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DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20261029T183000
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SUMMARY:Book Launch: The Art of Drinking Chocolate: Coconut Cups and Other Marvels from the New World
DESCRIPTION:About The Book\nJoin us for the launch of the new book The Art of Drinking Chocolate: Coconut Cups and Other Marvels from the New World\, published by Oxbow Books in September. This richly illustrated journey into the history of chocolate explores a fascinating and largely forgotten aspect of the ritual of drinking it: the use of coconuts and gourds\, often mounted in silver\, as luxurious drinking vessels. This tradition emerged in the Americas in the sixteenth century and endured for more than four centuries\, bringing together Indigenous practices\, Asian materials\, European craftsmanship and changing ideas about luxury and consumption. \nThe presentation will also uncover the remarkable cultural history of the coconut\, a fruit prized for its extraordinary versatility\, providing water and food as well as fibre for rope\, fuel and natural vessels for drinking. Despite its strong association with the Caribbean today\, the coconut was introduced to parts of the Americas from the Philippines in the sixteenth century\, becoming part of a remarkable story of trans-Pacific exchange. We will discover the extraordinary beliefs and stories of coconuts\, and their magical properties. Such ideas shaped the ways in which coconut-shell chocolate cups were understood\, used and valued. Some were believed to protect their owners against poison or to possess prophylactic and magical powers. \nThe event will surely deliver lively exploration of the intersections between food history\, material culture\, global trade\, ritual and belief at the dawn of the early modern “Age of Wonders”. Following these remarkable objects across oceans and cultures reveals complex histories of exchange between Asia\, the Americas and Europe\, while illuminating changing attitudes towards luxury\, consumption\, magic and the natural world.
URL:https://royalasiaticsociety.org/lectures-event/book-launch-the-art-of-drinking-chocolate-coconut-cups-and-other-marvels-from-the-new-world/
CATEGORIES:Book Launch,RAS Lectures & Events
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DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20261103T183000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20261103T203000
DTSTAMP:20261005T111631Z
CREATED:20261005T111604Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20261005T111631Z
UID:25544-1793730600-1793737800@royalasiaticsociety.org
SUMMARY:CITY OF VICTORY: HAMPI VIJAYANAGARA Illustrated Talk by Dr George Michell
DESCRIPTION:About the Talk\nVijayanagara Hampi was capital of the greatest Hindu kingdom of Southern India between the 14th and 16th centuries. Contemporary Persian and Portuguese travellers testify to the power of its emperors and the splendour of their court\, the grand scale of the city and its imposing buildings\, and the wealth of its markets where diamonds could be purchased. To this day\, the remains of Vijayanagara in central Karnataka give the best possible idea of the magnificence of this great capital. Covering an area of more than 30 square kilometres\, the ruins are set in an astonishingly rugged landscape of granite boulders through which flows the sacred Tungabhadra River. \n            In 1986\, Hampi was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO\, which included it on its list of antiquities of global significance. The city’s extraordinary religious and courtly ruins that include more than a thousand structures\, continue to draw pilgrims\, artists\, scholars and visitors from around the world. In his illustrated talk\, Michell will give the historical background to Vijayanagara as well as discussing the principal monuments with their vivid sculptural decoration.  \n  \nAbout the Speaker\nThe London based\, architectural historian Dr George Michell trained as an architect in Melbourne and then continued with a doctoral thesis on the Badami Chalukya temples for the School of Oriental African Studies at the University of London. Beginning in 1980\, Michell spent over 20 years mapping Hampi in collaboration with the American archaeologist John M. Fritz. Together they have authored City of Victory (Mumbai 2026)\, illustrated with splendid images by the Australian photographer John Gollings.
URL:https://royalasiaticsociety.org/lectures-event/city-of-victory-hampi-vijayanagara-illustrated-talk-by-dr-george-michell/
CATEGORIES:RAS Lectures & Events
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