In this fascinating talk, Dr Sue Brunning, Curator at the British Museum, discusses Silk Roads, a major exhibition exploring the cultural exchanges along the network of routes linking Asia, Africa and Europe from about AD500-1000. The Lichfield Angel is on loan to the exhibition. Dr Brunning will also explore the Anglo-Saxon Kingdom of Mercia in the context of the silk roads. Discovered in 2003 the Lichfield Angel is a remarkable survival of early mediaeval sculpture. The carved limestone panel, which is dated to around AD800, comprises three separate fragments which are thought to have formed the corner of a shrine chest, possibly that of St Chad (d.672). Tickets £10 Dr Sue Brunning is Curator of the European Early Medieval Collections in the Department of Britain, Europe and Prehistory at the British Museum. She specialises in early medieval material culture, with a particular research focus on the Sutton Hoo ship burial, cross-cultural connections and multidisciplinary methodologies. Sue completed her PhD at UCL Institute of Archaeology in 2013. She joined the British Museum as a volunteer in 2007, before becoming Project Curator (2010) and then Lead Curator (2012) on the refurbishment of Room 41, the Sir Paul and Lady Ruddock Gallery of Sutton Hoo and Europe 300–1100 (opened 2014). In 2019, Sue curated Sutton Hoo 80: Discovery, Destiny, Donation in Room 2, a mixed archival and artefact display which marked the 80th anniversary of the Sutton Hoo ship burial’s excavation. She is currently co-curator of the Silk Roads exhibition and co-author of the associated book. Image by the British Museum.Silk Roads
Wednesday 29 January 2025 at 2pm in Lichfield Cathedral
