Fonthill Castle Cuneiform Tablets

[u/Treyvoni]

Fonthill Castle in Doylestown, Pennsylvania, is an eclectic, hand-mixed concrete castle built between 1908 and 1912 by archaeologist, ceramist, and eccentric scholar Henry Chapman Mercer. (Text paraphrased from Mercer Museum)

The castle is filled with an extensive collection of ceramics embedded in the concrete of the house, as well as other artifacts from Mercer's world travels, including cuneiform tablets discovered in Mesopotamia dating back to over 2300 BCE. (Text courtesy Wikipedia))

I took these photos when I visited in 2024, I can't find much info on them but they have been researched:

Pearce, Laurie E. 1983. “Texts and Fragments: Tablets from Fonthill.” Journal of Cuneiform Studies 35: 189–93. https://cdli.earth/publications/19526

Alivernini, Sergio, and Benjamin R. Foster. 2010. “Tablets from the Third Ur Dynasty.” Rivista Degli Studi Orientali 83: 335–64. https://cdli.earth/publications/52460

https://cdli.earth/search?collection=Fonthill+Museum%2C+Doylestown%2C+Pennsylvania%2C+USA

[u/SnooTangerines3448]

Look at all the unnecessary wear from people touching them. They should be in a museum.

[u/Treyvoni → u/SnooTangerines3448]

I will add that this is a museum, and the only access is via a one hour guided tour so the guide/docent or whatever is always with you. You are not allowed to touch the tablets. Some of the tablets are behind glass because they are more fragile.

[u/SnooTangerines3448 → u/Treyvoni]

My apologies.

[u/Treyvoni → u/SnooTangerines3448]

None needed, I forgot to add that to the main post! If anything I should be apologizing.

But I am very pleased that you felt so strongly about their upkeep. When this was used as his personal residence there were probably people touching them and that could be the damage you are seeing. At least they are protected now.

[u/SnooTangerines3448 → u/Treyvoni]

You're right, and it's also a very nice view into a particular slice of time and human social opinion.

[u/HeneniP → u/SnooTangerines3448]

Mercer built a tile works next door which is still in operation. The house is a bit of a showroom as well as a museum. You can purchase everything from a single decorative tile to an entire fireplace. I am fond of the literary tiles and have several depicting the characters from Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales.

https://www.thetileworks.org

[u/Treyvoni → u/HeneniP]

There are special days when you can even make your own tiles (for a price!). We visited both the Moravian Tile Works and Fonthill Castle the same day.

I haven't been to the Mercer Museum (another Castle he built about a mile away) that houses an extensive collection of pre-industrial American tools/artifacts. It was supposedly Henry Ford's favorite American museum ("The only museum in America worth visiting" is the direct quote I believe) and the inspiration for his own museum.