Seat, the Palace of Holyroodhouse has been a royal residence for more than 500 years. King David I established a royal abbey at Holyrood in 1128, and Mary’s grandfather and father began to construct new rooms there, transforming it into a lavish palace complex. Mary took up residence at Holyroodhouse in 1561, and it was to remain her primary home for the next six years. Mary’s apartments were on the second floor of the north-west tower, and are still largely preserved. Suites of rooms were also provided for the use

3

of her second husband, Henry Darnley, and later her third, the Earl of Bothwell. It was in the tiny supper room that Mary’s Italian secretary, David Rizzio, was ambushed – and soon killed – as he dined with the queen and her ladies in 1566. The murder was the connivance of Darnley and the Scottish lords, and Mary herself, though heavily pregnant, was threatened with violence. Following the murder she was placed under house arrest, with both her reign and her life under threat. Shortly after, she escaped from Holyroodhouse and made for Dunbar, 48 kilometres away. Holyroodhouse is open from 9.30am-4.30pm daily, 1 November – 25 March, and 9.30am-6pm daily, 26 March – 31 October.

Mary’s father and grandfather added many rooms to Holyroodhouse

ABOVE Mary, Queen of Scots Entering Holyrood Palace, Edinburgh

After Mary’s secretary was murdered, the queen was put under house arrest here

Look out for

The Lennox Jewel, commissioned by Lady Margaret Douglas.

079

DATE VISITED: 1566

E D I N B U RG H CAST L E

the end of the 11th century, 4 By Edinburgh Castle was an important royal fortress. It is strongly associated with the wife of King Malcolm III, Queen Margaret, who was canonised in 1250, and is the dedicatee of the tiny chapel in the castle complex. By the 16th century, Edinburgh Castle was the centre of Mary, Queen of Scots’s capital city and housed the Scottish Crown Jewels. It also contained comfortable royal lodgings that had been refurbished by James IV and the famous Mons Meg cannon,

which was fired in 1558 to celebrate Mary’s marriage to the French Dauphin, Francis. Mary arrived at Edinburgh Castle in April 1566, where she had chosen to give birth to her first and only child. The birth was difficult, but on 19 June, a prince was born in the tiny cabinet room, which still survives. Mary’s son was the future James VI of Scotland and I of England. Edinburgh Castle is open from 9.30am-6pm daily, 1 April – 30 September, and 9.30am-5pm daily, 1 October – 31 March.

DATE VISITED: AUGUST 1566

T R AQ UA I R H O US E Traquair is the oldest inhabited house in Scotland and has been visited by 27 monarchs. In 1491, James Stewart, son of the Earl of Buchan, obtained Traquair and became the first laird. He had grand plans for improvements to the house but was killed alongside James IV at the Battle of Flodden before these could transpire. By 1566, Traquair was the home of James’s grandson, John Stewart, fourth laird, who was the captain of Mary’s bodyguard and a loyal supporter. On 19 August 1566, Mary arrived at Traquair with her husband, Henry

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Darnley and their infant son, James as part of a hunting trip. The royal couple were, however, estranged and thus it was not a happy trip. The room in which Mary probably slept still survives, located in the 12th-century tower and the bed in which she slept was brought from Terregles House. The silk quilt that adorns it is said to have been made by Mary and her ladies. To mark her visit, she presented her host with an armorial in oak of the Royal Arms of Scotland. Traquair is open 11am-5pm daily, 1 April – 30 September, and 11am-4pm daily, 1 – 29 October.

The Murder of David Rizzio How the husband of Mary, Queen of Scots plotted bloody murder for her trusted advisor On the evening of 9 March 1566, Mary was enjoying supper in the tiny supper room that adjoined her bedchamber at the Palace of Holyroodhouse. She was joined by a small group of friends, including her Italian secretary, David Rizzio. The pleasant evening was suddenly disturbed when a group of Mary’s nobles burst in and dragged Rizzio, who had clung to the queen’s skirts, out through the bedchamber and into the outer chamber. “Save my life, madame, save me!” Rizzio cried in desperation, but it was too late. He was brutally stabbed 56 times before his lifeless corpse was flung down a staircase. Rizzio had been incredibly unpopular, and Mary’s husband, Henry Darnley, who was jealous of the secretary’s influence over his wife and was determined to engineer his removal, led the conspirators. It was Darnley who directed the conspirators from his own apartment on the floor below, to the queen’s bedchamber by means of a narrow private staircase. “I will think upon revenge,” Mary said when she was told that her loyal servant was dead.

