Young, strong, toned, naked in a natural pose. Anatomically perfect, as ready for battle. Perhaps they had a helmet, a spear resting on one side, a shield, details that are still talked about 50 years after their discovery. Half a century of Riace Bronzes and archaeologists still reason whether it was Phidias or Pythagoras of Reggio who forged them (or Polykleitos, Mirone, Agelada or Alcmene?) And in which years. If they were created by the workers of a workshop in the Peloponnese, or in Delphi, if they represented Polynice and Eteocles, brothers of Antigone, and if they were originally a sculptural group of five warriors (or three?). Were they destined for Constantinople to embellish the city of the imperator?
The Riace Warriors at the MaRc
To keep them is the Archaeological Museum of Reggio Calabria, the most representative of the period of Magna Graecia and ancient Calabria: placed on large anti-seismic bases, the two warriors are located on level D of the building, in an exhibition hall equipped with a special system air conditioning, preceded by a room for the control of atmospheric pollution, where visitors are “cleaned” with jets of air, to avoid any contamination.
Mysteries and rebus around the discovery of the Bronzes
Their discovery, in the Riace sea, 10 meters deep and 300 from the shore, with no other contextual material around, represented an archaeological discovery of global significance, but also fueled an enigmatic history, made up of courts, complaints, witnesses. eyepieces and perhaps misdirections. Was it a missed pillage? Was it really the Roman diver Stefano Mariottini who found them off the Ionian Sea? Or does the credit go to those kids who, aboard a boat, identified the finds before their official discovery? Several scholars have tried to find plausible answers, and it was all a flourishing of investigative books. A puzzle that has fascinated foreign archaeologists, especially Germans and Japanese. Data still intersect.
2022, a full year of celebrations
2022 will mark the 50th anniversary of the discovery of the Riace Bronzes with events that will involve all of Calabria, but also Messina, Naples, Bari and Rome. It will not be a party only on August 16, the day of their discovery, but the celebrations will start already in the first months of the new year, foreseeing a strong impact on the whole territory. Leading the committee of the celebrations is the director of the MaRc Carmelo Malacrino: “I imagined a whole year of events to celebrate two priceless masterpieces, but also to enhance all the archaeological and cultural heritage of the Metropolitan City of Reggio Calabria, which is able to create an immersive narrative through the millennia “, announced Malacrino during the 23rd edition of the Mediterranean Exchange of archaeological tourism underway in Paestum, an event that is proposed as an opportunity to study and disseminate themes dedicated to archeology and tourism.
The numbers of the Reggio Calabria Museum
The extraordinary results of the Reggio Museum are due to Malacrino: 227,000 admissions before the pandemic and exhibitions and events that have restored the cultural institution to the city and its visitors. Reopened in 2016 after a long restoration, “today it represents a dynamic and inclusive museum that attracts visitors, and many from abroad, but which above all – underlines the director of MarRc – is configured as a place with a great identity strength”. Which, despite suffering from a serious shortage of staff (“We are 60, we should be 95”), reaches a turnover of over 750 thousand euros.