Riace Bronzes 'disgrace' will be 'remedied'

Catanzaro, July 15 2013 - A bureaucratic tangle that has left Italy's famed Riace Bronzes in a state United Nations cultural organisation UNESCO branded "a disgrace" will be cleared up by the end of the year, Italian officials have vowed. Delayed museum restoration needed to display the pair of cherished ancient Greek sculptures is poised to begin and the unique statues will be on show early next year, say officials at their home in the southern Italian region of Calabria. A renovated museum housing the iconic warrior figures should be ready "in the first few months of 2014," officials in Reggio Calabria said. "The situation is finally unblocked and will be remedied" said the managing director of Calabria's department of cultural heritage, Francesco Prosperetti. "The Region of Calabria has given its fundamental contribution of five million euros, which will be used for building museum displays and completing installation work in the building, which should once more host the Riace Bronzes," Prosperetti said at a press conference held with the Calabrian Regional Cultural Councillor, Mario Caligiuri. "If, as we hope, there aren't snags or legal hold-ups... inauguration and opening to the public is conceivable...in the first months of next year", Prosperetti said. Last week an Italian official with UNESCO claimed the government had "abandoned" the world-famous ancient Greek warrior statues, and called their treatment "an absolute disgrace to Italy". Politicians have demanded that Italy's culture minister take fast action to protect the historically significant and priceless statues. The bronzes, two of Italy's most-loved cultural icons, have been lying on their backs for more than three years in the home of the Calabrian regional government after being moved from a museum undergoing restoration work. However, the work at Reggio Calabria's National Archaeological Museum has become a victim of budget cuts and red tape, which means the statues remain homeless. "We call on the government to outline what steps it intends to take to safeguard the Riace Bronzes and complete the museum restoration," Rosy Bindi and Demetrio Battaglia, politicians with the Democratic Party (PD) demanded. Museum renovations began in November 2009 and since then the valuable bronzes have been in storage, away from paying visitors and students. Calabria takes the Bronzes so seriously that it has repeatedly refused permission for copies of the statues to be made and rejected pleas for Italian promotional events worldwide and for the 2001 G8 summit in Genoa. In a citywide vote in 2003, the people of Reggio Calabria came out overwhelmingly against the "cloning" of the statues, which have been the Calabrian capital's biggest tourist draw since they were discovered. The bronzes were discovered in 1972 by a Roman holiday-maker scuba diving off the Calabrian coast and ..........

The two most famous ancient Greek statues of Southern Italy – the Riace bronzes or “Bronzi di Riace”- are absent from the museum in which they should be hosted for three years now, due to extension and renovation works. According to the July 9 publication of the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera, it remains unknown when the museum’s refurbishment will be completed.

The two statues were found by an Italian diver at the bottom of the Ionian Sea on the 16th of August 1972 and are considered masterpieces of the 5th century BC craftsmanship. At first, scientists considered possible that the statues were the work of Phidias. The Italian archaeologist Paolo Moreno, who studied the two sculptures for years, believes that the first represents the hero Tydeus and the second Amfiaraus, two of the warriors of the tragedy, Seven Against Thebes, by Aeschylus.

“The museum which hosts the warriors closed 1.291 days ago for renovation works and no one knows when it is going to reopen,” Corriere della Sera reported. The works for the extension of the museum have exceeded the initial cost of 10 million euros by 20 million, and now the amount has exceeded 30 million. A part of the cost is covered by European funds.

The “Bronzi di Riace” might be able to return to the National Museum of Magna Græcia in the spring of 2014. Until then, they will remain in a hall of the regional council of Calabria. However, since this temporary “movement” has not been sufficiently publicized, tourists do not know where they can find and admire these fifth century B.C. masterpieces.

According to a report by Corriere della Sera reported, citizens in Calabria have formed a committee requesting the return of the statues to the Museum of Magna Græcia. In addition, there is hope of organizing an effective advertising campaign. In 2009, some 36,136 foreign and Italian tourists alone visited the museum installation to see the two bronze statues.

2013

si si .................

2021 04 08

13 January 2025

Ozymandias

"King of Kings Ozymandias am I. If any want to know how great I am and where I lie, let him outdo me in my work."

Human power is only short lasting in comparison to art and nature.

I met a traveller from an antique land,

Who said—“Two vast and trunkless legs of stone

Stand in the desert. . . . Near them, on the sand,

Half sunk a shattered visage lies, whose frown,

And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,

Tell that its sculptor well those passions read

Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,

The hand that mocked them, and the heart that fed;

And on the pedestal, these words appear:

My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings;

Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair!

Nothing beside remains. Round the decay

Of that colossal Wreck, boundless and bare

The lone and level sands stretch far away.

By Percy Bysshe Shelley 1818

2024 11 Zermatt HansSchnee

12 January 2025

Kleophrades Painter

2021 03 04

The Kleophrades Painter

Greek artist, was an Attic vase painter, among the finest of the late Archaic period. The Kleophrades Painter is the name given to the anonymous red-figure Athenian vase painter, who was active from approximately 510–470 BC and whose work, considered amongst the finest of the red-figure style, is identified by its stylistic traits.