Ministry sends MANN's Farnese Atlas to Japan... for Osaka Expo

The Ministry of Culture is sending to Japan one of the most famous and recognizable works of the National Archaeological Museum of Naples, theFarnese Atlas, a splendid unique work, dating from the second century AD, of which no copy exists. It is considered one of the MANN’s highlights, yet museum and ministry have decided that Naples and Italy will have to deprive themselves of it: in fact, the work will travel to the Land of the Rising Sun to be placed at the center of the Italian Pavilion atExpo 2025 in Osaka. The project is a collaboration between the Ministry of Culture and the General Commissariat for Italy at Expo 2025 Osaka.

The sculpture, 20 quintals in weight by about 2 meters in height, was chosen to represent Italian cultural heritage in Osaka. The work comes to Japan and Asia for the first time, and will be placed in the center of the semicircular Piazza of the Italian Pavilion, designed by Mario Cucinella - MCA Architects. The announcement was made by the Commissioner General for Italy at Expo 2025 Osaka, Ambassador Mario Vattani, during the press conference held at Villaggio Italia, the itinerant project to promote the excellence of Italy’s cultural, artistic, historical and economic heritage created on the occasion of the arrival in Tokyo for the first time in history of the Amerigo Vespucci School Ship.

We are talking about a work of extraordinary importance not only for its uniqueness, but also for what it means. It depicts the figure of Atlas, a mythological character, the son of the titan Japetus, a great expert in astrology and astronomy according to myth, who was punished by Zeus for allying himself with Cronus during the war between the gods and the titans, and for this reason forced by Zeus to hold the entire vault of heaven on his shoulders: thus, therefore, he is represented. The work is of great importance because the vault of heaven is depicted with the universe as it was known a thousand and eight hundred years ago, with the constellations and stars known at the time. A work, therefore, of considerable scientific importance also because it helped to disseminate Ptolemy’s knowledge and was also a model for the drawings of the first Dutch celestial globes in the sixteenth century and a point of reference for scientists in later eras.

Engraved on the celestial globe, protruding 6 millimeters, are the meridian circles through the poles and the points of the solstices and equinoxes, along with the equator, ecliptic, an Arctic circle and an Antarctic circle. Also depicted are the Australian and boreal constellations, as well as the twelve signs of the zodiac, represented in anthropomorphic or animal form. This valuable object, valued since the 16th century, was acquired in 1562 by Alessandro Farnese from Paolo del Bufalo, becoming part of the Farnese collection in Rome (hence the name “Farnese Atlas”). The work underwent restoration between 1550 and 1560, being placed in Palazzo Farnese in the Atlas Room, where it remained until 1786, when it was transferred to Naples by the Bourbons. Since then it has been on display at the National Archaeological Museum.

This is not the first time the Atlas has been lent in recent years, by a museum that is distinguishing itself by being one of the most ’generous’ institutions, so to speak, to other Italian and foreign museums: countless loans in recent years, and some have even stirred enormous controversy, such as the loan of the Herculaneum Runners last year to serve as the backdrop for a fashion show.

“Placing at the center of the Italian Pavilion a masterpiece as well as an icon of inestimable value like the Farnese Atlas, in the days of the World Expo in Osaka in 2025, means making everyone aware of a work that represents the cultural heritage of our nation,” commented Minister of Culture Gennaro Sangiuliano. “The precious sculpture, together with other works in the collection, has contributed to making the MANN one of the most important archaeological museums in the world, determining a strong impulse to the dissemination of our culture and the recognition of Italy as the custodian of a unique global heritage.”

“For the first time the Farnese Atlas is coming to Japan: this is an unprecedented logistical operation, made possible thanks to the trust of the Minister of Culture, Gennaro Sangiuliano, to whom all our gratitude goes,” said instead the Commissioner General for Italy at Expo 2025 Osaka, Mario Vattani. “We thank the Directorate General for Museums and the Archaeological Museum of Naples, and we are certain of the value of this choice, because the Farnese Atlas, with its very strong symbolic charge, also tells of the values we bring to Expo: the richness of our cultural heritage and the responsibilities that come with it, and also science, research, our high technology, the spirit of travel and the discovery of other cultures.”

“It is with pride that the Directorate General of Museums and the National Archaeological Museum of Naples have accepted the invitation of the Commissariat General for Italy at Expo 2025 Osaka, to support Italy’s presence, during the upcoming World Expo, with the loan of one of the Museum’s most representative masterpieces,” emphasizes Director General of Museums, Massimo Osanna. “The choice of the Farnese Atlas, a unique and iconic work, was by no means accidental. The sculpture, powerful not only from a historical-artistic point of view but also for the multiple meanings underlying it, flies overseas for the first time to embody the spirit of this important international event: the crossing of the frontiers of knowledge through curiositas, the desire for discovery and the attraction for the unknown, innate in the human soul and which have always contributed to building bridges and establishing relations between different worlds and peoples, between West and East.”

Ministry sends MANN's Farnese Atlas to Japan... for Osaka Expo

Warning: the translation into English of the original Italian article was created using automatic tools. We undertake to review all articles, but we do not guarantee the total absence of inaccuracies in the translation due to the program. You can find the original by clicking on the ITA button. If you find any mistake,please contact us.