Is Christian Greco going to head the Ötzi Museum in Bolzano?

What will happen between Turin and Bolzano now that Christian Greco, current director of the Egyptian Museum in Turin, has been called to chair the scientific committee of the South Tyrol Archaeological Museum? In the meantime, Greco’s appointment to the Ötzi Museum has been greeted with great enthusiasm, not least because it comes at a crucial time for the South Tyrol Museum of Archaeology, which is best known for housing the famous Iceman mummy. This museum is a key institution for archaeological research and outreach in the region, and the choice of Greco reflects a desire to strengthen the scientific and international dimension of the museum, which is to be revitalized with a view to modern enhancement.

Christian Greco is an internationally renowned archaeologist, specializing in Egyptology, with a long academic and professional career that has led him to direct the Egyptian Museum of Turin since 2014. Under his leadership, the Egyptian Museum has undertaken numerous research projects, international exhibitions and museological innovations that have increased its global visibility and attractiveness. After ten years, however, his term is expiring: specifically, it will end in June 2025. This will be a period of major change for the Turin museum, as in November 2024 the term of the president of the Museum of Egyptian Antiquities Foundation, Evelina Christillin, who has been in office since 2012, will expire, while in September 2025 the board of directors must be renewed.

At the moment, the Foundation’s partners, namely the Piedmont Region, the City of Turin, Compagnia di San Paolo, and the Crt Foundation, are working to obtain an extension of Evelina Christillin’s term in order to finish the work for the museum’s bicentennial before bidding farewell to the institution (in fact, Christillin herself has already ruled out the possibility of another term). There are no strong candidates yet for the post-Greek: indeed, there has been talk of Egyptologist Zahi Hawass, for whom the role of president was speculated in recent days, although his name has not been well received by the scientific community, partly because it is an archaeologist and not a figure with a management profile (as the one destined for the role of president should be), and a bit because Hawass himself is a controversial archaeologist, for several reasons, starting with the fact that lately he has gone down heavy with some bizarre requests for restitution (for example, he has demanded the return of the Rosetta stone to the British Museum or the bust of Nefertiti to the Egyptian Museum in Berlin, not to mention the Papyrus of the Kings demanded from the Egyptian Museum in Turin itself), not to mention then the particularly centralizing management of the antiquities of Egypt during the periods in which he held institutional positions in his country (in fact, he was also secretary general of the Supreme Council of Egyptian Antiquities and Minister of Antiquities).

In Bolzano, meanwhile, people are gloating over Greco’s appointment, who will bring to the South Tyrol Archaeological Museum his expertise in cultural heritage management and enhancement. It is not yet certain, however, that he will become director, since confirmations are still lacking, which presumably will not come anytime soon. In any case, on the banks of the Isarco River, people are already beginning to think about a hypothetical framework in which Greco will be entrusted with the leadership of the museum: this will most likely entail an increase in research activities and a greater focus on the preservation and promotion of the museum’s collections, as well as a good degree of technological innovation, interesting exhibitions, and a renewed relationship with the public. But above all, a shot in the arm in theinternationalization of the Bolzano museum is expected: Greco enjoys a dense network of international contacts in the field of archaeology and museums, and his presence could facilitate new collaborations and projects with research institutions and museums around the world, further enriching the South Tyrolean museum’s cultural offerings. Will the South Tyrol Archaeological Museum thus increasingly be a center of excellence? And what will happen instead in Turin? The questions remain open.

Is Christian Greco going to head the Ötzi Museum in Bolzano?

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