“Dynasties. The first kingdoms of prehistoric Europe”, that is the name of the exhibition that next March will take over at the Alicante Archaeological Museum (MARQ) from the successful exhibition of the warriors of Xian, who live their last days in the MARQ before returning to China after six months in Alicante.
The exhibition, presented this morning in Fitur, receives valuable objects from several important museums on the continent, among which part of the oldest astronomical map of Europe stands out.
Toni Pérez, president of the Provincial Council, the institution on which the MARQ depends, highlighted in Madrid “the research and dissemination work of the MARQ team that will bring us closer to the Prehistory of our continent, in a time that was a turning point "a decisive turning point in Europe and will once again demonstrate the level of excellence of the museum at an international level, both for the exhibitions it presents and for the cultural experience it offers to its visitors."
The MARQ has organized this exhibition in alliance with eight countries and 18 museums, "drawing an institutional triangle of commitment to culture. It is an exhibition of incalculable value and an extraordinary staging," stated Pérez.
Pioneering research from the end of the 19th century to the present day has expanded information about the cultures of the 2nd millennium BC. in Europe and the current data collected by the exhibition show societies that are less isolated and more interconnected.
The selected objects, from 18 museums throughout Europe, bear witness to the appearance of the first 'warrior' characters, to the evolution of agricultural and livestock societies as foundations of the first states, to extractive activities, such as mining, and the development of trades such as metallurgy and goldsmithing or the constitution of the elites and the ideological control of society.
In addition, the proposal includes sets of trousseau located in the monumental tombs of the first kings and queens of the Bronze Age. Among other masterpieces, the exhibition will host, for the first time in our country, part of the Nebra Disk ensemble, the first known representation of the celestial vault in Europe, included in the UNESCO Memory of the World Register since 2013.
In addition, European Bronze Age masterpieces will be exhibited, such as the gold hat from Schifferstadt (Germany), the Meltz halberd set (Germany), the gold diadem from Quinta da Água Brava (Portugal) or the sword of Guadalajara, and several treasures will be shown for the first time, such as those of Dohmsen and Teicha, found in Germany and recently restored.
Likewise, and after 120 years of absence, MARQ's next commitment will allow the return to Spain of the Bronze Age trousseau found in Almería in the 19th century and deposited since then in the Brussels Fiftieth Anniversary Museum (MRAH). The MARQ will contribute 26 outstanding pieces from its collection to the exhibition, some of which will be exhibited to the public for the first time.
The presentation was also attended by the representative of Culture, Juan de Dios Navarro, the director of the MARQ, Manuel Olcina, and the manager of the CV-MARQ Foundation, José Alberto Cortés.
As Juan de Dios Navarro has advanced, 'Dinastías' will open its doors from March 22 to October 13 and will be curated by archaeologists Juan Antonio López Padilla from MARQ, Roberto Risch from the Autonomous University of Barcelona and János Dani from the Déri Museum of Debrecen of Hungary. More than 70 researchers from all over Europe, specialists in the study of the Bronze Age, participate in the preparation of the scientific content of the exhibition.
The deputy has assured that the MARQ has become "a reference for the province on a cultural level", while stating that it has "unquestionable levels of excellence as demonstrated by this new exhibition, the result of many months of work."
Among the lending museums that have contributed to making this new cultural proposal a reality are the MRAH in Brussels, the National Museum of Archeology in Lisbon, the State Museum of Prehistory-Halle, the Déri-Debrecen Museum, the Damjánich János-Miskolc Museum, Office State Culture, Archeology and Conservation of Monuments-Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, the Pfalz-Speyer Historical Museum, the Academy of Sciences of Slovakia-Nitra, the MAN of Madrid, the Regional Archaeological Museum of Madrid-Alcalá de Henares, as well as museums from Villena, Lorca, Almería, Jaén, Mula and Callosa de Segura.
For his part, Manuel Olcina has expressed his satisfaction at presenting this “first-rate” exhibition and has celebrated “the excellence of the museums that collaborate in this new proposal.” Finally, the commissioner has reiterated that this Bronze stage “is fundamental in our history, because it represented a turning point from which many things changed in Europe.”