ABOVE Rizzio clung to the skirts of the queen as he was dragged from the room

MARY, QUEEN OF SCOTS Hermitage Castle was the home of James Hepburn, Earl of Bothwell

Look out for

A 16th-century watch reputed to have been Mary’s was recovered from Queen’s Mire.

DATE VISITED: 1566

H E R M I TA G E CA S T L E The mighty stronghold of Hermitage is known as ‘the strength of Liddesdale’, and dates from the 13th century. In 1566, it was the home of James Hepburn, Earl of Bothwell and Lord High Admiral of Scotland, who would become Mary’s third husband the following year. On 8 October, Bothwell was seriously injured during an altercation with cattle thieves on the borders and returned to Hermitage to recover. Mary, meanwhile, was staying at Jedburgh, where she was presiding over a local

6

court hearing when she heard of Bothwell’s injuries. It was not until a week later that she set out to visit her trusted admiral. Hermitage was 40 kilometres from Jedburgh, and Mary accomplished the long journey on horseback in the company of her half-brother, the Earl of Moray, and several of her lords. She stayed at Hermitage for just two hours

before making the arduous journey back to Jedburgh the same day. According to legend, Mary was thrown from her horse near Hermitage, a place that is now known as Queen’s Mire, and shortly after returning to Jedburgh she fell ill. Hermitage is open 9.30am-5.30pm daily, 1 April – 30 September. Entry is free to Historic Environment Scotland members.

“Mary accomplished the long journey on horseback”

ABOVE Mary, Queen of Scots. This is one of only two paintings believed to have been commissioned in her lifetime

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IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF... The queen managed to escape her Lochleven prison in May 1568

Look out for

In the 14th-century tower where Mary was housed, a small oratory survives.

L O C H L EV E N CAST L E DATE VISITED: JUNE 1567 – MAY 1568 On 15 June 1567, Mary’s rebellious Scottish lords defeated her forces at the Battle of Carberry Hill. Two days later, the queen arrived at Lochleven Castle; it was not her first visit, but on this occasion the circumstances were very different: she was a prisoner. Lochleven was situated on an island in the middle of a loch and as such, it was an ideal place to hold a queen

7

captive as escape was difficult. Mary remained at Lochleven for almost a year under the custodianship of Sir William Douglas, one of the leaders among her rebellious lords. It was here that, just over a month after her arrival, Mary miscarried twins. While she was recovering, on 24 July she was forced to abdicate in favour of her infant son. Mary lodged in two rooms on the third floor of the

tower, rooms she was often forced to share with Lady Douglas. She tried to escape and it wasn’t until the 2 May 1568, that she succeeded after a failed attempt. However, her army was defeated at Langside on 13 May and she fled south towards England, never to return to Lochleven again. Lochleven is open from 10am-4.15pm daily, 1 April – 30 September, and 10am-3.15pm daily, 1-31 October.

ABOVE Mary was forced to abdicate in favour of her son

DATE VISITED: 1568 - 69

B O LT O N CA ST L E

Mary’s bedchamber at Bolton Castle

On 15 July 1568, Mary arrived at Bolton Castle in Wensleydale after a two-day journey from Carlisle Castle. She was Bolton’s first and last royal prisoner and would remain there for six months. Sir Francis Knollys, Mary’s custodian, reported that, “…this house appears very strong, very fair and stately, after the old manner of building, and is the highest walled house I have seen with but one entrance,” and observed that Mary was, “…very quiet, tractable and void of displeasant countenance” upon her arrival. During Mary’s time at Bolton she went hunting and was allowed to wander in the grounds. She had 30 servants to attend to her needs, including the faithful Mary Seton. In

8

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addition, Sir Francis Knollys began teaching her to speak and write in English. Mary’s cloths of estate also arrived which, though deposed, allowed her to keep regal state over her apartments, which were located in the south-west tower. Despite the comfort of Mary’s surroundings, Knollys was paranoid that she might attempt to escape and even sent a map of Bolton to London in order for his security arrangements to be approved. Meanwhile, it had been decided that Mary would be moved to the greater security of Tutbury Castle in Staffordshire, which was 160 kilometres further south. Bolton is open 10am-5pm daily, 13 February – 30 October. The castle closes at 4pm in February, March and October.

