Year 11 Ancient History Excursion to the Chau Chak Wing Museum

Year 11 Ancient History Excursion to the Chau Chak Wing Museum

On Wednesday 31st August, on Emperor Caligula’s (and Hugo’s) birthday and against a backdrop of public transport chaos, Mr de Bres and his Year 11 Ancient History class visited the University of Sydney’s Chau Chak Wing Museum to participate in an archaeological workshop and to be introduced to some of the museum’s 30,000 artefacts.

 

Conor Greenwood reflects on his visit to the Museum:

 

  1. What did you think about the Chau Chak Wing Museum?

I thought the museum was really interesting, modern and ‘architectural’ and exciting. I was surprised by the collection and the depth in which topics and periods could be accounted for and supported by evidence from around the world. I was really impressed by the Classical collection especially, and the way in which many of the exhibits could specifically help students gather information about historical topics. It is a very cool museum.

 

  1. What did you think about our guided tour of the Museum?

Phoebe, our guide was great. She was very knowledgeable and helpful in aiding to gain an understanding of the items in the museum. She explained artefacts intricately, but also so they were digestible for us to follow. She helped in making links between the artefacts as well.

 

  1. Write down the most interesting thing(s) you learned at the Museum

The background of the bust of Augustus in the museum was very fascinating to me. The armour showed his achievements, and even though he was 70 when the statue was commissioned, he is presented as young and handsome, trying to forward his claims that he was the ‘son of Caesar’ or the ‘son of a God’. I also found it fascinating that the marble bust obtained by Sir Charles Nicholson in the nineteenth century is an exact replica of a part of a first century AD statue known as the ‘Prima Porta’ Statue, currently located in the Vatican Museum.

 

  1. What was your favourite part of visiting the Museum and why?

My favourite part of the museum was looking at the Classical artefacts. It is amazing to look at real, physical, tangible objects that are thousands of years old that are directly related to interesting periods in history. I find this my favourite part of visiting most History museums.