Dal mosaico antico alla copia moderna

13th october  –  6 January 2020
venue: Classis Ravenna Museo della città e del Territorio
Curated by:Giuseppe Sassatelli
opening hours:  to 24 December 2019 from Tuesday to Sunday 10 a.m. - 6 p.m.; 25 December closed; from 26 December 2019 to 6 January 2020 10 a.m. - 6 p.m.
admission € 7 full, € 5 reduced
opening: 12th october al 6 p.m.

The Classis Ravenna Museum houses the temporary exhibition “Sea tiles. From ancient mosaics to modern copies”. This exhibition of
mosaics, with a marine and naval theme, aims to evocatively highlight the great potential of the language of mosaics. The didactic and exhibitory itinerary develops along two directions. The first underlines an aspect that is central in the new Classis Museum, that is, the relationship between the city and the sea, with the display of some particularly striking ancient mosaics on loan from the National Archaeological Museum of Naples and from the Civic Museum of Piombino. One of the ancient mosaics on display is the famous mosaic depicting a marine scene with fish that forms part of the permanent exhibition in the mosaic sector of the Archaeological Museum of Naples where it was taken for preservation following the nineteenthcentury archaeological explorations of the “Domus of the Faun” in Pompeii. The House of the Faun is one of the richest and most famous Roman villas of all Pompeii. The well-kept gardens were overlooked by reception rooms, all richly adorned with statues, frescoes and spectacular mosaics that give us an idea of the richness and opulence of the house’s wealthy owners. The famous marine mosaic that can be admired in the exhibition comes from this residence. The loan of this mosaic is an extraordinary event as it normally leaves
the Museum of Naples only for reasons of preservation given the prestige it endows on the Museum itself. Another two ancient mosaics from the Archaeological Museum of Naples are on display as well as another large ancient mosaic with a marine theme found in Populonia, of which RavennAntica Foundation made a copy that was placed where the original was discovered. The experience of reproducing mosaics that links
to the Populonia mosaic introduces a second theme, namely that of mosaics exhibited in museums in order to preserve them while they are “evoked” by modern copies specifically created to replace them in their original location. Finally, the itinerary of the exhibition path terminates with the display of three copies of ancient mosaics, again with a marine theme, from the collection of the master Severo Bignami; these testify to the artisan skill of the Ravenna tradition in creating art copies. They also lead us to reflect on the theme of placing modern copies on the precise site of the originals when the latter are removed for their protection and housed in museums. Moreover, they underline how, more generally, copies can be a means to spread the knowledge of ancient mosaics - also far from the places where they were found or are conserved - more effectively
and strikingly that a simple photographic reproduction may do.