… intriguing and inspiring wander through this most multicultural of islands … 
A gem of an exhibition – just about the right size – tracing the varied history of the Mediterranean’s largest island from its Phoenician and Greek settlers through successive waves of Romans, Muslim Arabs and Africans, Normans, Spanish and eventually the Italians.
As other commentators have said all this open minded cultural mingling is a refreshing change from “the Mafia and Montalbano” cliche that the island now carries. I was beguiled by the alluring exoticism of the mix of exhibits: a projection of a decorative ceiling, ancient rock art, a stunning mosaic Madonna. Each one a jewel like the Sicilian oranges described by C12th poet Abd ar-Rahman, who served the court of Roger II, as “blazing fire among the emerald boughs”.
Illustration: A map of Sicily from Al-Idrisi’s Treatise, c AD1300–1500. Photograph: © The Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford
Until 14 August 2016 : Room 35
£10, Members/under 16s free
The Royal College of Physicians holds the largest single collection of John Dee’s books in the world. This enigmatic Elizabethan was a mathematician, an astrologer and advisor to Queen Elizabeth. As an occult philosopher, he devoted much of his life to the study of alchemy, divination and Hermetic philosophy and built up one of the finest libraries of 16h century England. Unfortunately, whilst travelling, Dee left his library in the care of his brother-in-law, who sold or “caused (…) to be carried away” most of the books. A large number passed to a book collector, the Marquis of Dorchester, whose family presented them to the RCP after his death in 1680.
including this rather fabulous ship found in the corner of a page of Cicero’s Opera. Other works show the ingenuity of c16th printing making with foldout paper diagrams in The Elements of Geometrie, Euclid, and a manual on writing in code with “Volvelles” or wheels which still spin around to jumble the letters. Alongside books from their collection, the RCP have managed to borrow various objects from the British Museum, the Ashmolean, the Science Museum and the Wellcome Institute. These include John Dee’s obsidian Scrying mirror and crystal ball; and various paintings and engravings of the man.
Ophelia’s Ghost Kristin and Davy McGuire, photograph by Electric Egg
Rigg's Cabinet of Curiosities 