An ancient culture, unknown to many, is revealed in the new periodical exhibition titled ‘Treasures of Ancient Basilicata – The Invisible Heritage’, which will be held at the exhibition hall of the Acropolis Museum in Athens, from October 17 2024 to January 31 2025.
“This is the fruit of the collaboration of many scholars who have been trying for years to highlight the culture of a region in the southern tip of Italy, in the centre of the Gulf of Taranto, in the Oenotria region, the present-day Basilicata. Through this exhibition, the visitor will get to know the culture that the Greeks encountered in the Peloponnese and the island Greek world on their great journeys to settle in the land of Italy and Sicily, mainly in what was later called Magna Graecia,” Professor Nikolaos Stampolidis, general director of the Acropolis Museum says to amna.gr.
The exhibition, curated by the general director of the Italian State Museums, Massimo Osanna, and the director of the National Museums of Matera, Anna Maria Mauro, focuses on this particular area of Basilicata, highlighting the culture of the region from the end of the Bronze Age (11th century BC) to the 6th century BC. It includes 312 objects selected from museums in the area.
“Among others, it will present mortuary objects that come mainly from the graves of women and men, to be offered to the dead by their relatives and friends for their great journey to Hades, accompanying objects that reflect their beliefs and customs, their relationships and their habits when they were alive, works that reflect the early culture of Basilicata. Also, objects that they brought with them later, Greeks, and objects that were buried with them, and which are reminiscent of Greek customs”, the professor notes.
