The Etruscans and the Mediterranean : The City of Cerveteri

Abstract

On December 5, 2013, an impressive exhibition opened at the Musee du Louvre-Lens, “the other Louvre,” that surely will appeal to anyone interested in terracotta sculpture, as well as to anyone interested in the cultures and civilizations of the ancient Mediterranean. The Etruscans and the Mediterranean : The City of Cerveteri presents a history of the city that is largely based on new results obtained from recent excavations at the site, within which objects from major historical collections are viewed. A product of a collaboration between the Musee du Louvre, the CNR - Istituto di studi sul Mediterraneo Antico, Rome, the Soprintendenza per i Beni Archeologici dell’Etruria Meridionale, and the Museo Nazionale Cerite, this exhibition comprises many works that have never been seen together that document with extraordinary clarity the changing values and customs of this important Etruscan city over the course of some 500 years. This is the third major exhibition organized by the Musee du Louvre this past year for its satellite museum at Lens in north-eastern France that opened a little more than a year ago, in December 2012. Built over a wasteland that was once home to the coal mining industry of Lens, the Louvre-Lens, a large, modernist structure with minimalist gardens, is expected to help revitalize the economy of the area that entered a depression with the collapse of the coal mining industry of France in the mid-20th century. An installation over the exit doors of the museum of large, vintage photographs of coal miners presented in a continuous loop is a touching reminder of the difficult and dangerous occupations that sustained this region of France for more than 150 years. Nor can one ignore the enormous pyramids of coal wasters that can be seen from the large windows of the museum that now have the status of national monuments.