Debate over whether the
2,500-year-old Riace bronzes should travel to Milan Expo 2015
continued Tuesday when art critic Philippe Daverio weighed in
with ironic commentary in a popular magazine.
In an interview in this week's issue of the lifestyle
magazine Oggi, he quipped that perhaps the statues should be
divided so the collection would be put at risk.
"Perhaps only one of the bronzes could go to Milan, leaving
the other in Reggio Calabria," he said.
"But then there would be a controversy over which one of
the two to send, so we could ask cultural minister (Dario)
Francheschini to flip a coin to decide," Daverio added.
Italy should show its "cultural muscle" at Expo and should
therefore consider a dedicated space for the Riace bronzes at
the Expo to show the archaeological finds at their best, said
Daverio.
Earlier this month, Simonetta Bonomi, Calabria's
superintendent for cultural heritage, spoke of risks involved in
moving and displaying the bronzes at Expo.
She said that she hadn't received any official request to
display them at Expo, but that "as a superintendency we've been
talking about these risks for the last 30 years".
The bronzes spent four years stuck in bureaucratic red tape
awaiting restoration and were returned for public display at
Reggio Calabria's national archeological museum in December
2013.
Calabria has historically kept a tight grip on the
much-loved statues since their discovery by a diver in 1972.
Regional authorities have allowed them to tour the country
just once, in 1981, to sold-out venues in Rome, Venice, and
Milan, a tour in which the statues were seen by over one million
people overall.
The 2,500-year-old exceedingly rare bronzes stand two
metres tall, and are an exceptionally realistic rendering of
warriors or gods.
Both are naked, with silver lashes and teeth, copper red
lips and nipples, and eyes made of ivory, limestone, and a glass
and amber paste.
Among those in favor of displaying the bronzes at Expo
include art critic and former undersecretary of cultural
heritage Vittorio Sgarbi, who defended his position in last
week's issue of Oggi, and Lombardy governor Roberto Maroni, who
tweeted a link to Sgarbi's article.
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