|
|
Athens Macedonian News Agency: News in English, 13-07-12
CONTENTS
[01] Nike of Samothrace at Louvre to get new right hand, wing
[01] Nike of Samothrace at Louvre to get new right hand, wing
ANA/MPA--The Nike of Samothrace, an iconic ancient Greek statue dating
to 190 B.C. and currently at the Louvre Museum, will acquire a new right
hand and right wing from casts of fragments made by the American School
of Classical Studies in Athens, following the permission of the Central
Archaeological Council, it was announced Friday.
The statue is scheduled for a cleaning by the Louvre and casts will
be fitted after its completion. Fragments exist both in Greece and at
the Louvre.
Depicting victory (nike, in Greek) with wings, the Hellenistic statue
was found on the northern island of Samothrace in 1863 by a French
archaeological team led by the vice consul of France in Adrianople
(modern Edirne, Turkey). It is one of three Nikes found at the island's
Great Gods temple.
The statue, including the wings, is 2.75 metres tall, or 5.58 metres
including its original pedestal that gave the complex the impression of
being a ship's prow.
The Nike is made of white marble from Paros island and the pedestal from
gray marble from Lindos island. Researchers believe the statue fell and
was damaged during a great earthquake in the 6th century AD.
|