MARY, QUEEN OF SCOTS DATE VISITED: 1569 - 85

T U T B U RY CA ST L E once been one of the most important castles in England. Despite her protests, Mary was forced to endure spells of imprisonment at Tutbury for nearly seven years. It was here that she first met Bess of Hardwick, Shrewsbury’s wife and initially the two women got along well. The uncomfortable conditions impacted

on Mary’s health, and Shrewsbury wrote to Queen Elizabeth to inform her that Mary was so ill at one point that, “…she showed herself somewhat afraid of her life.” Mary recovered, but her health continued to decline throughout her imprisonment.

Tutbury is open at various times from Easter 2017, check the website for details.

ABOVE Mary when she was in captivity

DATE VISITED: 1573 - 1584

SHEFFIELD MANOR LODGE 10

Mary was frequently moved between Sheffield Castle and Sheffield Manor Lodge, a house that had been erected on the site of a former Medieval hunting lodge. The lodge was largely the work of Mary’s jailor, the Earl of Shrewsbury, and today the Turret House is the only remaining roofed building. While imprisoned at Sheffield, Mary began an aviary and asked her agent in Paris to obtain birds for her, including a pair of turtledoves. This, she said, “will be a pastime for a prisoner.” Mary also sat

for an artist, claiming that she wished to send miniature copies to her friends and she was known to regularly bathe in white wine. When she left Sheffield for the last time in 1584, she was much changed as a result of many years of imprisonment that had taken their toll on her health. She was now a prematurely aged 42-year-old woman. Sheffield Manor Lodge is open on weekends throughout the year, see the website for details. Guided tours are sometimes available.

083

© Alamy, John Lord, Flickr - steve p2008, Loren Kerns, Glen Bowman

When Mary arrived at Tutbury, her custodian was the Earl of Shrewsbury. Though she liked Shrewsbury, she loathed Tutbury and remarked that, “…the greater part of it is rather a dungeon for base and abject criminals than a habitation for any person of quality.” Though falling into disrepair, it had

9

OF THE

People’s History Museum, Manchester Manchester’s museum for social history includes some of the most politically important items in British history. Here are just a few of its highlights, chosen by the curator Peterloo Handkerchief LOCATION: Main gallery one

MEET THE

CURATOR Development officer Helen Antrobus has an MA in museum and gallery studies and works to engage audiences with the lives of the museum’s radical heroes. This informed her research into the lives of radical women, such as Ellen Wilkinson and Betty Tebbs, and how they are interpreted through the collections.

084

The Peterloo handkerchief was made to commemorate the Peterloo massacre of 1819. 60,000 people gathered to demand the vote and parliamentary reform in Saint Peter’s Fields in Manchester. 18 people were killed and 600 injured when the yeomanry attacked the defenceless crowds. “The handkerchief is an important reminder of the struggle for the right to vote and for free speech. In the margins of the handkerchief, significant phrases are repeated: ‘Universal Suffrage’, ‘Annual Parliaments’ and ‘Election by Ballot’. These messages have resonated through the ages.”

ABOVE The scene depicted on the handkerchief is one of chaos, as people gathered seeking to protect their human rights

10 TREASURES

Tinplate Workers’ Society banner LOCATION: Main gallery one

The Liverpool Tinplate Workers’ Society banner is thought to be the oldest trade union banner in the world. “The symbols on this banner have been used repeatedly over the centuries on trade union banners. Perhaps the most significant symbol is the bundle of sticks, which represents strength in unity. A single stick can be broken, a bundle cannot. The union flag in the corner is interesting, it shows that the union was a patriotic, not a subversive organisation.”

Mission statement The text within the circle reads “United to support but not combined to injure,” indicating the values of the society.

Allegorical figures The two female figures adorning the banner represent hope and justice (the scales being a longused recognisable symbol).

RIGHT The banner is painted in oils on to a piece of linen, and is the museum’s oldest banner

Tom Paine’s desk LOCATION: Main gallery one Most famous for his pamphlet writing – producing works such as Common Sense (1776) and Rights Of Man (1791) – Thomas Paine was one of Britain’s most prolific radicals, whose support of the American War of Independence earned him a place as a founder of the United States. Helen told us, “At this desk, Thomas Paine wrote Rights Of Man, a pamphlet that advocated the French Revolution and advised a reformation of the British government. It would enrage the government so much, he had to escape the country. He would never return. The desk did not belong to him, but to Thomas Clio Rickman of Upper Marylebone Street, who Paine stayed with. After Rights Of Man was published, Rickman would show the desk to visitors. “Thomas Paine was not a rich man, nor a celebrity – he is still relatively unknown in British history, despite being such a significant part of American history. He was a radical, unafraid to speak out. By pen and sword, Paine fought for liberty, democracy and equality, and this desk is a testament to that.” RIGHT The table belonged to Thomas Clio Rickman, but Paine used it during a stay

