Last week’s post posed an experience with the Cheongsam, a traditional costume with Chinese origin. This week feature come from the other end of the continent – Ukraine.
This exhibition covered the various nomads and tribes that lived along that area from the 8th century BCE to 19th century CE. There were 10 tribes in total, including the Scythians, Mongols, Huns, and all that.
They called this a Steele, found in one of the tombs they excavated.
Partnership medal =)
Gold then was more valuable than it was today – with cultural significance and symbolism rich within the various communities.
For the horses – During those times, horses were more valued than family sometimes, they did the work, they fought and all that stuff.
Vessels used for cooking and essential oils.
Gold used in religious service.
A really elaborate dish – beautifully detailed. Its description plate does it no justice though, it just went, “DISH”.
The last gallery of this exhibition was tied in with Singapore’s goldsmith industry and its development over the years.
Some of the tools used back in the day.
Remember this? I remember my mum keeping boxes like this for her necklaces =)
It’s educational, I’d give them that. However, I felt that it was still rather scattered, despite the activity book they have for the kids. We were looking at how gold and metals were used for different functions but not really how each nomad lived – in short, it seemed very cramped. Also, you had to want to see the relevance of placing “Ukraine” in the title, there was a lot of promotion of the nomadic tribes than the place they were in.
We could relate better to the Singapore section of the exhibition though, especially with the video of the jewellery maker, which gave us a new appreciation of how the goldsmiths and jewellery shops had their goods made.
Gold Rush: The Treasures of Ukraine will be at the National Museum of Singapore until 26 August 2012. For more information, click here.
