The Archaeological Museum of Alicante (MARQ) of the Provincial Council will exhibit from today one of its main pieces, 'The Hand of the Emperor', in the National Museum of Archaeology of Portugal (MNA). The managing director of the MARQ Foundation, José Alberto Cortés, emphasised during the presentation that this collaboration "reinforces our international vocation thanks to the agreements signed with important centres such as the MNA in Lisbon".
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The Roman Hand of Lucentum' will be on display at the National Museum of Archaeology in Portugal until 19 April. The presentation of this fragment of Roman bronze sculpture took place in the Sala dos Tesouros da Arqueologia Portuguesa at five o'clock in the afternoon in the presence of Paula Araujo da Silva, Director General of Cultural Heritage of the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Portugal, Antonio Carvalho, Director of the MNA, Lourdes Melendez Cultural Counsellor of the Spanish Embassy in Portugal, Luis Raposo President of ICOM-Europe, José Alberto Cortés, Managing Director of the MARQ Foundation and Manuel Olcina, Director of the Provincial Archaeological Museum of Alicante, MARQ.
After the opening of the exhibition, Manuel Olcina gave a lecture in which he detailed the peculiarities of this valuable piece, a unique sculptural vestige from the Roman period. It is the severed left hand of a large bronze statue, most probably of an emperor, which was once located in the forum of the Iberian-Roman city of Lucentum. The hand wears a ring with the lituus or staff of the Roman augurs on its seal and has a sword hilt, thus uniting two key elements for its understanding, religious and political-military power, which are usually used separately in Roman iconography. The most unique feature is the end of the sword's hilt, a pommel with two eagle's heads facing in opposite directions, an image that does not exist in all classical art.
The Emperor's Hand', also called 'The Staff and the Sword', appeared in the excavations of the Roman Forum of Lucentum in 2005 and, after a long process of restoration and research, has occupied a place of honour in the Rome Room of the MARQ since 2008.
The temporary transfer to Lisbon of one of the most important pieces that the Alicante museum holds is the result of the close collaboration between the MARQ and the MAN of Portugal, which has also allowed the transfer to the Portuguese cultural centre of 37 pieces that form part of the exhibition 'Idols. Miradas Milenarias' which will be on display in Alicante until 19 April. These objects are linked to the Neolithic culture characterised by the construction of megaliths in the west of the Iberian Peninsula, among which are the plate idols of Anta do Curral da Antinha, the staffs of Anta de Heredade or the set of Anta de Olival da Pega, catalogued as Cultural Assets and National Treasures in Portugal.
The MNA is in a privileged location in the Portuguese capital, in the east wing of the Jerónimos Monastery, in the Belem district. The National Archaeological Museum of Portugal has the largest archaeological collection in the country, with pieces ranging from the beginnings of civilisation in the Palaeolithic period to Egypt, the classical period, the Arab world and the Middle Ages.
Photographs: Arlindo Homem.
