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  • Riace Bronzes to return to Reggio Calabria museum

    Riace Bronzes to return to Reggio Calabria museum

    Italy's iconic Riace Bronzes will return to their home at the Reggio Calabria National Museum later this year after lengthy restoration work.

    The Riace Bronzes [Credit: ANSA]
    For almost three years the 2,500-year-old ancient Greek statues representing warriors have been in the Calabrian regional government's headquarters, undergoing a long-awaited restoration. A host of chemical, laser and electromagnetic tests designed to help experts better understand where the statues came from, and who created them, were also carried out.

    So now, it's almost time for them to return to their permanent home.

    According to the superintendent for archaeological and cultural heritage of Calabria, Simonetta Bonomi, restoration work should be completed near the end of the year and the two warriors "will be back home again" in time for Christmas.

    The celebrated bronzes were found in August 1972 off the coast of Calabria and quickly captured worldwide attention. They were so highly prized that they are rarely allowed to travel from their home, despite repeated requests.

    Even former Italian premier Silvio Berlusconi was turned down twice after seeking to borrow the statues for Group of Eight summits.

    During the current restoration work, the Riace Bronzes, last let out in 1981 for a triumphant round-Italy tour, have been kept inside a purpose-built area with a glass front allowing visitors to watch the delicate restoration work.

    Meanwhile, the Reggio Calabria museum has been undergoing restorations itself while the bronzes have been away. Approximately six million euros have been earmarked for that project, and regional authorities have released the final funds need to complete the work before year end.

    The Bronzes were discovered in 1972 by a Roman holidaymaker scuba diving off the Calabrian coast and turned out to be one of Italy's most important archaeological finds in the last 100 years.

    The statues are of two virile men, presumably warriors or gods, who possibly held lances and shields at one time. At around two metres, they are larger than life.

    The 'older' man, known as Riace B, wears a helmet, while the 'younger' Riace A has nothing covering his rippling hair.

    Both are naked.

    Although the statues are cast in bronze, they feature silver lashes and teeth, copper red lips and nipples, and eyes made of ivory, limestone and a glass and amber paste.

    Italy has the world's biggest trove of archeological treasures but the Riace Bronzes attracted particular attention.

    This was partly due to their exceptionally realistic rendering and partly to the general rarity of ancient bronze statues, which tended to be melted down and recycled.

    Stefano Mariottini, the scuba diver who first spotted one of the statues some 300 meters off the coast and eight metres underwater, said the bronze was so realistic that he initially thought he'd found the remains of a corpse.

    A million people came to see them in 1981 and the pair are even featured on a commemorative postage stamp.

    The statues usually pull around 130,000 visitors annually to the Reggio Calabria National Museum.

    Source: AnsaIT [August 14, 2012]

  • Aristotle’s Lyceum in Athens almost ready to open to public

    Aristotle’s Lyceum in Athens almost ready to open to public

    One of the sites chosen as part of the green cultural routes program organized by the Culture Ministry’s Directorate of Museums, Exhibitions and Educational Programs Department was Aristotle’s Lyceum. The tour, which introduced attendees to new and exciting information about life in ancient Greece, was led by the head of the Third Ephorate of Classical Antiquities, Eleni Banou.

    Aristotle’s Lyceum in Athens almost ready to open to public
    The site of the Lyceum in August 2013, with grass, flowers and herbs growing strong and a row of young pomegranate trees along the footpath on the west side of the ruins of the gymnasium [Credit: David John/My Favorite Planet]
    The walk down Rigillis Street from Vassilissis Sofias Avenue toward Vassileos Constantinou Avenue was the perfect start, accompanied by the fragrances of herbs including oregano, thyme, rosemary and lavender. On our right, separated from the Byzantine Museum’s garden by a fence, we spotted a green retreat with glass shelters protecting the discoveries on the site which has been identified as Aristotle’s school of philosophy, or Lyceum, established in 335 BC.

    The Lyceum, located between the Officers Club, the Athens Conservatory and the Byzantine Museum, is poised for its grand opening. The display areas are ready, the information signs are up and the site is officially waiting for visitors. Those passing the well-tended 11,000-square meter grounds on the Culture Ministry’s tour asked Banou when the ancient philosophy school would be ready. Some of them managed to sneak in through the door on the Vassilissis Sofias side of the site to take in the ancient lyceum from up close.

    Aristotle’s Lyceum in Athens almost ready to open to public
    Plan for the archaeological park, Aristotle's Lyceum by architect
    Eleni Markopoulou [Credit: To Vima]
    The signs are insightful, even if architect and site supervisor Niki Sakka is not there to provide a guided tour, informing the public about the history of the site that Aristotle rented in order to set up his Peripatetic School, a part of the Lyceum. They also provide information on the three big compounds of Ancient Athens – the Academy, the Lyceum and Cynosarges – used for the physical and mental exercise of the city’s youth and men.

