The exhibition, which arrives in the capital of North Africa after the Roman stop at the Colosseum, presents thirty unpublished sculptures, dated between the 1st century BC and the 2nd century AD, found at the site of Zama and restored in Italy by a joint team of Italian and Tunisian restorers. But our country’s commitment does not end with the exhibition: it continues with a new research, restoration and valorization project of the great sanctuary of the Magna Mater and Attis in Zama, as well as the site of El-Jem, ancient Thysdrus.
The renovated bridge towards Tunisia is in line with another initiative that took place two years ago, again in the Colosseum, on the occasion of the exhibition “Göbeklitepe: The enigma of a sacro sacro“, dedicated to the Neolithic site in southeastern Turkey, which is considered the oldest monumental settlement ever discovered.
With the hope of activating a “permanent network between European and Mediterranean institutions” – words of Alfonsina Russo, director of the cultural heritage valorization department and promoter of study days – archeology confirms itself as a powerful tool for the local community, capable of bringing past and present into dialogue and shaping the contemporary, as underlined Simone Quilici, director of the Colosseum Archaeological Park.
The challenges that archeology must face today are numerous and range from natural and human crises to the most recent ones related to overtourism. A new approach to the discipline is emerging: from a simple accumulation of ruins from a glorious past, immobile and without contact with the present, as archeology was imagined 200 years ago, it is increasingly becoming a mirror of the current world. In this process, innovative tools such as digital are proving to be fundamental for communication and for encouraging local visits, returning places to citizens.
With more than 14 million visitors per year, the Colosseum emblematically represents the critical issues related to overtourism. For Simone Quilici it becomes a priority «return the monument to the Romans», where the theme of citizenship and territory takes center stage again, conceived not only as an urban settlement but also as a natural landscape, creating a continuity connection with the Appia Antica Park.
Dynamic and fragile, constantly challenged by daily realities, archeology has strengthened itself thanks to a multidisciplinary vision, now more necessary than ever to address issues related to conservation, management, communication and public involvement.
From Greece, Demetris Athanasoulis, Director of the Magistrate of Antiquities of the Cycladesillustrates the interventions carried out on the island of Delos to improve the visiting experience, through new walkways between the ruins and the use of digital technologies that allow the visualization of the external spaces within the museum. Tania Zaven, manager of the Byblos archaeological areaabout forty kilometers north of Beirut, instead tells about strategies and interventions implemented in times of war. Thanks to intensive cooperation with the French government and with the museum institutions of Paris – which have given rise to exhibitions, concerts and awareness-raising documentaries – the administration of Byblos has managed to obtain reinforced protection from UNESCO for the site, which includes the famous Crusader castle and a five-thousand-year-old necropolis, in view of the risks associated with regional conflicts.
Among the Italians present, Cristiano Tiussi, director of the Aquileia Foundationwhich manages the Friulian archaeological site, has recognized the importance of sharing research and experiences with other areas, to better address common problems. For example, the issue of water and infiltration management is one that affects Aquileia and many other locations. He also recalled Aquileia’s important role as a cultural bridge between neighboring countries and beyond. Only ten years ago, the National Archaeological Museum of Aquileia housed some finds from the Bard of Tunis with the aim of underlining the concepts of coexistence, dialogue and intercultural respect in a historical moment threatened by the destructive tendencies of fundamentalism. And the following year, again in Aquileia, the exhibition dedicated to Palmyra with photographs by Elio Ciol had brought the drama of a human crisis to public attention.
Stefano Karadjov, director of the Brescia Museums Foundationwhich also includes the archaeological area of Brixia, is the bearer of the dialogue that unites antiquity and contemporaneity, with the aim of always making the ancient heritage alive and creating an identity for the community of residents. For years, Brescia has invested in the valorization of its heritage through a rich program of events related to the Winged Victory and the great bronzes from Brescia, calling on artists such as Emilio Isgrò, who created a monumental installation in a metro stop in Brescia, and Francesco Vezzoli, author of the installation “Victory Mater. The idol and icon the Breasy“. The Roman event was an opportunity to preview the intervention of star architect David Chipperfield for the restoration and redevelopment of the Roman Theater of Brescia. «We are convinced that it is important keep alive the identity bond of the local community with its archaeological and artistic heritage in general. In that sense, Mohamad Saleh’s intervention was surprising,” Karadjov said.
The words of Mohamad Saleh, Director of Tourism and Archeology of Palmyrahave given the debate an emotional and conceptual turn and drawn attention to an often-remote truth: without a living community, archeology does not exist. Palmyra is not only one of the greatest archaeological sites of the ancient world, once a crossroads of trade and culture, a city in dialogue with Rome and the Mediterranean. Palmyra today is an empty city. After forty years of war, not only destroyed monuments remain, but also felled trees, disappeared gardens and destroyed olive groves. There are no functioning schools or hospitals, hotels are reduced to rubble, tourism is a distant memory. People leave and those who remain survive thanks to the help of relatives who have emigrated elsewhere, often abroad or in refugee camps.
In this scenario, archeology risks losing all meaning. Not because the ruins have no value, but because, as Saleh notes, without an identity link between the heritage and the community that inhabits it, the site is reduced to a pile of stones. The city has lost its economy and its social structure, and even its dialect language and educational traditions are disappearing. It is a crisis that affects not only the material, but also the intangible heritage, the most vulnerable and slowest to rebuild.
Protecting Palmyra is also complex from a material point of view: it is a vast, open and vulnerable area. But the real emergency is not just protecting the ruins. It brings life back, brings people back, creates the conditions so that the community can recognize itself in that place again. Without schools, without work, without essential services, there can be no sustainable tourism, nor possible nature conservation.
Palmyra reminds us that archeology is not the cult of destruction, but an act of responsibility to the present. There is no point in celebrating what has been if it fails to give meaning to what is. Archaeological sites are not open-air museums destined for silence: they are living organisms, breathing through the people who live there. Where community is lacking, archeology dies; where it manages to interweave with everyday life, with needs and with shared memory, it becomes the future.
And it is precisely in this ability to transform heritage into a living relationship between peoples, territories and communities that archeology confirms itself today as one of the most powerful and necessary tools of cultural diplomacy. Fruit of cultural cooperation between Italy and Turkey, an exhibition dedicated to it in the coming months Troyone of the most powerful and fundamental myths of ancient history, a symbol of a shared heritage that crosses the Mediterranean and the civilizations that inhabited it.
#cultural #diplomacy #runs #archaeology #Rome #caput #mundi #Rome #Arte.it