2023-05-13 14:19:20
The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York has announced the major loan from the Mont’e Prama Foundation in Sardinia of a colossal limestone statue of a boxer known as Manneddu (mannu in Sardinian means “big”). The figure of the Giant, almost two and a half meters high, dating back to around 900-750 BC, will be exhibited for six months, from 25 May to 6 December 2023, in Gallery 150 of the Greek and Roman Art Galleries of the Met. This important loan is the first agreement between the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Mont’e Prama Foundation; it was organized with the support of the Autonomous Region of Sardinia and in collaboration with the Italian Ministry of Culture and the president of the Sardinia Region.
Max Hollein, director of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, said: “The Giants of Mont’e Prama have become global ambassadors of this ancient Sardinian civilization and we are thrilled to have one on loan to welcome visitors to our Greek and Roman Galleries. Presented in the context of works from our collection, the exhibition will further enrich our knowledge of Sardinian and related Italian cultures.The Metropolitan Museum is grateful to the Mont’e Prama Foundation, the Autonomous Region of Sardinia, the Ministry of Cultural Heritage and to the president of the Sardinia Region for making this extraordinary loan possible”.
In recent decades, thousands of sculptural fragments in limestone dating from around 900-750 BC have been discovered in a necropolis at the foot of the low hill of Mont’e Prama on the western side of Sardinia. So far the pieces have been reassembled into 28 statues depicting archers, warriors and boxers, known as the Giants of Mont’e Prama. The specimen to be loaned to the Metropolitan Museum of Art – one of the boxers – is the largest of the group. His raised left arm originally held a shield, while his missing right arm was sheathed in a spiked glove that could be used as a weapon. These figures could represent warriors armed for close combat or athletes engaged in games in honor of a divinity or a deceased.
The extraordinary story of the rediscovery of the Giants of Mont’e Prama began on March 28, 1974, when two farmers plowing their field in Cabras found a large head, the first of thousands of fragments collected by archaeologists in the following decades. In 2007, over 5,000 sculptural fragments found in Mont’e Prama were transferred to the Conservation and Restoration Center of Li Punti, in the city of Sassari. In the following four years, 28 statues and 16 sculptures representing models of nuraghes (the prehistoric stone towers of Sardinia) were reconstructed. They were then exhibited in Sardinia in the museums of Cagliari and Cabras. New excavations after 2014 have recovered thousands more fragments.
In 2021 the Ministry of Culture, the Sardinia Region and the Municipality of Cabras created the Mont’e Prama Foundation, which is entrusted with the care and exhibition of the Giants.
The Giant on loan to the Metropolitan Museum of Art will be displayed at the center of Gallery 150, a key location in the Galleries of Greek and Roman Art, where loans of single objects of great importance are highlighted. Furthermore, on the occasion of the loan exhibition, a nearby showcase will present a selection of Greek and Italic bronze objects from the Museum that reflect the ideology and warrior imagery present in many different cultures of the ancient Mediterranean world. These objects include a Villanovan bronze helmet from the 9th century BC, two Cretan helmets from the end of the 7th century BC, Etruscan and Umbrian warrior statuettes from the end of the 6th-4th century BC, and an Etruscan miniature armor from the 5th century BC.
The exhibition is organized by Seán Hemingway, curator of the Met’s Department of Greek and Roman Art, and Alexis Belis, assistant curator of the same Department.
On September 22, the Met will host a conference entitled “Between Giant Statues and Indigenous Landscapes: Mont’e Prama and Iron Age Sardinia in the Wider Mediterranean”, in collaboration with the Aia New York Society. The speaker will be Peter van Dommelen, Joukowsky family professor of archeology and professor of anthropology, director of the Joukowsky Institute for Archeology and the Ancient World at Brown University.
“Despite being the second largest island in the Mediterranean, Sardinia’s rich cultural heritage is relatively unknown to many. We are thrilled to be able to present one of the spectacular Giants of Mont’e Prama at the entrance to the Greek and Roman Galleries of the Metropolitan Museum of Art – said Seán Hemingway – Visitors will see this imposing figure in relation to the Greek and Italic works of art in the Met’s collection, reminding us of the different cultures that populated the Mediterranean region at the beginning of the first millennium BC and their distinctive artistic traditions ” .
“We are deeply honored to collaborate with a prestigious institution such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art, following our previous collaboration with the Italian Academy of Columbia University – added Anthony Muroni, president of the Mont’e Prama Foundation – Thanks to the contribution of the Ministry of Culture and the Autonomous Region of Sardinia, we now have the opportunity to present the statues of the Stone Giants of Mont’e Prama and the multi-millennial history of Sardinia in the United States of America, thus closing the circle after the European tour which brought the exhibition to Berlin, St. Petersburg, Thessaloniki and Naples”.
“Our wish is that all visitors to the Metropolitan Museum of Art are fascinated by the history of Sardinia, and that perhaps one day they become guests of our splendid island in the heart of the Mediterranean. We want to tell the story of the island, already renowned for its pristine beaches and crystalline sea, exploring the millenary heritage that has transformed it into an open-air archaeological museum.The landscape of the island is dotted with over 10,000 megalithic towers built in the Bronze Age by the Nuragic civilization, whose heroic descendants they are recognizable in the statues of the Stone Warriors of Mont’e Prama”, said Nadia Canu, director of the Mont’e Prama Foundation.
Mariangela Zappia, Ambassador of Italy to the United States, commented: “I am delighted that the Metropolitan Museum of Art is hosting one of the 33 historic Sardinian Giants. The so-called Manneddu is being exhibited in the United States for the first time in its history and for the second time abroad. This incredible loan was made possible by the collaboration of the Metropolitan Museum with the Mont’e Prama Foundation, with the Italian Ministry of Culture and with the Region of Sardinia. I am sure that Manneddu will help the public discover the mysterious civilization nuragica, whose main site is among the unequaled Unesco World Heritage Sites in Italy”.
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