A good historian looks at evidence to draw conclusions, and that is exactly what Year 8 had the opportunity to do on Thursday when they visited the V&A’s exhibition ‘The Great Mughals: Art, Architecture and Opulence’. This trip provided the backdrop to the international mini-study that Year 8 will be undertaking shortly in order to learn about what was happening in other parts of the world when the Tudors and Stuarts were on the throne in England.

The girls learnt about Emperors Akbar, Jahangir and Shah Jahan, and looked at artefacts that the V&A had drawn together from their own holdings, as well as from museums and collections in Vienna, Kuwait and Lisbon, so it really was an excellent opportunity to encounter and explore pieces that they may never see again such as ceremonial spoons, a hunting coat, mother-of-pearl caskets, a camel-head dagger hilt and pictorial carpets. There is more work to be done at school, but Thursday’s outing was a fantastic first step in learning about the golden age of Mughal art, and what that tells us about this period of India’s history.

Miss Boon, Head of History