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Etruscans at Nat Geo: Cultural Exchange for Cash
Today, I had the opportunity to visit an exhibit about the Etruscans at the National Geographic Society. See http://events.nationalgeographic.com/events/exhibits/2011/06/10/etruscans/
The artifacts came from the Cambi Collection and National Museum of Archaeology, Florence, Italy, but the exhibit itself seems to be some sort of commercial venture. See
http://www.exhibitsdevelopment.com/brochures/Etruscan%20pagebypage.pdf
There were some interesting artifacts, but most of them were frankly second rate. The interpretive material was fine, but no brochures were to be found anywhere. And it cost $8 to enter ($6 for Nat Geo members).
This is still all fine and good, but I hope the Italians and the State Department are not going to claim this exhibit was sent as a gesture of good will due to the MOU imposing import restrictions on Italian cultural goods. Instead, the motivation appears to be collecting cold, hard cash.
The artifacts came from the Cambi Collection and National Museum of Archaeology, Florence, Italy, but the exhibit itself seems to be some sort of commercial venture. See
http://www.exhibitsdevelopment.com/brochures/Etruscan%20pagebypage.pdf
There were some interesting artifacts, but most of them were frankly second rate. The interpretive material was fine, but no brochures were to be found anywhere. And it cost $8 to enter ($6 for Nat Geo members).
This is still all fine and good, but I hope the Italians and the State Department are not going to claim this exhibit was sent as a gesture of good will due to the MOU imposing import restrictions on Italian cultural goods. Instead, the motivation appears to be collecting cold, hard cash.
Smithsonian Caves on Shiprwreck Exhibit
The New York Times reports that the Smithsonian Institution has indefinitely postponed its plans to mount an exhibition of Chinese artifacts salvaged from a shipwreck because of opposition from archaeologists who say the objects were collected by a commercial treasure hunter in a manner that violated professional standards. See http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/06/28/shipwreck-show-postponed/
The Smithsonian has a long history of caving into various interest groups so this is not a surprise. But it is an unfortunate decision nonetheless.
The public could have learned something useful about early international trade whether or not the exhibit met the stringent standards of some in the archaeological community.
If the material cannot be exhibited as a group, perhaps it should be sold off wholesale to collectors just to annoy these archaeological purists.
The Smithsonian has a long history of caving into various interest groups so this is not a surprise. But it is an unfortunate decision nonetheless.
The public could have learned something useful about early international trade whether or not the exhibit met the stringent standards of some in the archaeological community.
If the material cannot be exhibited as a group, perhaps it should be sold off wholesale to collectors just to annoy these archaeological purists.
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