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Indepth Arts News:
"New Cypriot Galleries"
2000-04-05 until 2000-12-31
Metropolitan Museum of Art
New York, NY,
USA United States of America
With the opening of the new Cypriot Galleries at The Metropolitan Museum of Art on
April 5, 2000, a selection of some six hundred of the finest works from the Museum's
historic Cesnola Collection—comprising works from Cyprus in all major media that date
from ca. 2500 B.C. to ca. A.D. 300—returned to public view. While some Cypriot works
were previously on view or integrated with related works from other cultures, this is
the first time in more than fifty years that antiquities from Cyprus have been brought
together in galleries devoted specifically to the Cesnola Collection. The new permanent
installation emphasizes the particular strengths of the collection in the areas of
sculpture, bronze, terracotta, and precious metals.
and 1876; in 1879, General Cesnola was named the
Museum’s first director. The reinstallation of this
major collection, the finest outside of Cyprus, marks
the end of Phase II in the renovation of the Greek and
Roman Art Galleries.
Acquired by General Luigi Palma di Cesnola while he was serving as American consul in
Cyprus, these works were purchased by the Metropolitan Museum between 1874 and
1876 and constituted its first large collection of archaeological materials. In 1879,
Cesnola was named the Museum's first director, a position he held until his death in
1904.
Philippe de Montebello, Director of the Metropolitan Museum, commented: The
installation of the Cypriot Galleries—which brings back to public view a collection so
pivotal to the Museum's early development—marks the end of the second phase in our
current ten-year plan for the total renovation and reinstallation of the Greek and Roman
Galleries. Our collections of Greek and Roman material are among the finest in the world
and, with the completion of each part of our ambitious project, we are increasingly able
to present them—in some cases, for the first time since their acquisition—in compelling
exhibition settings. This is certainly the case with the Cesnola Collection of Cypriot
antiquities.
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