The Baron Thyssen Centre for Ancient Material Religion

The Baron Thyssen Centre for Ancient Material Religion was established in 2018 at The Open University within the Classical Studies Department and aims to establish a network of scholars, ambassadors and host a series of seminars, bringing classics to life for the many. 

The Centre supports research into the material, visual and other sensory aspects of ancient religions, focusing primarily on the Greek, Etruscan and Roman worlds. Collaboratively, the Centre explores the sacred objects, bodies and rituals of classical antiquity, addressing such topics as votives, magic, oracles, cult statues, pilgrimage, places and sacred healing.

They work with art and archaeology, but also look beyond these conventional ‘homes’ of ancient material religion, drawing on the methods, tools and perspectives of literature, philology, philosophy, classical reception studies and digital humanities. Their aims are (1) to support the systematic study of how ancient religion happened in and through material things, and (2) to bring this ancient evidence into productive dialogue with the debates and scholarship on material religions in later historical periods, right up to the present day.

The Centre is supported by the vision of OU student Baron Lorne Thyssen-Bornemisza, himself a passionate collector of ancient artefacts and founder of the Kallos Gallery.

Among the resources made available by the Centre are Object Narratives, a collection of short audios recorded with Centre members, seminar speakers and other collaborators. One of these Object Narratives is a discussion between Dr Jessica Hughes, Centre Director, and myself about the marble altar by Henry Moore in the church of St Stephen Walbrook. It was a pleasure this week to attend a showcase for the Centre hosted by the Kallos Gallery.

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Maria McKee - Effigy of Salt.