Today, one of the great collections of art in the UK celebrates its bicentenary. Two hundred years to the day of his death, the Fitzwilliam Museum has revealed previously unknown details of the life of its mysterious founder, Richard 7th Viscount Fitzwilliam of Merrion.
Our lives are bound up with objects. Museums are evidence of our deep preoccupation with the things that surround us, whether natural or the product of human endeavour. Why do we keep stuff, what do we learn from it – and what does our fascination for objects from our past tell us about being human today?
Recent funding will enable collaboration between classicists and museum curators, and shape a major re-display of Greek and Roman art and archaeology.
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