Glimpse a lost culture in the heart of the Mediterranean: tour this online exhibition of the 3,000-year-old giants sculpted by a towering civilization that remains little known today.
Thousands of shattered limestone pieces came to light in 1974 in Mont'e Prama (western Sardinia) and have been reassembled into dozens of massive statues that reward close study by archaeologists, historians, conservators, and restorers. Now symbols of Sardinia's rich cultural history, these sculptures draw crowds to the museums in Sardinia. Their story can be explored through the six chapters and photo galleries of this exhibition:
Introduction
By Barbara Faedda, Executive Director, Italian Academy, Columbia University; Paolo Carta, Professor, University of Trento
Rites of Initiation, War, and Death in Mont’e Prama
By Raimondo Zucca, Professor, University of Sassari (Sardinia)
Mont’e Prama Excavation, Research, and Restoration
By Emerenziana Usai, Archaeologist, Superintendency of Archaeology, Fine Arts and Landscape for the Metropolitan City of Cagliari and Provinces of Oristano and South Sardinia (Sardinia)
Landscapes of Mont’e Prama
By Peter van Dommelen, Director, Joukowsky Institute for Archaeology and the Ancient World, Brown University (Providence, R.I.); Alfonso Stiglitz, Former Director, Municipal Archaeological Museum, San Vero Milis (Sardinia)
The Restoration and Conservation of the Giants of Mont’e Prama
By Roberto Nardi, Director, Archaeological Conservation Center (Rome)
The Illicit Trafficking of Sardinian Cultural Property
By Giuditta Giardini, Consultant, Manhattan District Attorney’s Office (New York, N.Y.)
To learn more, after touring this exhibition:
Visit the websites of:
Sardinia's National Archaeological Museum in Cagliari
The Giovanni Marongiu Civic Museum
and the Fondazione Mont'e Prama—which manages the Mont'e Prama site, the archaeological area of Tharros, the Tower of San Giovanni di Sinis, and the hypogeum of San Salvatore
Watch video from the Archaeological Conservation Center (Rome)
Read about The Italian Academy for Advanced Studies in America
To see recent press about this online exhibition and about the newest discoveries at Mont’e Prama, browse this list:
