The British Museum regularly asserts that artefacts are best displayed there. Much of what they do though indicates that like most others, they believe that there is an importance attached to the original context of artefacts. That it is important to show artefacts within the vicinity of where they were found. It’s just that they’d prefer to keep the artefacts for themselves too.

From:
Evening Leader

Holograms to display historic artefacts at North Wales museums
Published Date: 19 June 2009

LLANGOLLEN museum, along with a number of others in North Wales, is to start using holograms to display historic artefacts.
The institutions, along with View Holographics, based in St Asaph, have been successful in securing funding from the Esmee Fairbairn Foundation to create a project, called Bringing the Artefacts Back to the People.

The scheme will use pioneering holographic technology to display works, described as the closest reproduction possible to the real life object and more realistic than photography and computer rendering.

One of the first artefacts to benefit under this new scheme is a 14,000-year-old decorated horse jaw bone from the Ice Age.

The bone was discovered in Kendrick’s Cave in Llandudno, and is the only piece of artwork dated to the end of the last Ice Age or Late Glacial period in Britain.

It was dug up by chance by Thomas Kendrick in 1880, but its age and significance have only recently been recognised.

Acquired by the British Museum in 1959, the jaw bone has recently been on loan to Llandudno Museum.

It was recorded on April 21 by renowned holographer Professor Hans Bjelkhagen at View Holographics in Optic Technium, and is now on display at museums across the region.

Jill Cook, deputy keeper of prehistory and early Europe at the British Museum said: “The British Museum is committed to sharing the collection as widely as possible in the UK and across the world. This new technology provides another opportunity for people to engage with the collection, it is an important step to wider access.”

The project involves collaboration between a number of major museums, as well as the Royal Commission for Ancient and Historical Monuments in Wales.

It is anticipated holograms of all the relevant artefacts will be completed by the end of 2009.