A total of 279 Greek artifacts are set to make their debut at the National Museum of China starting Thursday, displaying the beauty of ancient Greece to Chinese visitors.
The exhibition, titled The Countless Aspects of Beauty in Ancient Art, is a collaborative effort between the National Museum of China and the Hellenic National Archaeological Museum of Greece.
The exhibition aims to explore the persistent pursuit and diverse creation of the theme of "beauty" in ancient Greece, from the Neolithic period to the end of the Hellenistic period, spanning nearly 5,000 years of history.
A significant piece in the exhibition is a statue modeled after a Hellenistic version of the Cnidian Aphrodite of Praxiteles dated around 300 B.C., which will be presented to the public outside Greece for the first time after long-term cleaning and conservation efforts.
Another highlight is a marble statue of a kouros (Apollo or youth) from the 5th century B.C.. Kouros is the most significant statuary type in Archaic art (7th-6th century B.C.) and embodies the aristocratic ideals of the era. He either depicts deities or mortal young men at the peak of their beauty and vigor.
"Objects have been selected from the collection of the national museum of Athens and they are here in order to offer a journey through time full of aesthetic and these objects, they cover a long time of period, from period to Roman times," said Sapfo Athanasopoulou, an archaeologist from the Greek National Archaeological Museum.
The exhibition hall covers an area of 2,000 square meters, displaying precious cultural relics including pottery, bronze, gold, glass, murals and sculptures.
All exhibits come from the Greek National Archaeological Museum, with the vast majority being exhibited outside the country for the first time.
Themed on "beauty", the exhibition unfolds the vivid aesthetics of ancient Greece from three perspectives: daily life, adornment, and human body.
"Each region developed its own civilization. For example, there was a time when the Crete civilization was the most advanced, followed by the gradual emergence of the Mycenaean civilization. During the city-state period, Athens and Sparta rose to prominence as the two most important and largest city-states. In fact, visiting the exhibition allows us to live the whole life of ancient Greece in a small exhibition hall," said Zhu Xiaoyun, director of the Department of International Relations at the National Museum of China.
The exhibition is set to last until June 5, 2025.
279 ancient Greek artifacts to debut at National Museum of China
