Placing the statues on their backs was in fact a practical measure, as it allowed the restorers to work on them more easily. During this period, the statues were placed on their backs, in an “undignified pose.” The statues were restored in this building, which is located across town in Reggio Calabria, as the National Museum of Magna Graecia was under renovation. The soil samples were later analyzed by scientists and provided some rather interesting information (see below).īetween 20 AD, the third and latest round of restoration was performed on the Riace Warriors, this time at the Palazzo Campanella, the seat of the Regional Council of Calabria. After that, the Riace Warriors returned to Florence for further restorations. As the soil was soaked in salt, it was damaging the metal, and therefore had to be removed. The aim of this second phase of restoration was to remove the soil inside the statues. The second stage of restoration work was carried out on the statues in a laboratory in the Museo Nazionale della Magna Grecia (or the National Museum of Magna Graecia), in Reggio Calabria, where the artifacts are currently exhibited. The restoration work, however, was not quite completed yet, and its second phase was conducted between 19 AD. ( CC BY-SA 2.5 ) After They Were Found The Warriors Were Restored Twice More The Riace Warriors today are displayed in the Museo Nazionale della Magna Grecia. And in that same year, the Riace Warriors were also featured on a commemorative Italian postage stamp. The fact that one million people came to see the statues attests to the great interest that the public had for these ancient works of art. The Riace Warriors were first revealed to the public in the summer of 1981 AD, first in Florence, and then in Rome. One of the primary objectives of the restorers was to clean and preserve the external surface of the statues. Between 19 AD, the Riace Warriors were in Florence, where initial restoration work was performed on them. The Riace Warriors “disappeared” for about a decade, as they needed to be studied, cleaned, and restored before they could be shown to the public. This ceramic piece had originally been placed between the right forearm and chest of Statue A in ancient times to prevent the arm from being damaged. For example, a large piece of late antique ceramic was conveniently “forgotten” on the beach. In any case, Mariottini contacted the authorities, and a few days later, the pair of bronze statues were brought out of the sea by the police and handed over to the archaeological superintendent of Reggio Calabria.ĭespite the importance of this amazing discovery, the Riace Warriors were apparently not handled with the care they deserve. The chemist initially thought that he had found a corpse, though upon closer inspection, realized that it was actually a statue. Whilst he was underwater, Mariottini discovered the Riace Warriors in the sand completely by chance. On the 16 th of August that year, a Roman chemist by the name of Stefano Mariottini was underwater fishing in the Ionian Sea off Marina di Riace. The modern story of the Riace Warriors, also known as the Riace Bronzes, begins in 1972 AD. For one, bronze statues from ancient Greece are rare, since these works of art were often melted down in later times for the purpose of making new objects. The Riace Warriors are considered to be treasures of the ancient world for a number of reasons. ![]() This choice of names is an indication that no one is certain who statues were meant to depict, though some scholars have made their own speculations. The former is referred to as Statue A, whilst the latter is known as Statue B. The statues date to the 5th century BC and depict two warriors. Both warriors are nude and bearded, though one of them is thought to be an “younger” individual, and the other a “older” one. The Riace Warriors (or Bronzi di Riace) are a pair of Greek bronze statues that were discovered in the sea near Riace, in the southern Italian province of Calabria.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |