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Explore Global Cultures

Discover North Carolina’s only museum dedicated to the study of global cultures. Explore stories of humanity, from ancient archaeological sites to the celebrations and struggles of today. Learn about people from around the world through their everyday objects, ceremonial artifacts, and visual arts.

Open Tuesday to Saturday, 10:00am to 4:30pm. Admission is free.
Find the Museum on the Wake Forest campus.

Featured Exhibits

east Asian textiles on exhibit

Poems Made to Wear: Traditional Colors in East Asia
Through August 16, 2025

exhibit gallery

Fragments of Changsha: Medieval China in Miniature
Through November 22, 2025

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Upcoming Events

hand with brush painting chinese symbols

Children’s Group Summer Programs Available

May 27 – July 31

Closed for Independence Day

July 4-6

Chinese Calligraphy Workshop

July 27, 2-4pm

Recent News Stories

Registration Open For Summer WorkshopsMay 27, 2025
Lam Collection on DisplayMay 22, 2025
Internships Benefit Students and MuseumJanuary 24, 2025

See All News Stories

Explore the Collection with the Artifact of the Month

Samoan FanJuly 1, 2025
Maya Cylinder VaseJune 2, 2025
Changsha Ware EwerMay 1, 2025

See All Artifact of the Month

Find a Craft Activity with Cultures Up Close

See All Cultures Up Close

Stay in Touch

Receive updates on exhibits and events from the Lam Museum

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Jul 1

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We're trying to beat the heat with our July #ArtifactOfTheMonth, a Samoan fan! Hand-held fans have been used by people across the Pacific Islands for hundreds of years to keep cool in the tropical climate. People give fans as gifts and use them as decorative items to display in their homes. Dancers frequently carry fans as accessories to their costumes and to emphasize their movements. Additionally, fans are a popular item sold to tourists.

This Samoan fan, known as an ili, is constructed of woven plant fiber with a wooden handle. The fiber is likely palm or pandanus, another palm-like plant that grows on the Samoan islands. These materials are typical of fans from Samoa. However, Samoans also construct fans from barkcloth and decorate with dyes, feathers, and shells.

The shape of this Samoan fan may represent the end of a canoe paddle or spear point. The shape and the numerous holes may indicate that this fan had a more decorative purpose.

#lammuseum #wakethearts #Samoa #keepcool

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Jun 23

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We had an awesome time yesterday at our Mosaic workshop! Thank you so much to everyone who came out!

#lammuseum #wakethearts #mosaic

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Jun 18

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The Museum will be closed tomorrow in celebration of Juneteenth. We look forward to seeing you on Friday!

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Jun 17

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There are only 4 more days to register for our Mosaic Workshop. Registration will close at noon on Friday. Make sure to reserve your spot today! Visit the Upcoming Events link in our bio for all the details.

#lammuseum #wakethearts #mosaic #thingstodoinwsnc

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Jun 10

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We hope to see you on Saturday! (You might get an up-close look at an ancient Egyptian falcon mummy!) Visit the Upcoming Events link in our bio for all the details.

#lammuseum #free #science #forkids #thingstodoinwsnc

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Jun 6

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In case you missed last year's "Headrests: The Exhibit," it is now online! Visit the Virtual Exhibits link in our bio.

#lammuseum #virtualexhibit #headrest #headrests #wakethearts

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Jun 3

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Register today for our Mosaic Workshop on Sunday, June 22. Space is limited, and spots are filling up fast! Visit the Upcoming Events link in our bio for all of the information.

#lammuseum #mosaic #workshop #wakethearts

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Jun 2

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Our June #ArtifactOfTheMonth is a Maya cylinder vase that dates to the Late Classic Period of 550 to 830 CE. The straight-walled shape of this vessel indicates that it was likely used to drink cacao, or chocolate, beverages. These bitter drinks were made with cacao beans, water, and spices like chili or cinnamon. They were often consumed in a ritual context.

The ancient #Maya used local clays and created their ceramics with the coil-building method. The potter started with a flat bottom and added clay coils to the desired height. Then, they smoothed the walls to make them even. After the shape was finalized, the potter left the piece to air dry and then burnished it to create a smooth surface for painting. The majority of pigments were created from iron oxide, manganese, and other ground minerals, resulting in a range of colors. After the painting was complete, the piece was fired at low temperature in an open pit.

