An opening ceremony for the special exhibition entitled “A Statue for Peace: The Penelope Sculptures, From Persepolis to Rome” will open at 6:30 PM on Monday in the National Museum of Iran.
The exhibition features four statutes of Penelope from the collections of the National Museum of Iran and two European museums.
The Exhibition is designed by the National Museum to familirize the public with the cultural interaction between Iran and the West. Of the four statues on display, two belong to the Vatican Museum, one to the Capitoline Museum in Rome, and one to the National Museum of Iran.
One of the statues, made of Greek marble and representing a seated woman, was discovered during archaeological excavations at Persepolis in 1936 by the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago. This statue was a diplomatic gift from Greece to the Achaemenid Court. All the statues show Penelope as a grieving and pensive woman who seems to be yearning for her lost husband, Odysseus.
The exhibition also include a series of lithographic images by Marc Chagall, depicting scenes of the Odyssey, Homer's epic of the legendary hero Ulysses, and his 10-year struggle to return home after the Trojan War.
During the opening ceremony, remarks will be made by Jebrael Nokandeh, the Director of National Museum of Iran; Mohammad Hassan Talebian, the Deputy of Cultural Heritage, ICHTO; Ambassador Mauro Concari, Italian Embassy to Iran; Seyed Mohammad Beheshti, the Head of Cultural Heritage Research Center, ICHTO; Ambassador Leo Boccardi, Vatican Embassy to Iran; Dario Franceschini , the Italian Minister of Cultural Heritage and Activities and Tourism; and Massoud Soltani-Far, Vice-President and Head of the Cultural Heritage, Handicrafts and Tourism Organization.
An outdoor performance of "Penelope" will be played in the opening ceremony.
The exhibition opens on September 28 and will remain on view through December 31 from 9 AM to 6 PM.
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