'Manneddu', Mont'e Prama Giant, stars in Madrid

by Paola Del Vecchio (ANSA) - ROME, SEP 19 - From the pantheon to the archaeological site of Cabras, in western Sardinia, to Madrid: Maneddu, one of the celebrated and mysterious Giants of Mont'è Prama, is the absolute protagonist of an exhibition inaugurated at the National Archaeological Museum (MAN) of the Spanish capital.
    The show will run until January 12, 2025.
    Madrid welcomed the over two-metre-high stone giant, which dates back to 900-750 BC, ambassador abroad of the over 30 Nuragic limestone sculptures rebuilt after they were discovered by chance in 1974, on Mont'e Prama, in the peninsula of Sinis near Oristano.
    An army of archers, boxers and warriors from the Iron Age, found after the first excavation work, originally aligned along the necropolis used 3,000 years ago and where, with the system of anthropomorphic sculptures Nuraghe and sacred stones have emerged.
    "It's one of the most important and ancient groups of sculptures of human representations of the western Mediterranean - having it here is a dream come true", said the director of the archaeological museum, Isabel Izquierdo Peraile, inaugurating the exhibition, which was possible thanks to the synergy between the MAN, the Italian and Spanish culture ministries, the Italian embassy in Spain, the Foundation Mont'e Prama and the Italian cultural institute.
    "It is an opportunity of exceptional collaboration which opens a window on Italian and Sardinian archaeology", she said.
    Maneddu "dialogues with other Spanish sculptures in stone and bronze, dating back to the Iron Age of the first millennium BC - as the funerary monument of Pozo Moro, from the end of the 6th century BC which, like the funerary fence of Mont'Prama became a place of worship for ancestors", Izquierdo told ANSA.
    A major event for a double celebration: the 50 years since the discovery of the archaeological settlement on the hill of Cabras and the tenth anniversary of the architectural renovation of MAN.
    "Without a doubt, the giants are the most evident proof that in the Mediterranean even before the Roman rule relations were very strong between western Sardinia, the Balearic Islands and eastern Spain", stressed Italy's ambassador to Spain, Giuseppe Buccino Grimaldi, who inspired the exhibition project.
    "The discovery of the giants is extraordinary for the archaeology of Mare Nostrum (our sea in Latin, the Mediterranean), it has brought to the need to revise interpretations.
    "Given the lack of documents, they all go in the Spain of an already close relationship in 1,000 BC, when it was thought that a similar statue could only exist in Egypt".
    The relations were discussed at a scientific congress on "Spain, Sardinian and the Aegean World in the Mediterranean" which on September 17-18 offered an important occasion of debate between archaeologists, researchers and representatives of institutions that preserve, restore and promote cultural heritage.
    Carlo Tronchetti, who was in charge of excavation work between 1977 and 1979 on Mont'e Prama was the guest of honour on the first day.
    "This exhibition in Madrid represents the culmination of our international initiatives to enhance our archaeological park, after prestigious exhibits at the Hermitage in Saint Petersburg and at the Metropolitan Museum in New York", said Anthony Muroni, president of the foundation Mont'e Prama, who relentlessly carries out research and activities to promote the archaeological area of Sinis.
    "This is not only a promotional matter, there is a common research project to understand what happened in the rest of the western Mediterranean when in Sardinia the Giants of Mont'e Prama were being sculpted.
    "So a dialogue leading to new initiatives of study and research has started", he added.
    This will be yet another bridge in fertile relations between Italy and Spain.
    "The present of the Boxer in Madrid is an extraordinary opportunity to share with the Spanish public a great discovery that belongs to a universal heritage", said the director of the Italian culture institute in Madrid, Marialuisa Pappalardo.
    (ANSA).