This was probably one of the highlights of my life! The museum was amazing and filled with really old artefacts. It was an excellent museum that covered the history of the region, including Indus Valley civilisations, Gandhara society, and the advent of Islam being introduced to the region. I haven't seen all the museum as we were distracted by so many other sections that I forgot there was a gallery of contemporary art. I'd like to spend more time there than we had, so I hope to get there next time I visit. I wasn't really sure what to expect at that museum; if you've been following my blog, you'll know that I was disappointed in the way that Pakistan keeps up its tourist attractions, but this museum is very well done, and I was really impressed. I'm as excited about this place as I was at the National Museum of Anthropology in Mexico. I decided to create a separate album for it. For the most part, I included descriptions of things after the artefact(s), but at some point, I switched for some reason, and you'll notice that there are two descriptions in a row, and it changes from that point where the description comes before. I hope this gives you a little taste of the fascinating diversity of this region!
The saddest part is that these societies historically were pluralistic and diverse; economic conditions were better, and trade and commerce were more prevalent. In fact, many anthropologists consider the Indus Valley to be the birthplace of modern civilisation due to their sophisticated cites with features such as sewage systems. What has happened since then to move the country to the condition it's in today? Well, that's a topic for another day.
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| Lahore Museum 2012 |
The saddest part is that these societies historically were pluralistic and diverse; economic conditions were better, and trade and commerce were more prevalent. In fact, many anthropologists consider the Indus Valley to be the birthplace of modern civilisation due to their sophisticated cites with features such as sewage systems. What has happened since then to move the country to the condition it's in today? Well, that's a topic for another day.
Great pictures at the Lahore Museum. When I went to India a couple of years ago, I would have wished to make it as far as Pakistan, but it simply was not feasible. Although since then - this is possibly due to the fact that I have become totally obsessed about the Indus Civilization - I feel like I've been there in spirit somehow. For now, though, I'll just have to make due and look at your blog ;)
ReplyDeleteThank you, Paul! I had a feeling you might enjoy these :o) It's usually not feasible for almost anyone to travel to Pakistan these days. My mom moved there almost 5 years ago with her husband, so I've had reason to go. These photos were taken on my third trip to visit her. The first time, she actually lived much closer to the Indus river, and closer to Waziristan. I was so excited to be able to see ancient Indus ruins, which she confirmed were there for the viewing, and unfortunately, the violence in that region went out of control just about 2 months before I visited her. I was so disappointed (and sad for those suffering from the violence of course). I, too, have a bit of fascination with the region, although perhaps not an obsession! In any case, I'm compiling my blog archives, which I lost access to for various reasons, so I haven't got my old blog posts from early 2010, but I do have photos from that trip posted in the following link: https://skydrive.live.com/?cid=f5315eb3faa47c62&sc=photos. Look for photos from Christian Hospital Tank, Lahore, and other albums containing these cities in the title. Unfortunately because this is a cached link, I don't think I can get the proper individual links for the albums for you, so I hope you don't mind scrolling through to locate the albums accordingly :o)
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