From today, Friday, October 18, 2024, until January 26, 2025, the Acropolis Museum presents the exhibition “The ancient civilizations of Basilicata. Treasures Coming to Light’ in the Periodic Exhibition Room.
It is the result of the collaboration of many scientists who have been trying for years to highlight the culture of a region in the extreme south of Italy, in the center of the Gulf of Taranto, the region of Oinotria, today Basilicata. Through this exhibition, the visitor will learn about the culture encountered by the Greeks of the Peloponnese and ancient island Greece on their long journeys to settle in the lands of Italy and Sicily, mainly in the part that was later called Greater Greece.
The General Director of the Acropolis Museum, Nikolaos Chr., spoke at the Press Conference. Stambolidis, the Director General of Museums at the Italian Ministry of Culture, Massimo Osanna, the Deputy Director General for Public and Cultural Diplomacy at the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Filippo La Rosa, and the Director of the National Museums of Matera and the Directorate Regional of the National Museums of Basilicata, Annamaria Mauro. The same speakers participated yesterday in the opening event of the exhibition, together with the Italian Ambassador to Greece, Paolo Cuculi. The exhibition was inaugurated by the Minister of Culture Dr. Lina Mendoni.
The report, edited by Massimo Osanna and the Ana Maria Mauroaims to shed light on a region in the extreme south of Italy, today Basilicata, highlighting the culture of this region from the end of the Bronze Age (11th century BC) to the 6th century. BC It includes more than 300 objects from the collections of the National Museum of Siritida, the National Archaeological Museum of Metapontia and the National Museums of Matera, most of which are in storage and therefore, until now, “invisible” to the public.
The exhibition narrates and highlights the complex interactions between the Greek races that settled on the coast and the local populations that inhabited the extensive hinterland, in a general context of great dynamism, with intense movements of people, manifested in hospitality relationships, exchanges of gifts, in herd movements and commerce.
The exhibition is part of the program Telling the story of beauty (Il racconto della bellezza)a collaboration between the General Directorate of Museums of the Italian Ministry of Culture and the General Directorate of Public and Cultural Diplomacy of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, within the framework of which traveling exhibitions have been organized for over a year in Italian Educational institutes in everyone.
After success at the Institutes of Hamburg, Warsaw and Budapest, the exhibition was enriched with more exhibits and reorganized in terms of museum design, to end, thanks to a collaboration agreement and with the support of the Italian Embassy in Greece and the Italian Educational Institute of Athens, in the prestigious Acropolis Museum of Athens.
The General Director of the Acropolis Museum, Prof. Nikolaos Ch. Stampolidischaracteristically says: “The Exhibition mainly includes material remains from graves, poetically paraphrasing Seferis “of ghosts and specters, kisses and digested lips, with the curtains of time wide open”. That is, through the burials of women and men, through personal items deposited in the burials by their undertakers, relatives and friends, for the long journey to Hades.
Accompanied by objects that reveal their beliefs and beliefs, their relationships and customs when they were alive, both with works from the primitive culture of Basilicata and later with object-works, which are related to the Greeks who arrived in the region. Objects that were swallowed by the earth during burials and that today feature in the Exhibition’s windows.”
In turn, the General Director of the National Museums of Matera, the architect Ana Maria Maurosays of the exhibition: “The exceptional objects presented in the exhibition are male and mainly female funerary gifts, which testify to the wealth and hegemonic role of individuals within their communities and reveal the cultural and commercial contacts with the wider Adriatic regions, Etruria (Tirrina) and Aegean. In particular, interest is centered on the Oinotri, an ancient Italian people who lived from the 9th to the 6th century BC in the southern part of the region, on the Ionian coast and in its interior.
The anthropological culture of death, represented by funerary complexes, is the essential element for understanding the social life of these people. At the same time, the beauty of the objects selected for the exhibition, including copper alloy and electrojewelry, testifies to important contacts and cultural exchanges. The exhibition of objects from the centers of Guardia Perticara, Chiaromonte, Incoronata, San Teodoro di Pisticci and the Matera region is an opportunity to present to the international public some of the most surprising ensembles from ancient Basilicata.”
The General Director of Museums at the Italian Ministry of Culture, Prof. Massimo Osannanotes the following: “The exhibition presents a place and time characterized by constant osmosis and overlapping cultural characteristics. The exhibition refers to a “place of intersection”, where relations between Greeks and local populations take different forms depending on place and time, with cases of territorial occupation and violent conflicts, but also cases of more complex interaction. The exceptional objects in the exhibition, many of which are not on display but kept in warehouses, are offerings in the graves of men and especially women. These testify to the wealth and hegemony of highly placed individuals in their communities and reveal dynamics and interactions that are still absolutely relevant and alive, even in the complex reality of the world we all live in today.”
The Deputy Director General for Public and Cultural Diplomacy and Director General for the Promotion of Italian Culture and the Italian Language, Minister Filippo La Rosastates: “We are happy that the ambitious Telling the Beauty program, which seals the collaboration between the Ministry of Culture and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, completes its European journey in Athens, after the Italian Institutes of Education in Hamburg, Warsaw and Budapest.
The exhibition The Ancient Civilizations of Basilicata. Treasures coming to light, 19th century. XI-VI. BC, which is based at the Acropolis Museum and the Italian Educational Institute of Athens, is a privileged tool of cultural diplomacy, strengthened during Minister Tajani’s mandate, through the participation of Athens’ main cultural institutions and the international public.”
Entry to the exhibition will be free for the public. A necessary condition is the issuance of a free entry ticket at the Museum’s ticket offices.
From Tuesday, October 22, 2024, Museum visitors will be able to participate in weekly guided tours. The guided tour program is available on the website (theacropolismuseum.gr).
The exhibition is accompanied by a trilingual edition (Greek-English-Italian) available in the Museum Store.
Parallel to the exhibition at the Acropolis Museum, around 20 objects from the Basilicata region will be presented in a showcase at the Italian Educational Institute of Athens. More information: iicatene.esteri.it
(General photography of the exhibition: Konstantinos Arvanitakis)
Source: Communication and Promotion – Acropolis Museum
Diligence:George Koulouvaris
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