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The essentials:
Exhibit: Athens-Sparta
Gallery: Onassis Cultural Center
Location: Olympic Tower, 645 Fifth Ave., NYC
Hours: Monday through Saturday, 10:00 AM - 6:00 PM
Cost: Free
Exhibit closes: May 12, 2007
New York’s got a lot of history, but it certainly doesn’t go as far back as Greece. Now through May 12, you can see a selection of ancient art—we’re talking 8th to 4th centuries BC—from Greece for the first time in the United States at the Athens-Sparta exhibit at the Onassis Cultural Center. Unlike the steep admission price to see the Greek collections at most New York museums, like the extensive collection at the Met, this is free.
Looking at these ancient artifacts is like peering back in time. Although, when you think about it, the fragile pottery isn’t that far off from our modern-day dishware. The exhibit displays 289 rare works from both Athens and Sparta—some of which have never traveled overseas before. The art and archaeological artifacts are broken up into three categories:
The first section explores their artistic, social, and cultural developments from the Late Geometric period through the Archaic period (8th to the 5th centuries B.C.), including metal work, pottery, and public monuments.…
The two other sections in Athens-Sparta represent the artistic development during the 5th century B.C., in the broader context of the continuously changing dynamics between the two cities, during the Persian Wars (500 B.C. to 449 B.C.) and the Peloponnesian War (431 B.C. to 404 B.C.).
The standout piece in the collection is one of the Athenian Kore from the Acropolis Museum. Other gems include a mid-4th-century marble statue of Athena, arrowheads from the 5th-century battlefield Thermopylae, and the 5th-century marble statue of the hoplite Leonidas.
Interestingly, artifacts similar to the ones on display at the Onassis Cultural Center actually get displayed in Athens metro stations thanks to the renovations that were done in preparation for the Olympics. Kinda puts a new spin on New York’s subways being an art gallery, considering one is MTA's Arts for Transit public artwork program and the other is more organic, found art.
At the rate things are going, though, New Yorkers may have to pay for more than the ride to Rockefeller Center if they want to enjoy Greek art. Greece’s cultural minister George Voulgarakis has been on a mission to retrieve all Greek art and artifacts pillaged by other countries, and the UN has adopted "The Return or Restitution of Cultural Property to their Countries of Origin.” So far, Los Angeles and Germany have returned artifacts, but England continues to hold out. So what does Mr. Voulgarakis have to say about the Athens-Sparta exhibit here in New York? He calls it a "unique exhibition," and went on to say: "For the first time, two magnificent cities of antiquity are being projected in a modern multicultural city.”
Do you think Greece has the right to demand that museums around the world return their Greek art?
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The Greeks (and every other country in the world) didn't even appreciate their own artifacts until Victorians began collecting the items. Heck, an ancient temple in Greece was considered nothing more than potential building material up until the last century.
And many of the most important artifacts of Greece (Elgin Marble, etc), China (Dunghuan scrollsm etc.) etc. that some people demand be returned wouldn't even exist if it wasn't for the foresight of the people that initally took them (and preserved the items) So NO! They items should not be returned.
However, for items taken in contemporary times, and in the recent past, which were taken in violation of laws YES! They should be returned.
"Go tell the Spartans, stranger passing by, that here, obedient to their laws, we lie." Why spend time in a stuffy museum? Go see "300" and enjoy some rockin' Greek history on the big screen this weekend!
The Met does not have a steep admissions price, as you suggest. It is a "pay what you wish" museum -- I have entered paying $0.01 at least ten times.
The parthenon marbles and all other STOLEN Greek works of art and culture must be returned to Greece! Lord Elgin ripped and stole from the womb of civilization such pieces of art, culture and religion,and it baffles me why they have not been returned yet! These marbles were "bought" by paying some corrupt turkish conqueror for things that did not belong to him and the British museum thinks that that is reason enough to keep them....shame..shame. Return the stolen goods.
We will prevail!
Louis Nikolaou
We must remember, when the British 'acquired' the marbles, they were not to save them for humanity...they were to be built into Lord Elgin's private residence for personal viewing only. Only when he ran out of money and went bankrupt, he 'donated' them to the British Museum in return for a tax break. Lets be clear - these marbles belong in Greece. They are for a Greek to sell if anyone, not for a Turk to sell a couple of years before Greek independance.
Thank you for the info on this collection...looking forward to a greek art collection in a greek institution, not because of nationalism, but more so, because there is something to be said for looking at art through a cultural lens....for example, it was only because of foreign concepts of antiquity that greek marbles and the parthenon were later whitewashed by collectors. The originals were a myriad of lively hues. I want to see the spin a Greek cultural institution can put on this, how they see themselves as the legacy to Athenian-Spartan art. Keep up the good articles, agapimou.
I used to get really upset about the marbles in a very nationalistic way. I guess if the British had to acquire them so badly they obviously need them more than the Greeks. My current opinion is that they are beautiful and appreciated no matter where they are. While some say they've been taken out of Greece, I say Greece has been taken somewhere. In effect, Greek history seems to transcend the ownership of material artifacts.