Treasures from the ancient city of
Persepolis are now on display at Aquileia's archaeological
museum, in a collaboration between Italy and Iran that aims to
combine history with the fight against art trafficking and
terrorism.
The exhibition, "Lions and Bulls from Ancient Persia to
Aquileia", includes 25 objects spanning centuries of Persian art
from the time of the Achaemenid Empire (550-330 BC) through the
Sasanian Empire (224-651 AD).
Jebrael Nokandeh, director of the National Museum of Iran
in Tehran, said the objects on loan for the exhibition were
chosen to illustrate "the history of relations between ancient
Persia and ancient Rome".
Aquileia, located in Italy's far northeast near the border
with Slovenia, was chosen because "the city has always been
considered the doorway between Rome and the Orient," said
Italian ambassador Antonio Zanardi Landi, president of the
Aquileia Foundation.
Iranian Ambassador to Italy Iahanbakhsh Mozaffari attended
the exhibition's opening on Wednesday, along with Friuli Venezia
Giulia Governor Debora Serracchiani and Italian Culture Minister
Dario Franceschini.
"In a time when there's an attempt in the world to
transform culture into a dividing factor, we're showing that
culture unites, and Aquileia is enhancing its vocation on this
theme," Franceschini said, adding that there hasn't been an
exhibition of this type in Italy since 2001.
The exhibition - sponsored by the Aquileia Foundation in
collaboration with the Museums of Friuli Venezia Giulia, the
National Museum of Iran and the Iranian Cultural Heritage
Handcrafts and Tourism Organization - runs through September 30
at the National Archaeological Museum of Aquileia.
Today's Aquileia is small, with only about 3,500
inhabitants.
But it was large and prominent in antiquity as one of the
world's largest cities, with a population of 100,000 in the 2nd
century AD.
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