Taranto's MArTA sends some 60 artifacts to Argentina for an exhibition

Transoceanic transfer for some 60 artifacts from the National Archaeological Museum of Taranto. In fact, the Apulian institute brought some of its treasures to Argentina for the exhibition entitled Tesoros del Museo Arqueológico Nacional de Taranto. Griegos y otras civilizaciones antiguas del Sur de Italia ( “Treasures of the National Archaeological Museum of Taranto. Greeks and Other Ancient Civilizations of Southern Italy”), held at the Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes in Buenos Aires from December 7, 2022 to March 5, 2023. The aim of the exhibition: to bring to the attention of the Argentine public a selection of artifacts belonging to the collections of the National Archaeological Museum of Taranto (MArTA) and illustrative of the most representative cultural and productive aspects of theancient city of Taranto, the only Greek colony in Apulia, and the other populations that inhabited the Apulian region in ancient times.

Curated by Eva Degl’Innocenti, director of the National Archaeological Museum of Taranto, and Lorenzo Mancini, MArTA’s archaeological officer, the selected objects were chosen, the museum explains, for their ability to evoke, with thesynthetic effectiveness of the symbol, complex themes such as society, funerary ideology, figurative culture, productions, the heritage of mythical tales and religious beliefs of the Greeks of Taranto and other ancient civilizations of Apulia, in a period between the 8th century B.C.BC and the 2nd century BC, when the region’s incorporation into the emerging Roman Italy was accomplished.

The project, the institute says in a note, "exports the excellence of European archaeology and tells the stories of one of the most important cities of the ancient Mediterranean: the Greek colony of Taranto, called the ’Paris of the ancient world’ for its cultural influence and its ability to shape fashions and customs. But also the stories of the peoples who coexisted with the Greeks in the region of Puglia, the easternmost region of southern Italy, the heel of the Peninsula."

The narrative of the long period between the phases immediately preceding the founding of the Spartan colony of Taras, and the Roman conquest of the city (209 B.C.), is entrusted to a series of works with the function of symbola - elements capable of evoking in summary form, themes or historical issues also illustrated by the cultural communication that accompanies the visitor along the exhibition route inside the Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes in Buenos Aires. With this exhibition, funded by the Italian Cultural Institute, the MArTA wants to reveal itself to the Argentine and international public through its archaeological treasures. The exhibition itinerary is divided into four diachronic sections (Taranto Spartan Colony. From the foundation to the 5th century BC; From the “happiest” age of Taranto to the Roman conquest. 4th-2nd cent. BC; Gifts to the gods. Aspects of the sacred in Greek Taranto; The indigenous peoples of southeastern Italy).

“Fruit of the virtuous collaboration between the Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes, the Embassy of Italy in Argentina, the Italian Cultural Institute of Buenos Aires and MARTA”; says Museo Nacional director Andrés Duprat, “we present here a selection of pieces that offer an overview of the cultural production of this region of southern Italy, before the founding of the city of Taranto, when the ancient indigenous peoples organized the territory politically, and after the arrival of the Greeks, in the seventh century BC. C”.

Donatella Cannova, director of the Italian Cultural Institute in Buenos Aires, points out, “The pieces in this exquisite exhibition are particularly relevant when placed in the context of the intense historical and cultural ties that unite Argentina and Italy, as they add a new field of interpretation of the relationship between the two nations whose history has profoundly intersected over the past two centuries.”

The exhibition opened Dec. 6 in the presence of Argentina’s minister of culture, Tristán Bauer, and the Italian ambassador to Argentina, Fabrizio Lucentini.

Taranto's MArTA sends some 60 artifacts to Argentina for an exhibition

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