The exhibition presents a thought-provoking dialogue between three sacred sculptures from ancient cultures that are rarely seen side by side: the Egyptian Goddess Sekhmet, the Greco-Roman God Bacchus/Dionysus, and the Indian Deity Vishnu. The exhibition is a collaboration between the British Museum and the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya (CSMVS), Mumbai, and is part of the Getty-supported Ancient World Project to promote a global, multicultural narrative of human origins. The three figures are presented “in conversation,” prompting new questions about the meaning of the divine and how ancient civilizations represented spirituality: visitors are invited to reflect on similarities and differences, such as the ideal body in Greco-Roman times versus the human-animal fusion in Egyptian and Indian traditions. The exhibition also highlights how sacred Indian sculptures continue to serve a living function in the present, while others belong to civilizations that are no longer in existence, creating a space for reflection on the relationship between art, faith and cultural continuity. Installed in Sala3, the exhibition is part of a larger itinerary that will include a follow-up in Mumbai in December 2025, broadening the examination of ancient India’s relationships with the outside world. Curated jointly by curators Joyoti Roy, Vaidehi Savnal (CSMVS) and Thorsten Opper (British Museum), the initiative promotes a cooperative curatorial approach that rewrites the modes of dialogue between institutions and global audiences.
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