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Museums of the Mediterranean



        are the “Baptism of Constantine“, the “Vision of the   As the name suggests, the main space is devoted to ex-
        Cross“, the “Battle at Milvian Bridge“ and the “Donation   cavations from ancient Egypt: to sarcophagi, vases and
        of Constantine“. The “Donation of Constantine“ shows   plenty of sculptures. While these objects are of extraor-
        the famous historical fake which was based on a forged   dinary historical value, the display can not be compared
        document in which Emperor Constantine gave putatively   with Egyptian collections in museums like the British Mu-
        the supremacy over Rome and the Western Roman Em-      seum or the Louvre. The background of the Egyptian col-
        pire to Pope Sylvester I and all other popes after him.   lection was, as often in the Vatican, not a scientific one.
        Historians dated  the  fraudulent  document  on  800  AD.    It openend in 1838 at the climax of the Ancient Egypt
        The painting boosts this lie with propaganda: Emperor   fashion in Europe. The friendship between the egyptol-
        Constantine kneels before Pope Sylvester and offers him   ogist Jean-Francois Champollion and the Prefect of the
        the whole Western Roman Empire like it is written in the   Vatican Library,  Angelo Mai,  led to an  archaeological
        document. Furthermore, Sylvester is modelled after the   expedition which resulted in the presented collection.
        effigy of Pope Clemens VII who became pope one year    But Pope Gregory XVI did not have any archaeological
        before the painting was finished – in 1523. Tommaso Lau-  interest in the pharaohs time, only a religious one: He
        reti painted the ceiling in 1585.                      collected the  sarkophagi and mummies not  for better
                                                               understanding of a civilzation but because the excava-
                                                               tions reveiled a culture mentioned in the Old Testament.

                                                               The Museo Pio-Christiano
                                                               This exhibition contains objects from the Late Antiquity.
                                                               Extraodinary are reliefs on Christian sarcophagi and the
                                                               sculpture of the “Good shepherd“, the most emblematic
                                                               theme  in  Christian  art  during  the  first  centuries.  The
                                                               Good Shepherd is portrayed as a beardless young man
                                                               carrying a lamb on his shoulders.















        The remaining huge head of the Emperor Augustus in the
        Vatican Museums. All pictures, if not otherwise mentioned,
        by the author


        Raphael himself painted the Hall of Heliodorus between
        1511 and 1514. His artwork contains the “Mass of Bolse-
        na“, the “Expulsion of Heliodorus“ which was influenced
        by the Venetian style, and the three scenes of the “Lib-
        eration of Saint Peter“: In the first scene, an angel de-
        mands Saint Peter to follow him, in the seconds scene
        he evades with the angel and, in the third scene, he
        escapes the guards at night.  5

        The Egyptian Museum
        In the Egyptian museum, excavations and ethnogical ob-
        jects are mixed together. It is, in fact, in most parts a
        missionary museum. The objects presented include art
        from Central America as well as Islamic artwork and
        cultural items from Central Africa. The most interesting
        pieces are sculptures from Hadrian‘s Villa in Tivoli. Models
        show non-Christians religions: an Altar of Confucius, and
        a Shintoist Temple from Japan. Buddhism is represented
        by statues from Tibet, Indonesia, India and the Far East.  6   The Hall of animals in the Pio Clementino Museum

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                                        EXPOTIME!, issue October / November 2017
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