Saturday 2 March 2013

Saturday Snapshot - Sydney Museum

Saturday Snapshot is a meme hosted by Alyce at At Home With Books.

The rules are simple:

To participate in the Saturday Snapshot meme post a photo that you (or a friend or family member) have taken and leave a direct link to your post in the Mister Linky. Photos can be old or new, and be of any subject as long as they are clean and appropriate for all eyes to see. How much detail you give in the caption is entirely up to you. Please don’t post random photos that you find online.

As part of my Sydney Challenge (see Sydney tab above) I'm trying to visit (or revisit) as many Sydney landmarks as I can!
I've been wanting to check out the Alexander The Great 2000 Years of Treasures exhibition at the Australian Museum and last week I finally got there.

The exhibition was wonderful - I was particularly fascinated by the intricate detail in the cameo's, coins and necklaces (click on the link above if you want to see some of them).

I've loved Classical painted urns and pots ever since my Ancient History days in highschool. The ones on display here just blew my mind!

I know we have to have glass between us and I know they have to live in controlled climates to preserve them, but oh how I wish I could touch them.
Just to gently trace my finger over the lines of these ancient artists, to feel the texture of the clay and the glaze and to enjoy the heft and shape of the pot between my hands would be magical.

I hope this exhibition travels to a museum near you soon!


Sydney Museum was established in 1827 by Earl Bathurst and moved into it's current building opposite Hyde Park in 1849.
I love the old rooms with their spiral staircases, viewing platforms and aging display cases. There's something comforting about their familiarity.


The dinosaur and skeleton rooms are endlessly fascinating for young and old.
I also love the insects, birds, rocks and mineral rooms...but I refrained from taking a million photos of coloured rocks!



Years ago they used to have an evolution room which was one of my favourite places.
I used to spend hours in there reading, wondering, hypothesising.
But it seems to have evolved too.
Now they have a wonderful room exploring Indigenous culture.
There is a dance performance every Sunday (according to my Top 10), but I went on a Tuesday to avoid the weekend crowds.
 Most of the newer sections of the museum were built during the 1950's.

Below is a photo courtesy of the Powerhouse Archives of the Museum & Hyde Park in the early 1900's.


Hyde Park is now a wonderful mass of shade trees and the Museum boundaries stretch right the to the Willam street corner. This intersection is much busier today!!

18 comments:

  1. What a classic museum. When my kids were younger, we went to museums all the time. Now not so much. I need to start going again. Here's Mine

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  2. I do revel in the pleasure of museums...and thanks for leading us through these exhibits. I really love the shot in the early 1900's.

    Here's MY SATURDAY SNAPSHOT POST

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  3. It sounds like a wonderful museum. I love spending time in Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery, which is fantastic, I try to get along to any special exhibitions, but usually select a firrent to display to look at each time I visit, My Snapshot is at http://goo.gl/ZoRZX

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  4. Thanks for a wonderful museum tour! Toronto has many great museums but it's been a long time since I've been.

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  5. This is great! What a photo tour. I used to go to a small museum similar to this in Montreal and always loved it. Such fun to look at skeletons and mummies and such :)

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  6. Thanks....these photos are great. The building and the street sure are too.

    Elizabeth
    Silver's Reviews
    My Saturday Snapshot

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  7. Awesome pictures -- it has been a long time since I've been to a museum like that, but I'm sure we'll be taking our daughter someday! Here's my Saturday Snapshot post!

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  8. wonderful picture s- I would want to explore their too!

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  9. It looks like a beautiful museum! I love museums of all sorts, but those with art and natural history are my favorites.

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  10. They are treasures. I'm taking an eCourse on Evolution and Genetics and the museum will be helpful.
    You have a nice project to visit all the landmarks.

    Rotary International will have the convention in Sidney in 2014. The museum will be a must to see.

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  11. Good to hear that you enjoyed the Alexander exhibition. We nearly got there a few weeks ago, but I was a bit too slow on that particular Sunday morning. I think it's been a few years since I've been there too, it's always enjoyable though I agree. And I love playing tourist in Sydney. I have a hit list too- I still haven't done a bridgeclimb, and I really want to do a backstage tour at the Opera House.

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    1. The Bridge climbs are well worth the time and money Louise - I can highly recommend the sunset one. We had an impromptu back stage mini tour last year when we went to see Under Milkwood. I didn't read the ticket and assumed that a Sydney Theatre Company production was at Whalf 4 as per usual! Wrong! They also use the Playhouse for some of their performances!
      We raced over we a few other couples who had made the same mistake and arrived just as it was starting. It's a one act play, so they snuck us in via the back door...which meant a quick paced jog through several of the back stage areas...it made me want more :-)

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  12. I hope to make it there one of these years!

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  13. I love your two pictures of the museum, which really hasn't changed much at all.

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  14. Oh, my children would love the dinosaurs!

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  15. I, too, love that you included the old and new photos ... classic architecture and interesting to see the trees grown up and the development of the museum over time!

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  16. Great photos of the bones! What a terrific set of pictures.

    My Saturday Snapshot

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  17. Hmm- I remember looking at these pics last week but don't see a comment. They are grand. I loved museums when I was young. We had an evolution display at the Philadelphia Academy of Natural Sciences that I liked when I was 12 or so. We took our kids when they were that age (35 years later) and it was not good at all. So disappointing.
    Hyde Park is special and I love the old photo. Thanks for sharing!

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