Pank-A-Squith LOCATION: Main gallery one The Pank-A-Squith board game was created in 1909 by the Women’s Social and Political Union (WSPU), and was sold to raise funds for the suffragette cause. The name comes from the fight between Emmeline Pankhurst, the leader of the WSPU, and Prime Minister Herbert Asquith. The aim of the game is to get to the Houses of Parliament first – effectively like snakes and ladders. “Can you imagine the mixed reactions that this board game would have got when first on sale? Shock! Hilarity! Horror! What is interesting about Pank-A-Squith are the squares depicting the violence and the terrible force-feeding that suffragettes faced in prison – squares 33 and 25 refer to these horrific moments. The suffragettes did not overlook the darker and much more brutal side of their campaign, but rather embraced it as part of their struggle,” Helen said.

RIGHT The game represents the struggle of Suffragettes against the authorities to secure their vote

085

10 TREASURES

Clement Attlee’s pipe LOCATION: Main gallery one Iconic accessory

Clement Attlee became prime minister in 1945 when the Labour Party won a landslide victory over the Conservative Party. “In 1945, Labour’s coming to power was celebrated with bonfires in the streets and festivities all through the night. After the horrors of the Great Depression and World War II, Clement Attlee led a government of reform, promising a ‘cradle to grave’ welfare state set out in the Beveridge Report of 1944. In the election manifesto, there are only two lines dedicated to a national health service, but this idea and the report proved so popular that it led to Labour’s victory. Attlee’s pipe was an effective prop to ward off tricky questions. He would use the time it took filling and lighting it to either evade the question entirely or buy himself some thinking time.

Attlee was often photographed smoking his pipe, and was thought to use the ritual of lighting and puffing for time to think.

A popular habit Pipe smoking hit its height of popularity after Attlee’s time as prime minister, in the 1960s, and was then favoured by celebrities from prime ministers to cricketers, such as Fred Trueman.

RIGHT While pipe smoking has declined severely in the last 50 years, it was a habit kept up by many prime ministers of the 20th century, including Harold Wilson

Michael Foot’s jacket LOCATION: Main gallery two

Michael Foot was the leader of the Labour Party and the leader of the opposition from 1980 to 1983, while Margaret Thatcher was the prime minister. “In November 1981, at the Remembrance Day commemorative event, Michael Foot presented his wreath at the cenotaph standing sombrely next to Margaret Thatcher. For the bracing, outdoor service, he chose to wear a coat bought at the department store Harrods, which was subsequently attacked by the media – they dubbed the coat inappropriate, with one Labour MP saying he looked like an ‘out of work navvy’. “Foot’s style of leadership often drew negative attention in the press, similar to today’s leader Jeremy Corbyn. History – and politics – does repeat itself!”

Equal pay plate LOCATION: Main gallery two This commemorative plate was designed to celebrate the women strikers, the Dagenham Ford Machinists, who went on strike for equal pay in 1968. “There’s something bittersweet about this plate – when it was created in 1984, the Dagenham Ford Machinists had still not achieved their goal and were having to strike again. However, it celebrates their momentous achievement of getting the Equal Pay Act passed in 1970.” “MP Barbara Castle was employment minister at the time and was instrumental in resolving the strike. On the plate, you can see the messages of the strikers inked onto their placards. ‘Equal pay for work of equal value’ was their ultimate achievement.”

RIGHT The jacket was called a ‘donkey jacket’ but does not in fact conform to this specific style of coat ABOVE This plate has immortalised the struggle of women for equal pay

086

10 TREASURES

Viv Anderson’s football shirt LOCATION: Main gallery two

This is the shirt of Viv Anderson, the first black footballer to play for England, which he wore during his debut game in 1978. Football was rife with racism and Anderson was often the victim of racial abuse. Helen told us, “Viv Anderson said: ‘Yes, it’s a football shirt, but it tells a story of how people were starting to react to black workers, and footballers, succeeding right across the community at a time of a big cultural shift.’”

