Rituals and Beliefs focuses on the scene from a plaster cast taken of a stone lintel from the doorway of a temple in the city of Yaxchilan, now in modern day Mexico, and dating from 709AD.
The images depict a blood-letting ritual being performed by Lady K'ab'al Xook and her husnabd King Shield Jaguar. Lady K'ab'al Xook can be seen pulling a rope of thorns through her tongue in order to collect blood in a bowl filled with bark paper. Both figures are wearing jade and obsidian jewellery and dressed in resplendent costumes made fo fur and elaborate fabrics.
Ever wondered how books are made? Before the invention of electricity and printing machines, books were handmade. Each book was unique and one of a kind. The text inside was handwritten too. This activity will introduce you to the craft of bookmaking.
You will make your own book using things you have at home! You get to decide how big or small it is, choose the book covers and paper colour. It is all up to you!
To Make Your Own Book you will need:
Recreate the beautiful patterns featured in the David Parr House.
Download and print this special colouring activity and colour in the patterns featured on the front of the David Parr House guidebook.
Learn more about Greek Pottery using vase templates and sherds from the Museum's collection to design your own vase.
Choose one of three pottery shapes then draw and decorate your own vase inspired by Greek pottery.
Download a Greek Pottery guide to use as inspiration for your pot decoration
This resource has been designed to help students develop research skills by using a painting as a starting point.
By working through the project you will find out about a range of skills, strategies and methods which can then be applied to other museum and gallery objects. The resource has been written with reference to the A-Level Assessment Objectives to demonstrate how to plan and manage a research project and use a range of different resources.
Check out the videos on this page to find out how you can complete a Discover Arts Award.
We're afraid we're not longer able to issue certificates as the videos suggest, but you're welcome to enjoy taking part in this activity!
Have you ever wanted to know more about Greek pottery? This is your chance!
In this activity you will chose one of three pottery shapes to decorate inspired by Greek pottery styles. You can use pencil and paper to complete this, but you can also get creative with some coloured pencils or paints.
Get inspired by Claude Monet's painting Springtime, painted in his garden in France in 1886.
Explore the different colours and content of the painting in this relaxing activity.
For this activity you will need
Paper
Coloured pens and pencils
Step 1
Make a chart of all the colours you can find in the painting.
Step 2
Now see if you can match things with your colours.
You could go outside for some fresh air!
Step 3
For further resources and activities linked to this painitng follow this link to our website: https://www.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/work/flowers-glass-vase
