Exhibition: Ornaments of gold

Gold coins, jewelry, gold-plated furniture, book covers, porcelain, glass ornamented with gold and many other gold-embellished articles are on display at the National Museum of Warsaw in an exhibition entitled "The magic of gold. The art and the symbol."

For millennia, gold has been revered by many cultures. According to Ryszard Bobrow, the exhibition's curator, "Gold has always played an important role. Owing to its physical and chemical properties, as well as its rarity, gold was thought to be the most precious substance. Over the course of hundreds of years, it gained rich symbolism. It was a symbol of possession, fortune, greed, but also of divinity, light, heaven." Wars have broken out over the metal and civilizations have perished in its pursuit. But gold has also played a positive role in human culture, through its impact on art and science.

The exhibition at the National Museum in Warsaw presents gold's lighter side. The main display comprises a few hundred gold or gold-plated objects from various eras and places - from a 16th-century-BC Egyptian scarab ring to a Fabergé brooch made in St. Petersburg at the beginning of the 20th century. Alongside these objects are pictures and illustrations depicting gold's place in myth, history and the popular imagination.

Many items on display are not normally shown to the public, including a number of remarkably intricate objects. The quality of craftsmanship is staggering, and the exhibition provides an excellent opportunity to sate your appetite for the most precious of the precious metals.

"The magic of gold. The art and the symbol" runs from February 26 to May 6 at the National Museum in Warsaw