Never going underground t-shirt LOCATION: Main gallery two The ‘never going underground t-shirt’ was created for a protest rally in Manchester city centre in 1988, against Section 28. “Homosexual acts between men had only been legalised 21 years earlier, but the fight for equality for LGBT+ people was far from over.” In 1988, Section 28 was passed by government, it stated that local authorities, ‘… shall not intentionally promote homosexuality or publish material with the intention of promoting homosexuality.’ Helen said, “The act provoked national outcry; there were protests all over the

country, most famously when the six o’clock news was invaded by a group of lesbian protesters. The rally in Manchester emphasised the strength of the LGBT+ community in the city, with Ian McKellen, Tom Robinson and Jimmy Somerville in attendance. The t-shirt depicts the London Underground symbol with the words ‘Never Going Underground/Out and Proud’. Going back to a world where LGBT+ people were criminalised and devalued was not an option – they were staying out and they would never stop fighting.”

RIGHT The shirt may not seem that iconic at first glance, but it was its wearer who made it an important symbol of equality in sport

Parliamentary Labour Party minutes

BELOW The policies here would form the basis of Britain’s main opposition

LOCATION: Main gallery one

© People’s History Museum, Manchester, Fido PR

These are the first ever minutes of the Parliamentary Labour Party, from their meeting in February 1906. Keir Hardie’s signature can be seen on one of the pages. “The policies listed in these minutes demonstrate how radical a party Labour was when it first won its seats in parliament. Women’s suffrage, child feeding, housing, miners’ rights, these were all pioneering reforms that the Labour Party believed would change the lives of the working classes. There’s no foreign policy – it’s all domestic. After World War I, the Labour Party began to discuss foreign policy.”

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HERITAGE HERO

F A B I A N WA R E

CUSTODIAN OF T H E WA R D E A D

F

abian Ware was one of the hundreds of thousands of patriotic men who heeded Lord Kitchener’s call to arms at the outbreak of World War I, but he found himself surplus to requirements – aged 45, the former editor of the Morning Post was turned away in favour of other, younger recruits. However, Ware was determined to serve his country in some way. He volunteered for the Red Cross instead, taking command of a mobile ambulance unit on 19 September 1914 and using donated cars to treat and transport wounded soldiers. Soldiers who died were often buried hurriedly by French civilians so Ware and his men also took it upon themselves to record any graves they came across. As the

088

ABOVE Ware was knighted by King George V in 1920 and awarded the Legion of Honor by France

Western Front sank into the attrition of trench warfare, death rates increased and the resting places of soldiers were easily lost, especially given the arbitrary destruction caused by artillery fire. Recording graves took more and more of Ware’s time and in early 1915 he founded the Graves Registration Commission. Within months it was subsumed by the army and Ware was promoted to major. Ware grappled with the fundamental principles that would guide the new body, particularly after the death of one particular soldier. Lieutenant William Gladstone, grandson of the former prime minister, died on 15 April 1915. His body was returned home and buried with his ancestors in the churchyard at Hawarden, but Ware realised that this was a kind of social discrimination – repatriation of remains was only available to those who

HERITAGE HERO

“Rows of simple white headstones... proclaiming the equality of all beneath the cross which is graven on the monument”

Fabian Ware ensured that the soldiers who were buried in the corners of foreign fields would never be forgotten

FA B I A N WA R E

MAKING A HERO 1 Securing the cemeteries He negotiated that Britain was granted land used for cemeteries in perpetuity.

2 Memorials to the missing

in a garden setting augmented by two sculptures, a Cross of Sacrifice and a Stone of Remembrance. The cemeteries of the Western Front became a place of pilgrimage for those visiting the graves of their loved ones. After Ware’s death in 1949, the numbers of visitors to the cemeteries increased more than he would ever have expected; now it is not only the fallen soldiers’ descendants but also schoolchildren, servicemen and tourists who come to view the rows of white headstones. Rudyard Kipling described building WWI cemeteries as, “…the single biggest piece of work since the pharaohs – and they only worked in their own country.” That work was largely down to Fabian Ware. He ensured soldiers who had made the ultimate sacrifice were treated equally and with respect.

3 Creative freedom Ware recruited the greatest artistic minds to aid the commission’s work such as Rudyard Kipling.

4 Rural campaigner Ware was a member of the Council for Preservation of Rural England.

5 Return to duty Ware, 69, returned to duty in WWII as the War Office’s director of Graves Registration and Enquiries.

© Getty, Thinkstock

could afford it. Although it overruled the wishes of many, Ware pushed through a regulation banning the returning of bodies to Britain. He wanted those who died in the war to be treated equally, regardless of rank or class. At the Armistice in November 1918, Ware was given the opportunity to see his egalitarian vision become reality. Now vice-chairman of the Imperial War Graves Commission (since 1960 the Commonwealth War Graves Commission), he oversaw the building of 1,000 cemeteries containing 580,000 separate graves. Ware’s guiding principles were simplicity, equality and uniformity. Each grave was marked by a white headstone with a design that recorded the same basic details. There was no distinction between officers and men, nor between different services or nationalities. The graves were placed

The commission also built memorials for missing soldiers who had no known graves.

