Now managed by business tycoon François Pinault, the newly renovated Palazzo Grassi presents “Rome and the Barbarians” its first big exhibition focused on the ancient past. To best represent this theme two emblems were juxtaposed: extraordinarily survived through History’s ravages the glorious bust of Emperor Marco Aurelio, dating 180 A.C, (1590 grams of pure gold 24 carats) and found in Avenches, Switzerland, is facing the bronze statue of a mysterious barbarian, dating I-II century A.C, found in Sweden about a century ago.
The subtitle reads “the beginning of a new world”. The operation is of extreme importance both for the great value of the pieces on show, coming from an extremely wide area, extending from North Africa to the whole European continent, and for the relevance of the concept developed by the curator and director of Palazzo Grassi, Jean-Jacques Aillagon. He is convinced that the Barbarian heritage represents one of the major constituents of the European identity even if this hasn’t been widely recognized yet; Aillagon tries to demonstrate how Romans and Barbarians were meant to integrate. Doubtlessly many ferocious and violent episodes marked the millennium taken into consideration, from Julius Caesar’s occupation of Gallia in 58-51 A.C to King Steven of Hungary’s conversion to Christianity in 1000 A.C. At first the Romans crush the Barbarians as witnessed by one of the marvelous statue in the show, portraying one of the prisoners dating back to the end of the first century A. C.; but then to the contrary when Alaric I sacks Rome in 410 A.C. as depicted by neo-romantic French painter Joseph-Noel Silvestre (1890).
All of which took place before the integration process, thanks to a shared Latin linguistic background and the Christianization of the barbarian. Aillagon keenly sees the Barbarian phenomenon as an asset suggesting a different European political framework. In fact he states that the same applies to the modern migratory movements involving different populations.
It’s amazing to notice the great amount of valuable pieces on display, amounting to nearly 2000. “These are beautiful objects that just speak for themselves and do not need much explanation” is Aillagon’s answer to those who object the possibility to find a way out of such a fascinating but often ambiguous labyrinth. Yet, a sensational data underlines the one-time and extraordinary opportunity offered to the visitors: the exhibition includes 40 treasures emerged from tomb excavations. Among them, we find the tomb of queen Aregund who was married to the Frankish king Clothar I, in the VI century a.C.
The exhibition has been mounted in collaboration with the Ecole Française de Rome and the Kunst und Ausstellungshalle der Bundesrepublik Deutschalnd in Bonn and it is divided up in 31 sections that are briefly described in a handy mini-guide, available for only 8 euros. As expected, the first part of the exhibition focuses on the roman period, it must be noted that this is the section in which the beautiful sarcophagus of Portonaccio is displayed. Following, at the end of the first flight of stairs, the visitor finds The Extermination of the roman legions by the hand of Arminius in the 9th century a.C, painted by Lionel Royer, a French artist of the XIX century. At the end of the first floor, one can find the part referring to the Fall of the roman empire. The room dedicated to the varied – non Christian- religions followed under the empire ranks among the most interesting of the exhibition. It includes unique finds such as the three-horn bull (III-IV cent.) connected to the god Mithras and the enigmatic portrait of the Nordic pagan god Freyer (IV cent. a.C). The second floor is dedicated to the rise ad fall of barbarian reigns, preceding Charlemagne and the rise of the Holy Roman Empire which was an ideal perpetuation of the initial Roman empire. There’s an opulent employment of gold in the decorations of everyday objects like buckles as well as in the fine jewellery and in the swords decoration. The same material shines on religious objects as the precious set of crosses or the so-called Theodoric casket, containing Saint Maurice’s relics, found in the homonym abbey in Switzerland, in the VII century.
