The exhibition which opened on July 2 at the Musee d’histoire de Nantes, was organized in partnership with the Byzantine and Christian Museum in Athens, and offers a chance to discover the exceptional objects from the Refugee Treasures exhibition presented in 2009 in Athens, and a selection of items conserved in France that will be presented for the first time.
The treaty imposed the exchange of civil populations and defined the terms of forced migration on both sides of the Aegean Sea. 1.3 million Greeks and 400,000 Muslims were forced to leave their homes, leaving their belongings behind.
Icon of Saint Catherine. Late 17th century [Credit: Byzantine and Christian Museum, Athens]At the moment of their exile, many of the Greek men and women of Asia Minor left with their religious icons, or those from their churches. These precious, sacred, or protective objects established a link between an old and a new country, between an old and a new life.
Today, some icons in France act as a testament of a migration extending far beyond Greece’s borders.
Silver revetment of icon depicting St. George killing the Dragon. From a Smyrna workshop, 1878 [Credit: Byzantine and Christian Museum, Athen]Each one tells a story.
Exhibition curator: Kiriaki Tsesmeloglou, member of the Icon Network association, restorer and conservator of painted works.
The exhibition will run through November 13, 2016.
Source: Musee d’histoire de Nantes [July 08, 2016]
Cleopatra is without a doubt one of the most famed historical personalities in History’s pantheon, alongside Caesar, Charlemagne, Napoleon or De Gaulle.
On the purely archaeological level, many pieces have been destroyed. On the historical level, the accounts and opinions are still widely debated. All that is left of her is the notion of an outstanding beauty, of fantastical love affairs with the two most powerful men in the world at that time, an image that was created during her lifetime and that took on an unimaginable scale as soon as she vanished, to be transformed into an ancestral myth, which never ceased to be taken up in all its forms and in all periods.
No Queen throughout time has remained more famous in the world than Cleopatra even though we still do not know exactly what she looked like. She was shown as Egyptian, obviously, but also as Nubian or African and black, never as the Greek she was in fact. Imagined as irresistible, she is even shown as having been the most beautiful women in the world whose nose remains famous thanks to Pascal’s phrase: “Had Cleopatra’s nose been shorter, the face of the earth would have been changed.”
The head of a statue depicting Cleopatra (69-30BC), the last active pharaoh of Ancient Egypt, is displayed as part of the exhibition entitled "the myth of Cleopatra" on April 9, 2014 at the Pinacotheque in Paris [Credit: AFP/Eric Feferberg]She was a young Greek queen, 18 years old – descendant of Ptolemy the First, son of Lagos, general of Alexander the Great, who was endowed with Egypt at the Emperor’s death and who became Pharaoh in order to emphasize his power and to govern that province. After her death, she became one of the most enduring myths in the history of mankind.
Throughout the centuries she became the most representative image of an Egypt that has in fact absolutely nothing to do with what was the Ancient Egypt of the Pharaohs, Memphis or Tutankhamen.
From the genuine Cleopatra to all her most famous incarnations, from Sarah Bernhardt to Liz Taylor and Monica Bellucci, it's all an attempt to tell who that young queen was and how that woman’s myth took hold of her own life, so as to turn it into an authentic living legend, which none of us, old or young, wherever we are on this earth, can ignore.
People look at the head of a statue depicting Julius Caesar (100-44BC) as they visit the exhibition entitled "the myth of Cleopatra" on April 9, 2014 at the Pinacotheque in Paris [Credit: AFP/Eric Feferberg]Everything is regarding Cleopatra. From the soap we use every day, stamped with her profile, or the glue, up to the merest fancy dress party where Cleopatra’s clothes and her famous headdress are seen and are often the most noticed.
The supposed romance she entertained with Caesar then with Mark Anthony, she became all by herself, through her own death, one of the most classical images of her character.
The exhibition was made possible, due to the complicity with Italian partner Arthemisia and with Mrs. Iole Siena and her team that enabled its first presentation in Rome. It is also due to the outstanding work carried out by the exhibition’s curator, Giovanni Gentili that this show has managed to take on this depth and this importance in the Pinacotheque de Paris.
It also due to the presence of the foremost specialists of each of the experts fascinated by Cleopatra’s myth, that this exhibition is so all-encompassing.
Company Nike declared the beginning of cooperation with French Football Federation and has presented new design of the team form which combines French style and traditions with the main innovative brand ideas — as much as possible high quality at the minimum influence on environment. Alou Diarra, Yann MVila, Abou Diaby, Florent Malouda, the trainer Laurent Blanc, and also the president and general director Nike Mark Parker officially presented the new team form.
The new equipment was created with use of innovative Nike technology «Dri-FIT» thanks to which the moisture is deduced on a fabric surface, and the body of the sportsman remains dry even during very intensive trainings. The new form does not constrain movement, it's almost weightless and does not irritate a skin. Besides, the T-shirt consists on 96% from polyester, and on 4% — of a clap, and shorts are made of a microfibre.
Dri-FIT: the New Innovative Nike Technology
One of details of the new National Team Form — the inscription «Nos Differences Nous Unissent», printed under FFF logo (French Football Federation). Also Nike Football plans to start new adv campaign under name Vive Le Football Libre («Long live free football!») which will reflect spirit of a new era of the French football. Campaign includes adv prints, Internet banners, and also TV-spots.
