Spanish bank to work with British Museum to stage travelling exhibitions

AN AGREEMENT between La Caixa Bank and the British Museum to organise exhibitions within Spain was signed in London on September 1.

There has been a long-standing arrangement between the two organisations, but this formal agreement will allow Spanish audiences to enjoy 16 exhibitions over the next four years.

It is intended that the exhibitions will move around Spain and will circulate within La Caixa’s cultural centres situated in Barcelona, Girona, Lleida, Madrid, Palma, Tarragona and Zaragoza. When building is completed, exhibitions will also open in the La Caixa Forum Seville. Not all exhibitions are likely to be seen in every centre, but every centre will host at least one exhibition.

The sixteen exhibitions have been arranged in four projects:

Medieval Europe: Power and Legend, which covers the period between 400 and 1,500 AD. It commences with the fall of the Roman Empire and will show the qualities of the time, the role of Christianity, the lifestyles of different social classes as well as general social, cultural and political development.

Ancient Greece: Athletes, Fighters and Heroes, which brings together a large number of Greek works from the British Museum including armour, sculpture, jewels, medals and ceramics. This, the second of the groups, will contain one of the largest selections of Greek antiquities ever presented by the British Museum, and its first time out the UK is to Spain.

Pharaohs: Kings of Egypt will be based on the rituals, symbols and ideology of the Pharaohs. Yet another unique collection of works will invite the audience to experience the whole Ancient Egyptian experience and will consist of more than 130 objects from over 3,000 years of history.

The fourth is yet to be confirmed but may well embrace Phoenician Culture.