Swen Jade Mask;
Credit: (c) Henan Museum
The Luxembourg National Museum of History and Art (MNHA) yesterday launched its new temporary exhibition "The origins of Chinese civilisation. Archaeological Treasures of Henan".
With 94 million inhabitants and a territory of 167,000km2, Henan covers a large part of the fertile Central Plains of China and is considered the birthplace of Chinese civilisation. Densely occupied already in the Neolithic period, the province saw the emergence of centralised states during the Bronze Age and remained China’s cultural, economic and political centre for over 3,000 years.
The exhibition showcases the thousands making and development of ancient Chinese civilisation through various obects taken from the thousands of archaeological sites housed in Henan. These artefacts highlight major cultural achievements in the Central Plains from the 21st century BC to the 12th century AD. With the support of the Henan Administration of Cultural Heritage, the exhibition has been coordinated by the Henan Museum, with important loans coming from other major institutions, as well. These include the Henan Provincial Institute of Cultural Heritage and Archaeology, the Guo State Museum, Jiaozou Municipal Museum, Jiyuan Municipal Museum, Luoyang Museum; Nanyang Municipal Museum and Yongcheng Museum.
The exhibition is sponosred by the Bank of China Luxembourg and Cargolux.
Alongside the exhibition will be a series of related conferences starting with "Le Premier empereur de Chine, du portrait historique à la réalité archéologique" with Damien Chaussende on 24 January 2019. Another conference entitled "L’armement en Chine à l’époque des Royaumes combattants (Ve– IIIe s. av. J.-C.) : améliorations, innovations, révolutions" is scheduled for 31 January 2019 with Alain Thote. These conferences will take place in the French language. There will also be one German-language conference entitled "Sein oder Nichtsein: Jenseitsvorstellungen im Spiegel frühchinesischer Grabkultur" led by Armin Selbitschka on 7 March 2018 and one in Luxembourgish called "China an d’Chinesen, am Spigelbild vun Hollywood" with Paul Lesch on 28 March 2018. Each conference will begin at 18:00 at the museum.
The museum is also organising a range of themed and guided visits and workshops, the details of which can be consulted on the MNHA website.
