High on Atlanta's High Museum

High Museum, Atlanta Georgia... Louvre and the Ancient World



OK! So you are not in to museums. I understand but this is also history with masterpieces from the beginning of our civilization. The museum itself is a unique structure and worth seeing even with out the art. So pass up the
contemporary paintings of white canvas with vertical lines ( who made the decision that this is art?) and head directly to the "Louvre and the Ancient World" exhibit.

As described by the High:
"The Louvre and the Ancient World features masterpieces from the founding cultures of Western civilization, including more than 70 works from the Louvre's unparalleled Egyptian, Near Eastern and Greco-Roman antiquities collections. Showcasing works dating from the third millennium BC through the third century AD, the exhibition examines the rise of the museum and its collections of antiquities under Napoleon, the discoveries and decipherment of hieroglyphics and cuneiform and the Louvre's leading role in excavating the cradle of civilization at the end of the nineteenth century and during the 20th century (most of the excavations for Near East).
The oldest works in the exhibition are drawn from the ancient cultures of Egypt, Susa (in modern Iran), the Neo-Sumerian city of Tello (in modern Iraq) and the Canaanite city of Ugarit (in modern Syria). Key works from these periods include the diorite Statue of Wahibre, Governor of Upper Egypt (Late period Egyptian); an Egyptian papyrus that belonged to the first Egyptian Museum whose curator, Jean-François Champollion, is credited with first deciphering hieroglyphics (Third Intermediate Period); an Attic black-figure amphora attributed to the potter Exekias (550–540 BC); and a dolerite Statue of Gudea, Prince of Lagash from Tello (Neo-Sumerian Period).
A special installation showcases the colossal, ten-foot-long Tiber—one of the largest sculptures in the Louvre's collections. The statue, discovered in 1512, decorated a sanctuary dedicated to Isis and Sarapis and was the pendant to a similar statue depicting the Nile, which is currently in the Vatican collection in Rome. The work explores the river's link to Roman mythology and its fertility. It depicts a river god accompanied by both Romulus and Remus, the city's legendary twin founders, while the reliefs on its base illustrate another myth about the founding of Rome and the river's beneficial effects."

Don't miss the remarkably well preserved clay tablets. I wonder if our CD's will last 3000 years? The exhibit is in Atlanta until September.
http://www.high.org/main.taf?p=3,1,1,1,1.