What: A pattée hand-held cross taken by the British Museum’s expert on the expedition, Richard Rivington Holmes
Where: The British Museum, Great Russell St, Bloomsbury, London WC1B 3DG
What: A European Renaissance portrait of Christ, wearing the crown of thorns. It came to Ethiopia some time in the 16th century and became an icon at the heart of Ethiopia’s spiritual and political life, known as The Kwer’ata Re’esu. It was taken by the British Museum’s expert on the 1868 expedition who secretly kept it for himself. After his death it was sold on and is now in the hands of an anonymous private collector.
Where: A bank vault in Portugal
What: A processional cross taken by the British Museum’s expert on the expedition, Richard Rivington Holmes
Where: The British Museum, Great Russell St, Bloomsbury, London WC1B 3DG
What: A multi-coloured tent, given by Secretary of State for India, Sir Stafford Henry Northcote
Where: The British Museum, Great Russell St, Bloomsbury, London WC1B 3DG
A multi-coloured tent, given by Secretary of State for India, Sir Stafford Henry Northcote
Where: The British Museum, Great Russell St, Bloomsbury, London WC1B 3DG
What: Necklace belonging to Queen Tiru Warq, wife of Emperor Téwodros II, given by the commander of the British force, Robert Napier, to then British Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli
Where: On show in Disraeli’s country home, Hughenden Manor, in Buckinghamshire, England, HP14 4LA. The site is now run by the National Trust.