30/05/2026
🤦♂️🫡 You might have spotted little figures like this in the galleries, but why are they doing this pose?
Standing just under 10cm tall, this small bronze figure is over 3,000 years old and was made on the Mediterranean island of Crete, part of modern-day Greece. Figures like these have been found in Minoan sanctuaries (places of worship).
We can't say for sure, but given where they have been found it's thought that they show religious observers performing a gesture of worship. The Minoan culture on Crete didn't leave written histories we can understand, so we can't rely on writing or inscriptions to tell us. Even today, a similar body language gesture can have lots of meanings for different people and cultures.
📍 Say hello to this figure and its friends and find out more about the Minoans in gallery 21.
🔍 Bronze figure of a worshipper, made on Crete around 1800-1200 BCE. Photo © The Fitzwilliam Museum, University of Cambridge.
