Civilisations: Come into the virtual museum

UK museum and art curators have selected some of the most fascinating objects from their collections, which we have paired with BBC film and audio material to create nine very different stories.

Find out more by using our interactive timelines, created as part of the ground-breaking Civilisations Festival in 2018; a Prix Italia-winning, external collaboration between the BBC and museums, galleries, libraries and archives across the UK.

Oil paintings are not just about kings and queens and biblical scenes, as shown in this timeline curated by Art UK, the online home of Britain’s publicly-owned oil paintings.

For centuries, oils were the main medium used to record important people and events, yet there can be more to some paintings than first meets the eye.

Click or tap to see how we have encountered and been influenced by other civilisations, external.

Take a journey from Italy to Northern Europe, as seen through the eyes of Renaissance masters such as Leonardo, Raphael and Titian.

Curators from the National Gallery have highlighted intriguing details within the masterpieces, shining fresh light on the artistic methods and the times in which they were created.

Click here to explore the timeline, external.

In the mid-19th Century, Oldham's cotton industry was an example of modern manufacturing at its finest. At the same time, Japan had been isolated from the West for more than 200 years but was slowly opening for business.

Curated by Gallery Oldham, this story explores how Japanese students from Satsuma province learned the town’s spinning secrets, bringing home knowledge, machinery and a few local engineers as well.

Click to untangle the thread that runs from Oldham's mills all the way through to Japan's modern-day car industry, external.

The promising young artist Brian Hatton was killed in World War One.

In a few short years, he went from depicting his beloved family and the Herefordshire countryside to capturing the horrors of war in a painting with the ironic title, Civilisation.

Curated by Hereford Museum and Art Gallery, this vivid experience shows Hatton's tragic artistic journey from innocence to bitter realism, external.

Explore the mystical and mythical history of the Roman Baths complex in the city of Bath.

From the legend of how the city was founded, through to its Roman glory and Victorian revival, this story explores the mystical and mythical aspects of the complex, and shows how it developed over many centuries through to the present day.

See what has attracted water-worshippers for thousands of years, external.

Known around the world as the home of Stonehenge, the ancient Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Wessex is the cradle of prehistoric society in England.

From its earliest monuments to its modern-day arts and crafts, this timeline lets you explore its rich history through objects chosen from the collections of Dorset County Museum, Poole Museum, Salisbury Museum and Wiltshire Museum.

Click here to discover the treasures of Wessex, external.

This is the story of how a decapitated bronze head of a great Roman emperor was perfectly preserved under desert sands for centuries because of an insult by an invading army, and why its discovery is linked with Liverpool.

Curated by the Victoria Gallery and Museum in Liverpool, this timeline explores why the Head of Augustus might have endured such an inglorious fate and how it was unearthed for us to experience today.

Click here to see how the statue's piercing eyes provide us with a vivid glimpse of great civilisations, external.

In 1938, a Somerset farmer found a tile buried on his land. That tile was a clue that would eventually lead to the discovery of the earliest large-scale example of narrative art in Britain.

Curated by the Museum of Somerset, this timeline tells the fascinating story of how the Low Ham Roman mosaic was discovered, excavated and put on display for future generations to enjoy.

Click here to see the full story, external.

This is the story of a masterpiece created by a genius of the Industrial Revolution, and how it was saved for his home city almost 250 years later.

Curated by the Potteries Museum and Art Gallery, it tells the story of Josiah Wedgwood’s innovations and the campaign to keep the rare vase in Stoke for future generations to enjoy.

Click here to find out just why the vase is so important for the city’s ceramic heritage, external.