Want to go on a journey into the world of ancient fears and myths? An exposition opens in Rome, combining for the first time sculptures of monsters and fantastic characters created at all times and from all kinds of materials.
Unreasonable fears, the depths of the underworld, hidden threats, witchcraft, deadly temptations, a hidden world of water depths, gloomy abysses of darkness ... for centuries, our anxieties and fears have generated many monsters. These images, from ancient times to the present day, will be exhibited at the National Roman Museum in the Palazzo Massimo (Museo nazionale romano di Palazzo Massimo).
The exposition is framed in the form of a labyrinth (the most ancient form of the journey of initiation), which any hero must go through to gain higher knowledge.
It contains exhibits from museums from all over the world - Athens, Berlin, Basel, Vienna, Los Angeles and New York - complemented by impressive artifacts from numerous archaeological collections of Italian museums. Thus, the exhibition reveals the theme from all possible sides: gathering more than 100 ancient figures depicting griffins, chimeras, gorgons, centaurs, sirens, satyrs, harpies, Sphinx, Minotaur, Triton, Pegasus, Scylla and Lerney Hydra. The exposition is divided into thematic sections devoted to individual fantastic characters and reflecting the evolution of their images in time.
Along with archaeological finds, the exhibition features three more paintings: “The Minotaur with the Head of a Giraffe” by Alberto Savigno Crete, provided by the Roman National Gallery of Modern Art; the delightful “Head of Medusa” (Testa di Medusa) of an unknown Flemish, written in the middle of the 17th century and at one time attributed to the brush of Leonardo da Vinci himself, usually kept in the Uffizi Gallery;
and the painting by Cavalier d Arpino's Perseo liberating Andromeda (Perseo libera Andromeda), which came from the Bologna National Art Gallery, on which the image of Pegasus is especially valuable in this case.
Of course, today cinema draws from the field of fears of the most unknown ideas. And so, Scott Ross, a pioneer of Hollywood special effects, and Shane Mahan, a make-up artist and master of creating mechanical monsters for the big screen, were invited to the opening of the exhibition. Today, December 20, invited guests will meet with students of the Institute of Cinematography at the exposition, and tomorrow at 11 in the morning they will perform in front of the public at the Auditorium parco della musica di Roma.
The exhibition will be available for visitors from today until June 1 of this year in the Palazzo Massimo, on all days except Monday. Opening hours from 09:00 to 19:45. From December 24 to December 31 from 09:00 to 17:00
To order a ticket worth 10 euros, a tour or find out more information, go to www.coopculture.it or call 06 39967700.
