The exhibition Alicante. Treasures of the MARQ'. has already been presented at the National Museum of Iran (NMI)The exhibition will remain there until 8 April 2020. The first Spanish exhibition to be hosted by this country will be inaugurated this afternoon by the Iranian Minister of Cultural Heritage, Crafts and Tourism, Ali Asghar MoonesanThe Spanish delegation will be led by the Spanish Ambassador to the Islamic Republic of Iran, Eduardo López Busquetsand the managing director of the MARQ Foundation, José Alberto Cortés.
At the presentation of the exhibition this morning, the two delegations stressed the importance of cultural cooperation between museums in different countries in order to raise awareness of their age-old legacy and culture. José Alberto Cortés stated that "museums, and even more so public museums, are today called upon to play a crucial role: that of building bridges of encounter and dialogue between cultures and peoples with the shared objective of advancing towards a peaceful world in which respect and acceptance make us recognise each other as equals". The event was attended by the Deputy Minister, Mohammad Hassan TalebianThe director general of Museums and Heritage, Dr. Karegarthe Museum's director, Jebrael Nokandehthe technical director of MARQ, Manuel Olcinaand the head of exhibitions, Jorge Soler.
The 283 pieces selected by the technical team for the exhibition 'Alicante. Tesoros del Marq' show the presence of the civilisations that have populated the Mediterranean arc from Prehistory to the Modern Age. The collection has been distributed in three rooms of the MNI. The first covers the Palaeolithic to the Bronze Age. The second room covers the Iron Age, the Phoenicians, the Iberian and Roman periods and Medieval culture. The third room is dedicated to the Modern and Contemporary Ages and contains documents from the Simancas Archive that reveal the diplomatic relations between Hapsburg Spain and the Safavid dynasty.
MARQ is the first Spanish museum to exhibit its collections in Iran. This milestone is part of the agreement signed with the National Museum of the Islamic Republic that has allowed the exhibition 'Iran. Cradle of Civilizations', with more than 101,000 visits in just over five months.
The Alicante collection sent to the Museum in Tehran includes mostly ceramics, although there are also large collections of metal, stone and tiles. The pieces are originals, with the exception of four replicas: the Roman hand from Lucentum, the Lady of Elche, the memorial tablet commemorating the foundation of the Ribat mosque in Guardamar and the lead sheet from Serreta with Greco-Iberian writing.
As a complement to this exhibition, the MNI's temporary exhibition rooms house images of Alicante and the Costa Blanca, allowing visitors to Iran's leading museum to discover one of Spain's most important tourist destinations.
