The Royal Academy of Arts in London will present an exhibition called Chola: Sacred Bronzes of Southern India from 11 November 2006 to 25 February 2007.

The display will comprise around 30 Indian processional bronze sculptures from the imperial Chola dynasty of southern India, dating from 9–13th centuries.

The works are on loan from the National Museum in New Delhi, the Government Museum in Chennai, India; the Cleveland Museum of Art, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and Asia Society in New York, US; Linden Museum in Stuttgart, Germany as well as The British Museum and the Victoria & Albert Museum in London.

The Cholas dynasty revered the portable bronze sculptures as physical manifestations of the Hindu gods at public functions and festivities.

The new exhibition will mark the 60th anniversary of both the independence of India as well as the last major exhibition on the art and culture of India – The Exhibition of Art Chiefly from the Dominions of India and Pakistan, 2400 BC to 1947 AD – hosted by the academy in 1947. Details: www.royalacademy.org.uk

Photograph: Ganesha, c. 1070, courtesy of The Cleveland Museum of Art