Late Classic Period Maya artists were members of the elite class. Only the highest levels of society learned the hieroglyphs and iconography necessary to create the imagery on ceramic vessels. This Maya cylinder vase is decorated in the codex style, meaning that it resembles a Classic Maya book with red borders at the top and bottom and a white background. Despite this fact, the design does not contain any actual hieroglyphic writing. The decorations on this vessel possibly depict a scene from the Maya underworld, or Xibalba, with a conch shell and some type of water-dwelling underworld creature. The lack of hieroglyphs may indicate that the vessel is not from one of the major Classic period city-states but rather somewhere on the periphery of the Maya area. Because this vase is a part of the collection recently acquired from UNC-Wilmington, we do not have provenance documents identifying its source.

This Maya cylinder vase is on display in "Museum of World Cultures: Highlights from the UNC-Wilmington Collection" through February 14, 2026.

#lammuseum #mayaceramics #mayaceramic🏺

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May 30

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Mark your calendar for our upcoming Museum Science for Kids event on Saturday, June 14! It's free!
#lammuseum #science #free #thingstodoinwsnc

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May 28

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#AAPIHeritageMonth is almost over, but with more than 100 objects on display from all across #Asia, the Museum is a great place to learn about Asian cultures all summer long. We hope to see you soon!

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May 27

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The start of summer may be unofficial, but our summer program schedule is not! Visit the events calendar link in our bio for complete details and workshop registration links.

#lammuseum #anthropology #workshop #wakethearts

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May 23

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The Museum will be closed this weekend for Memorial Day. Enjoy the holiday!

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May 22

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We’re proud to be a #BlueStarMuseum again in 2025! The Blue Star Museums initiative is a program that provides free admission to currently-serving U.S. military personnel and their families. The program runs through Labor Day, September 1. While we continue to offer free admission to all visitors, we are excited to be able to participate in this program honoring our military personnel and thanking them for their service and sacrifice.

Blue Star Museums is a partnership between the National Endowment for the Arts and Blue Star Families, in collaboration with the Department of Defense and participating museums across America.

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May 15

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Parking update for the next few days!

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May 13

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ICYMI in person, our 2024 exhibit "Beyond Drumming: African Musical Instruments" is now online! Check it out today via the Virtual Exhibits link in our bio. Our virtual exhibits webpage has also been reordered so that newer exhibits are at the top, making them easier to find!

#lammuseum #virtualexhibit #anthropology #africanmusic

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May 7

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Goodbye Sequoia 😭... swipe to see our sweet new ride! 😃

#lammuseum #newtruck

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May 1

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Happy #AAPIHeritageMonth! In celebration of this special month and our new exhibit, our May #ArtifactOfTheMonth is a Changsha Ware ewer from Tang Dynasty China. Keep reading to find out what the inscription says.

This ewer was used to serve wine. The vessel’s inscription remained a mystery until recent research by students in the WFU Interpreting and Translation Studies Program revealed its meaning. At first, the students only recognized a few scattered characters, but eventually a stretch of consecutive characters led to a Tang Dynasty poem titled Ode to Snow by Xu Ning. However, the students found that the text didn’t align with this known poem. Rather, it was a potentially unknown rebuttal to Xu Ning’s original, a hidden gem of Tang Dynasty poetic dialog preserved in clay.

Xu Ning’s original reads:
I have long admired the Xie clan's gift for chanting snow;
Now I see the snow and sing wildly too.
If comparing snow to catkins is theft,
Then so be it—how can catkins rival the river of snow?

The poem carved on the ewer, by contrast, subtly mocks the original:
The Xie clan of Chen once chanted snow, their verses renowned through time.
Now, lost in this swirling white, I, too, must sing with reckless rhyme.
If willow catkins is but a stolen line, then let it drift and take its course—
How can it rival the river of snow, rushing forth with boundless force?

#ChangshaWare is a style of #Chinese #pottery that had a major cultural and commercial impact on the medieval world. Produced from around 750 to 900 CE in kilns near the modern city of Changsha in Hunan Province, the pottery is best known for its vibrant, painted glazes that feature floral patterns, animal motifs, abstract designs, and calligraphy. Thanks to the generosity of the Museum’s namesake, Timothy S. Y. Lam, who donated his collection in 2012, the Lam Museum is home to the largest collection of Changsha Ware outside of Asia.

This ewer is on display through November 22, 2025, in the exhibit "Fragments of Changsha: Medieval China in Miniature." Research for this post was conducted by Shelly Ji (MA ‘25), Lin Wang (MA ‘25), and Chris Ni (MA ‘25).

#lammuseum #china #chineseceramics

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Apr 29

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New exhibit alert! "Fragments of Changsha: Medieval China in Miniature" is now open. Featuring more than five dozen ceramic figurines in the Changsha style, the exhibit showcases original student research exploring the themes of miniaturization, ancient technology, and the culture of medieval China. The exhibit will run through November 22.

#lammuseum #chineseceramics #changsha #wakethearts

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