The Past From Above is the British Museum’s first major photographic exhibition, showcasing Swiss photographer Georg Gerster’s aerial photography of historic sights and locations from around the world.
Subjects range from natural phenomena like Uluru in Australia to man-made wonders such as the Ziggurat of Ur in Iraq or the Great Wall of China.
The pictures were taken by Gerster over the last forty years and they take visitors on a global tour of the great monuments of human civilisation. His first archaeological photographic flight documented temples, pyramids and fortresses in ancient Nubia, modern Sudan, in 1963. Since then he has photographed sites in over one hundred countries across six continents, providing fascinating birds-eye views that have contributed greatly to our understanding of world archaeology.
The museum is displaying related artefacts next to the relevant photograph, such as a stone hand-axe, one of the earliest objects made by humans, from the Olduvai Gorge in Tanzania, a Mummy portrait by an image of the Kharga Oasis and a seated Buddhist goddess next to a shot of Anuradhapura in Sri Lanka.
View a slideshow of some of the images from the book and exhibition by clicking the link under Multimedia on the left.