    The Lyceum (first brought to light by archaeologist Effi Lygouri in 1996), was an overgrown suburb of ancient Athens named after a nearby temple dedicated to Apollo Lyceus. The archaeologists of the Third Ephorate of Classical Antiquities, which is responsible for the site, want it to become a part of Athenians’ everyday life, a place where visitors can take a walk, rest or read.

    Aristotle’s Lyceum in Athens almost ready to open to public
    Greek archaeologists working at the site of Aristotle's Lyceum [Credit: David John/My Favorite Planet]
    “Our reasoning is that we don’t want people to be afraid of interacting with the site,” Banou said during the tour. The Lyceum is a new archaeological destination, with free admission, which is also expected to boost visitor numbers at the nearby Byzantine and War museums.

    However, a date for its formal inauguration has not been set yet, though it is slated to take place within the next couple of months, before the end of summer.

    Author: Iota Sykka | Source: ekathimerini [June 03, 2014]

  • British Museum acquires Trust for African Rock Art collection

    British Museum acquires Trust for African Rock Art collection

    The British Museum has acquired a digital copy of the Trust for African Rock Art (TARA) photographic archive to ensure that this important collection is preserved and made widely available, thanks to generous support from the Arcadia Fund. The 25,000 digital photographs of rock art sites from across Africa will be catalogued and made accessible through the British Museum’s online collection catalogue, drawing on documentation from TARA staff and archaeological and anthropological research. The Museum will digitise its own African pictorial collection of 19th and 20th century photographs alongside the TARA images to support the integration of this archive.

    British Museum acquires Trust for African Rock Art collection
    Engraving of two cat-like creatures sparring in Libya's Messak Sattafet (Fezzan). c. 7000 BC [Credit: British Museum]
    The Museum’s African pictorial collection contains nearly 15,000 photographs that range from negatives, gel photos, glass plates, prints, and most recently, digital photographs. These are used for research, exhibitions, training, community outreach, museum partnership programmes and publications. Pictures in this collection are from throughout the African continent and embody the early stages of the medium up to the present day. Subjects include daily life, art, portraiture, official government photographs, natural landscapes and pictures from pre-colonial, colonial and independent Africa. The collection also holds film, video and audio recordings from various time periods and regions.

    The TARA collection will be presented through the British Museum’s Collection Online and will form one of the most complete searchable databases on African rock art worldwide. Africa’s rock painting tradition is believed to date back at least 50,000 years while abstract engravings in the Cape, South Africa have been dated to 77,000 years of age.

    Today only a handful of isolated cultures still engage in rock art and a few sites are still used for rituals, such as fertility and rainmaking, showing that it is still a living form of expression. TARA’s work over the last 30 years has created one of the best and most extensive photographic surveys of African rock art. Highlights from this collection include images of sites across the Fezzan of Southwest Libya, with dates ranging from 10,000 BC to 100 AD. These include sites in the Messak Sattafet as well as in the Acacus Mountains, (part of the Tadrart-Acacus trans-frontier UNESCO World Heritage site) and depict a wide range of subjects, such as hippopotami, men in chariots and hunting scenes.
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    There is a survey of South African sites showing the different styles and subject matters of the Khoi, San and other groups from thousands of years ago to the recent past day. The collection also includes engravings and graffiti by European settlers in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. In east Africa, the TARA archive contains geometric paintings and engravings by Twa forager-hunters as well as paintings of livestock, shields and clan markings made by Maasai and Samburu pastoralists in rock shelters. In addition to these depictions there are images of rock gongs, rocks with natural resonance once used for communication and divination.

    As rock art can be susceptible to destruction by natural and man-made events, and, in most cases, is fairly inaccessible geographically, this project will allow a greater access to rock art images and research for both academic and general audiences. By integrating these images with existing African collections, the British Museum is able to offer new insights into the techniques and tools used, the subjects represented and the people that made them.

    The project will take five years and involve research by Museum staff and on-going collaboration with TARA, as well as involving African communities. Through the incorporation of this collection into the British Museum’s online database, people across the world will be able to both use and contribute to the archive and its documentation. Partnership between TARA and the Museum will help preserve and disseminate this important collection and establish it as a major academic resource. By combining a wide range of research from the Museum, TARA’s international network and colleagues in Africa, the archive will capture and preserve knowledge about rock art for future generations.

    Source: The British Museum [February 18, 2013]