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Rura fe museums in East Anglia East Anglia has a rich and varied rural history that goes back centuries; here are just a few of the museums that celebrate it

Gressenhall Farm and Workhouse Discover life in the Victorian workhouse before watching different farming techniques in action. It offers a wide programme of events for all ages, as well as a rare breed farm dedicated to preserving Victorian techniques.

EX P L O R E R’S

ESSENTIALS

8Openforsummerseasonfrom5March Adults: £11.50 ($14), Child: £9.80 ($12) www.museums.norfolk.gov.uk/visit_us/gressenhall_ farm_and_workhouse

HI

HLIGHT Y HIG OR ST KING

WOR ILL M WIND

Museum of East Anglian Life

Museum of Cambridge

West Stow AngloSaxon village

Burwell Museum

This museum is dedicated to bringing East Anglia’s farming past back to life. The extensive site consists of cottages, farmhouses and a windmill and the hands-on exhibits and living history demonstrations offer visitors a vivid chance to experience rural life of the past.

Formerly the Cambridge and Country Folk Museum, the Museum of Cambridge is home to a rich collection of East Anglian artefacts. Situated in an evocative former tavern, the museum tells the story of three centuries of local life in a changing world.

This unique attraction is set in an extensive country park that is rich in all kinds of wildlife. In West Stow, an Anglo-Saxon village, time has stood still and visitors can take the chance to dress up in period costume and try out what life would be like as an Anglo-Saxon for themselves.

No visit to Burwell Museum would be complete without a visit to its working fully restored windmill, but the site offers plenty of other attractions too. From vintage farm vehicles to recreated village buildings, Burwell offers something for all the family.

8Tues-Sat: 10am-6pm Entrance for all ages: £2.50 ($3) Annual membership options available www.eastanglianlife.org.uk

8 Tues-Sat: 10.30am-5pm Adults: £4 ($4.95), Child: Free Concessions available www.folkmuseum.org.uk

8 Mon-Sun: 9am-5pm Adults: £5 ($6), Child: £3 ($3.50) Concessions available www.weststow.org

8 Thurs/Sun/Bank hol Mon: 11am-5pm Adult: £4 ($5), Child: £2 ($2.50) Concessions available www.burwellmuseum.org.uk

091

Mini Guides – Japanese Buddhas

t Buddhas of Japan

Nanzoin Buddha Just 21 years old, the Nanzoin Buddha is the world’s largest reclining Buddha statue. It’s also the world’s largest bronze structure at 41 metres long. The statue contains the ashes of Buddha, as well as sand from the shrines that stand along the route of the revered Shikoku Pilgrimage.

Japan is rich in Buddhist history and awestruck visitors can view the county’s remarkable giant Buddha statues. Here are five that you shouldn’t miss

EX P L O R E R’S

ESSENTIALS

8Mon-Sun: 9am-5pm

H

Entrance to the temple is free although there is a 500-yen charge to enter the prayer room underneath.

RY HIGHLIGHT TO IS EN

HIDD GEM

Ueno Daibutsu

Ushiku Daibutsu

Takaoka Daibutsu

Tokyo Daibutsu

All that remains of this once magnificent copper statue, which was constructed in 1631 is Buddha’s face set into a shrine. Sadly, the remainder of the statue was lost when it was melted down for soldiers to use in Japanese munitions during World War II.

Standing at 120 metres high, Japan’s tallest Buddha is also one of the country’s most popular. Situated in some of the most idyllic, tranquil gardens that are rich in flora and marine life, the statue is actually home to a museum that contains more than 3,000 golden Buddhas.

The first Takaoka Buddha was constructed in 1221 but since that time several statues have stood at the site. With the original wooden Buddhas ravaged by time and on occasion by fire, the current copper Buddha of Takaoka was completed in 1933.

This is one of the lesservisited Buddha statues, and is a great place to visit for travellers in need of some quiet contemplation. Set amid beautiful and secluded grounds, it is an ideal place to spend some time enjoying a little peace amid the bustle of Tokyo.

