A few more months will be necessary
before the final results of a checkup on the rare 2,500-year-old
Riace Bronzes are released by restorers from the National Museum
of Magna Grecia (MArRC) in Reggio Calabria, the Central
Institute of Restoration (ICR) and the University of Genoa but
the "bronzes are not unwell", ICR director Luigi Oliva said on
Wednesday.
"We have gathered a lot of data but we are confident that we
will be able to sum up all the information within a few months
and draft a report which can then be used both by the institute
and the museum", he said, noting that the aim of conservation
work was to "prevent more challenging interventions in the
future".
Important restoration work was carried out on the Riace Bronzes
and the statues of Porticello - two bronzes from the 5th century
BC recovered off the coast of Calabria in in 1969 - from 2009
and 2013.
"It's an activity that allowed us to monitor the state of health
of the Bronzes", said the director of MArRC, Fabrizio Sudano.
"We care for these statues very much, for their identity value
and for their uniqueness", he added, explaining that the
restoration would also provide insight into whether the bronzes
were being maintained in the right way.
The two Riace bronze warriors - survivors of the lost world of
Magna Graecia, the Hellenic civilisation that once flourished in
today's southern Italy - were discovered by a diver off Calabria
in 1972.
Calabria has historically kept a tight grip on the much-loved
statues which stand two metres tall and are an exceptionally
realistic rendering of warriors or gods.
Both are naked, with silver lashes and teeth, copper red lips
and nipples, and eyes made of ivory, limestone, and a glass and
amber paste.
Regional authorities have allowed the famed bronzes to tour
Italy in 1981 to sold-out venues in Rome, Venice, and Milan,
exhibitions in which the statues were seen by over one million
people overall.
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