Browsing through social media it’s often easy to think that a lot of people are over-interested in the lives of royal families, but there’s seldom much discussion of how those families came to be.
That question—How did European royalty emerge—is at the heart of a new exhibit at the Canadian Museum of History at Gatineau, Quebec. “First Royals of Europe” takes visitors on a 6,500-year journey from the Neolithic Age to the end of the Iron Age, chronicling how some individuals expanded their power through wealth, trade, ritual, ceremony, and warfare to become the first royals.
The exhibition was developed by the Field Museum in Chicago, where it was originally titled “First Kings of Europe.” It includes over 700 rare and unique items on loan from 26 institutions in 11 countries. It will be open through January 19th of next year.
There is also a programmed activity area where visitors can play Metal Masters, a trivia game exploring the relationship between metalworking and the emergence of social hierarchies in southeastern Europe. The game includes reproductions of objects and materials found within the exhibition that visitors can touch and handle.