8 Open 24 hours Entrance is free Just outside the JR Ueno Station

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8 Mon-Sun: 9.30am-5pm Museum entrance: Adults: 800 yen (£5/$6). Accessible by car, bus and train

8Mon-Sun: 6am-6pm

8Mon-Sun: 8am-5pm

Entrance is free 10-15 minute walk from Takaoka Station

Take a Tōbu Tōjō train from Ikebukuro to Narimasu and walk to Jouren-ji

Mini Guides – Prague synagogues

Synagogues in Prague The history of the Jewish people in Prague is long, rich and tragic. That history is told through the synagogues that are open to the public EX P L O R E R’S

The Old-New Synagogue

The Pinkas Synagogue

The Old-New Synagogue was constructed in 1270 and is the oldest surviving twin-nave synagogue in the world. It also houses a richly embroidered flag that was awarded to the Jewish people of Prague in honour of their bravery during the Thirty Years’ War. A key site to visit in the Jewish quarter.

This 16th-century synagogue is dedicated to honouring the memory of nearly 80,000 Czech and Moravian-Jewish victims of the Holocaust, with the name of each written on the wall. Although the museum was closed during the Soviet occupation of Prague, it survived to tell its remarkable story.

8Sun-Fri: 9am-6pm

8Sun-Fri: 9am-6pm

Adults: CZK200 (£6/$7), Child: CZK140 (£4/$5). www.prague.eu

Adults: CZK300 (£9/$11), Child: CZK200 (£6/$7)

ESSENTIALS

8Sun-Fri: 9am-6pm Adults: CZK300 (£9/$11), Child: CZK200 (£6/$7) www.jewishmuseum.cz/maisel-synagogue/

The Maisel Synagogue Situated in the former Jewish Ghetto, this 16th-century synagogue was closed in the late 1980s due to structural collapse. Now fully restored, the synagogue tells the story of the Czech Jewish people from the 9th century to the 18th and is a popular stop for travellers.

The Spanish Synagogue

The Klausen Synagogue

Visitors to the Spanish Synagogue will find a fascinating and beautifully decorated synagogue, complete with glorious colours. Left derelict after occupation by first the Nazi and then communist regimes, this synagogue was restored in the 1990s and entrusted to the Jewish Museum in Prague.

The largest synagogue in the Prague Jewish quarter, visitors to this wonderful Baroque building will be richly rewarded. Through an exhibition curated by the Jewish Museum, travellers can learn about Jewish festive and family traditions, as well as view an extensive collection of ancient Hebrew manuscripts.

8Sun-Fri: 9am-6pm

8Sun-Fri: 9am-6pm

Adults: CZK300 (£9/$11), Child: CZK200 (£6/$7)

Adults: CZK300 (£9/$11), Child: CZK200 (£6/$7)

093

Mini Guides – Belgian Memorials

Battle memorials in Belgium The war memorials of Belgium commemorate those who gave their lives in conflict through the centuries. From Waterloo to World War II, here are five that span the ages

Mardasson Memorial The Mardasson memorial honours more than 76,000 American soldiers who were killed or wounded at the Battle of the Bulge. The memorial is in the shape of a five pointed American star. The Bastogne War Museum is also situated nearby on the site and it tells the story of the battle and those who fell there.

EX P L O R E R’S

ON EUM SITE

T H

STORY HIG HI MUS HLIG

ESSENTIALS

8 Mon-Sun: 9.30am-6pm (Closed January) Adults: €14 (£11/$14), Children: €8 (£6/$8) www.bastognewarmuseum.be

The Lion’s Mound This enormous manmade hill, topped with a magnificent stone lion, commemorates the legendary Battle of Waterloo and was immortalised in Victor Hugo’s classic novel, Les Misérables. For those who climb the more than 200 steps to the top of the mound, an unparalleled view over the battlefield awaits.

Elsie and Mairi Memorial Teenage nurses Elsie Knocker and Mairi Chisholm battled through gas attacks to nurse troops on the front. Working in terrible conditions, the women were given special permission by German commanders to retrieve the wounded from the battlefield and this memorial to them at Ypres was unveiled just last year.

Memorial Museum The Menin Gate Passchendaele The Menin Gate of Ypres 1917 commemorates those who died In the space of just 100 days, 500,000 men died at Passchendaele, giving their lives to claim less than ten kilometres. They are honoured in this former chateau, where visitors can examine a replica trench and dugout, as well as an extensive collection of evocative artefacts.

and were never given a proper grave. It is also known as the Memorial to the Missing. Highly controversial when it was unveiled in 1927, the triumphal arch of the Menin Gate is one of the most visited war memorial sites throughout all of Belgium.

