The Lyres of Ur

  Luc's Lyre of Ur in front of other harps.

Californian friends on a fleeting visit caused me to consider various locations within the mediaeval Egg which they would enjoy discovering but two venues were a must. One was a welcome return, for me, to see and hear the talented Luc Vanlaere, the harpist extraordinaire who gives free concerts in Oud Sint Jan’s five days a week. The description of harp concert really doesn’t begin to cover the range of musical instruments on show which Luc plays so beautifully during his 45 minute recital. But this time, it was exciting to see his latest venture. He has re-created the Lyre of Ur to a dazzling and authentic degree. It incorporates more than 300 pieces of inlaid mother of pearl and 33 pieces of Lapis Lazuli while the obligatory bull’s head decoration, and other sections of the structure, are covered with three layers of 24 carat gold leaf. I believe Luc said that the whole project had taken him two years to complete. It is stunningly beautiful and a huge accomplishment for him.

 Leonard Woolley during the excavations in the
cemetery of Ur, 1929.

Internet investigation has revealed that in 1929 a team of archaeologists, led by Leonard Woolley, representing a joint expedition of the British Museum and the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, discovered the remains of four musical instruments when excavating the Royal Cemetery of Ur in Iraq in what had been southern Mesopotamia. The lyres and one harp were over 4,500 years old and were richly decorated in the style of the court art of Mesopotamia. The instruments had been placed with the remains of ten women with one skeleton lying against a lyre and her skeletal hand placed where the strings would have been. Woolley recovered the delicate form of the wooden frames by using liquid plaster; the wood of the lyres had decayed but because the surfaces had been lavishly decorated with gold and silver, recovery was possible.

The Golden Lyre of Ur in
the National Museum of Iraq, Baghdad.

 Because of the place of discovery, it is thought that the lyres were used in burial ceremonies as accompaniment to songs. Each lyre had eleven strings which, when played, produced a buzzing sound repeated throughout each song. These ancient instruments were of two types: box and bowl with the box lyre having a boxlike body and the bowl lyre, a round body with a curved back. The Lyres of Ur are box and would have been played in an upright position and the strings plucked with both hands.

The bull's head from the Queen's Lyre
 now in
the British Museum.

The three reconstituted lyres were distributed between the participating institutions with the Golden Lyre of Ur given to the National Museum of Iraq in Baghdad. The name comes from the head of the decorative bull which is of solid gold. Its eyes are of lapis lazuli and inlaid mother of pearl. The Queen’s Lyre, one of two found by Woolley in the grave of Queen Pu-abi, is similar to the Golden Lyre with the bull’s head masked in gold and similar decoration of lapis lazuli and mother of pearl. It is in the British Museum. The third, the Bull-Headed Lyre, shaped slightly to resemble a bull, has its head, face and horns wrapped in gold foil with hair, beard and eyes of lapis lazuli and further shell inlay. This is in the Penn Museum in Pennsylvania which also has the Silver Lyre, one of two discovered in ‘The Great Pit’ in the same cemetery. This beard-less bull [possibly a cow] is covered in sheets of silver attached with tiny silver nails and decorated with lapis lazuli.

Silver Lyre of Ur in
Penn Museum. 

Having been enchanted to discover the Lyres of Ur, I am even more

 Detail of the 'Peace' panel of the Standard
of Ur, showing lyre-player.
Excavated from the same site as the
Lyres of Ur.

impressed with Luc Vanlaere’s ingenuity, skill and vision in recreating to such a high degree of authenticity, his own copy which is on display, and played, at his regular concerts in Brugge. This is a must for any visitor!