It wasn't the price of the ticket that put me off. Not really. It was the multiple reviews of those who had already visited, warning to not attend without prior knowledge of the subject matter.
Now, I knew the Iliad was a thing (Thank you, Brad Pitt) and I had a passing knowledge of the Greek God/Goddess Pantheon, but I wasn't sure how much I needed to know to get the most out of this exhibition.
It transpired to be 'not much more than that.' The story of the Trojan war was regaled to the visitor in bite size sections beneath various art-works and crockery displaying ancient depictions of that scene. A further knowledge of The Odyssey and Virgil's Aenid would be useful, but the experience was not a failure for lacking this reading.
Dimmed lights and a gently haunting background tone gave the rather vast and well spaced exhibition a sense of atmosphere which would have been all the more enjoyable but for the far-too-many people milling around the exhibition pieces with no real inclination to move. One initially assumed that if one joined the back of the line leading towards a piece, that the line would eventually move forward, but various attempts at this approach failed and eventually a more 'find a space and fill it' approach was adopted with notably greater success. A woman a full head shorter to me and dependant upon a walking stick became my nemesis for the event after she pipped me to the empty space for the third time in a row. Beware the walking stick, it is mightier than both pen and sword. What one who wields it doesn't have conceded to them through sheer propriety they will gain through discreet yet irrefutably deliberate prods to the foot, knee and/or ribs.
There are three distinct sections to this exhibition.
The first and largest recounts the Iliad (the Trojan War, Paris, Helen, Hector, Achilles etc) and to a lesser extent the Odyssey (Odysseus's 20 year journey home)
The centrepiece - and something of a "Blogger's Favourite" of review pics - is a flawless carving of Achilles nursing his wounded heel.
Upon Achilles' death Odysseus and Ajax supposedly competed over his armour. I guess in this depiction they had already gotten there...!
The next, a smaller section at the end of the exhibition before it doubles back on itself, a more factual collection describing the archaeological digs to find Troy. We know the city itself existed now, and that it was founded around 3000 BC and subject to being destroyed and rebuilt again many times over its approximately 3600 existence. It was the foundation for nine major settlements over this time, only one of them (around 1700 BC - 1100 BC) providing evidence of the substantial fortifications indicative of the war of Homeric Troy.
The end conclusion is that Troy existed but the Trojan War, as depicted in Homers Iliad, still lacks the evidence to determine whether it was ever fact or always fiction (One must of course accept that at least a certain amount of mythology is involved because.... well... because of all the bloody Gods) Evidence of numerous battles lend a factual weight to Homer's poem but there is still no overriding evidence of the war, as it is depicted, having occurred (at this time).
The last section, a final homestretch of corridor towards the exit, is where you find the art work, and some of it really is quite spectacular. Most notably for me being the illustration of Odysseus tied to the mast of his ship while his temporarily deafened crew attempt to row past the coercions of the alluring and deadly sirens.
This section attempts to correlate the past with the current. Various descriptions encourage the viewer to consider what one's own feelings might be to be stranded away from home, or stuck in the midst of a war arranged by other people, or a female handed out as spoils rather than considered a human in their own right.
At the very end of the exhibition, after an hour in dimmed lighting, one is also treated to a brightly lit depiction of Achille's shield on the final wall of the exit. So one ostensibly leaves blind. Presumably in homage to Polyphemus (The blinded cyclops from the Odyssey, to those of us still awaiting the Brad Pitt sequel)
In of itself I actually would not begrudge this exhibition a £20 entry ticket. The reasonably-sized (though not particularly varied) collection of pottery and art-work comes secondary to the atmosphere and the layman-friendly re-telling of the story itself, but it does all add up to £20 comfortably handed over with few regrets.
But I do think they failed the attendees by getting greedy about it. One would assume the point of paid allocated time slots is to ensure a steady and not-to-congested stream of visitors. But to just take every note they can get in exchange for any time slot irrespective made for a market-like squabble of far too many people that did lessen the experience.
But, I went there. I learnt things I didn't know before. I am glad to have had the opportunity to visit in these last few hectic days before it finishes.
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