8Mon-Sun: 10am-6pm

8Open 24 hours

8Mon-Sun: 9am-6pm

8Open 24 hours

Adults: €19 (£16/$19), Concessions: €15 (£12/$15). waterloo1815.be

Entrance is free Located at the Hotel Ariane in Ypres

Adults: €8.50 (£7/$9), Children: €5 (£4/$5). www.passchendaele.be

Entrance is free Traffic stops at 8pm for the Last Post

094

MiniGuides – Welsh Castles HLIGHT Y HIG OR ST FACTS

HI

ARTE IDE INS

Castles in north Wales

Visitors to north Wales will be spoilt for choice when it comes to castles. From ruined strongholds to unfinished fortresses, there’s plenty to enjoy EX P L O R E R’S

Powis Castle

Flint Castle

This Medieval stronghold was originally built in the 13th century and is now owned by the National Trust. It really does have something on offer for everyone of all ages, including acres of gorgeous grounds in which to take an afternoon stroll and an enormous collection of eastern antiquities, assembled by Clive of India.

The strategically important Flint Castle was the first in Edward I’s so-called ‘Iron Ring’, intended to take control of Wales. Immortalised in Shakespeare’s play Richard II as the location of Richard’s capture, this castle may now be in ruins but it still remains an evocative and historic site for its hundreds of visitors.

8 Mon-Sun: 11am-4pm Adult: £13.40 ($16), Child: £6.70 ($8) www.nationaltrust.org.uk

8 Mon-Sun: 10am-4pm Entrance is free cadw.gov.wales/flintcastle

Beaumaris Castle

Bodelwyddan Castle

ESSENTIALS

8Mon-Sun: 9.30am-5pm Adult: £6 ($7), Child: £4.20 ($5), concessions available www.harlech.com

Harlech Castle Another example of the Iron Ring, Harlech Castle glowers down over the Irish Sea. It has played a vital part in Welsh history, from its construction in the 13th century to the British Civil Wars and beyond. In this evocative castle, time really does seem to have stood still.

Situated on the Isle of Anglesey, conduction on Beaumaris began in 1282 as part of Edward I’s famed Iron Ring but work was halted when finances and ran out before it reached its full height. Despite its ruined state, the unfinished castle of Beaumaris is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and an excellent example of concentric fortifications. 8 Mon-Sun: 9.30am-5pm Adult: £6 ($7), Child: £4.20 ($5) www.beaumaris.com

Constructed in 1460 to showcase the wealth of an important Welsh family, Bodelwyddan has been used as a private home, a hospital for wounded servicemen and even a private school. The castle now houses an extensive at collection and its stunning grounds are a wonderful place to spend a sunny afternoon. 8 Tues-Thurs, Sat-Sun: 10am-3.30pm Adult: £5 ($6), Child: £4 ($5) bodelwyddan-castle.co.uk

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Strange Places

THE WONDERFUL BARN Located in County Kildare, Ireland to the east of Castledown, the Wonderful Barn is a truly unique and fascinating piece of architecture. The intriguing corkscrew shaped building dates to 1743 and is known most of all for its unusual shape. The inverted funnel of rock towers more than 21 metres high with 94 steps of winding external stairs wrapping around it, resembling more a Medieval keep than a barn. The Wonderful Barn was a later addition to the 222-hectare estate of William Conolly,

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speaker of the Irish House of Commons at the start of the Georgian period. The unique structure has two smaller dovecote towers either side of it and is adjoined by a large, derelict residence called Barnhall House. There are several theories for the barn’s original purpose, with some claiming it to be a dovecote to store the birds, which were considered a delicacy, however, it’s generally believed to be a granary, in order to keep stock nearby after the devastation of the 1740-41 Irish famine. This theory is supported by

the presence of a hole in each floor for the grain to pass through. It is likely that the construction of the distinctive structure was also seen as a way to employ the local poor, and the seven floors within give credence to the idea that the servants slept within the walls. However, the Wonderful Barn’s unique shape seems to have existed only to add character to the landscape. There is one other building in Ireland bearing resemblance, Bottle Tower in Dublin, which is believed to be a later imitation.

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Discover the connection between Great Britain and Germany’s Royal Houses. To explore the fascinating royal connections between the two countries, why not travel in the footsteps of the crowned British monarchy in Germany? Visit our website to discover the splendid towns, castles & gardens as well as the intriguing history of our Royal Heritage Route. Find out more at: www.germany.travel/royalheritage

royal welcome

North elevation of Sigmaringen Castle © Schloss Sigmaringen

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