Mesopotamia: The First Reviews Are In
Our newest feature exhibition, Mesopotamia: Inventing Our World, opened just a few days ago and already, broadcast, digital and print media are buzzing with critical acclaim.
Likewise, the newly opened Catastrophe! Ten Years Later, documenting the looting of Iraq's museums and archaeological sites since the start of the Iraq War, has been attracting its fair share of media attention.
Featuring more than 170 exceptional artifacts of Sumer, Assyria and Babylon from the British Museum, augmented by spectacular objects from the ROM's own collection as well as the University of Chicago's Oriental Institute, Penn Museum, and the Detroit Institute of Arts, Mesopotamia focuses on the inventiveness and creativity of a culture that flourished more than 3,000 years ago. So innovative in fact that Mesopotamia, which means land "between the rivers" (the Euphrates and the Tigris), is considered the birthplace of Western civilization, precursor of the world we live in today.
"Now the worlds of Sumer, Babylonia and Assyria – and their influence on modern life – are explored in an engaging, masterful exhibit: Mesopotamia... one of the best exhibits that the ROM has put on in years." —Patricia Treble, Macleans.ca
"This is a really great experience...Make sure you go and check it out." —PROUD FM 103.9
We at the ROM are incredibly excited about this limited-engagement exhibition, the extraordinary quality of its artifacts, and the curatorial vision that makes it relevant to each of us today. Don't take our word for it. Here's what the critics are saying:
CBC
Mesopotamia exhibit honours past, urges safeguarding sites today (video).
The Globe and Mail
Mesopotamia: The First Urban Centre.
Looted sites, lost artifacts: The Iraq War has been an archaeological catastrophe.
Tired of Tut? ROM's Mesopotamia show offers a fresh take on antiquity.
IN PICTURES: Ancient Mesopotamia at the Royal Ontario Museum.
Maclean's
How Mesopotamia invented our world (and created the best beer stein).
The Torontoist
The Royal Ontario Museum Takes a Modern Approach.
Art Daily
Mesopotamia: Inventing Our World opens at the Royal Ontario Museum. And coverage of Catastrophe! Ten Years Later.
The Toronto Star
ROM Mesopotamia Exhibit: the Curator's Secrets.