Cities of Light. Ákra Leuké, Lucentum, Laqant' comes to the MARQ as the temporary exhibition that has occupied the largest surface area in the history of the museum. The aim of this new own-production proposal is to illustrate the succession of ancient sites who inhabited the site of La Albufereta of Alicante, using as vertebral axis the archaeological site of the Tossal de Manises.
The Diputación, through the Archaeological Museum of Alicante and the C.V. MARQ Foundationand with the collaboration of 30 Spanish cultural organisationsThe exhibition was organised by museums, archives and foundations. sample which extends over the three temporary exhibition halls (dedicated to researchers with close links to the site: Enrique Llobregat, Francisco Figueras Pacheco and the Count of Lumiares), as well as the Noble Room of the Library and the anteroom of the exhibition area.
The president of the provincial institution, Toni Pérezpresented this morning in Madrid all the details of this cultural initiative that will run from 20 December 2024 to 18 May 2025.. With more than 661 pcs.the proposed route is based on a concept of chronological narrative which will lead the public along the historical occupation of La Albufereta -especially the period between the mid-1990s and the mid-1990s. 1st millennium BC y end of the 1st millennium AD-.
The National Archaeological Museum -MAN-, with its director Isabel Izquierdoas hostess, has been the ideal setting to present this exhibition in which you will find objects from Punic sphereand others in the Roman period and of the Islamic.
The director of MARQ and curator of the exhibition, Manuel OlcinaThe director of the Architecture Department of the Provincial Council also took part in the event as curators, Rafael Pérezand the technicians of Excavations of the Fundación C.V. MARQ, Antonio Guilabert y Eva Tendero.
The president of the Diputación de Alicante, who has encouraged to "consume culture" and to "protect and disseminate our heritage to show it to new generations, doing a pedagogical work", said that this exhibition "addresses 30 years of research that have revealed a Punic city, identified by the curators as Ákra Leuké, the Roman city of Lucentum and the Laqant of the early Islamic times".
"It is a succession of cultures that connects us with our Mediterranean Sea and which, together with the research, shows how the Tossal de Manises site was recovered", said Toni Pérez, who assured that it was a "titanic task, given the state of conservation of the enclave and the time taken to transform it".
As he pointed out, "this wealth, in addition to its intrinsic cultural value, becomes a point of interest for the millions of tourists who visit the Costa Blanca every year". For this reason, the institutional responsible has shown his commitment to "continue to encourage and support the implementation of projects that enhance our heritage, legacy and cultural heritage, as permanent witnesses of the historical journey of our province".
This sample is the result of decades of research on the site of the Tossal de Manises, of its protection and safeguardingof its value enhancementIt is also responsible for its conversion into a socialised space and its dissemination. This enclave has been linked to the Provincial Council and the Archaeological Museum of Alicante since its foundation in 1932. Its opening to the public in 1998 as an archaeological park The research programmes were revitalised.
The president, who expressed his gratitude to the MAN "for the hospitality, affection and treatment that you give us in this great family that is the MARQ, because our exhibitions also have a meeting point with archaeology and history", indicated that the commitment of the Provincial Council "is to disseminate archaeology as a great engine of culture". For this reason, he wanted to congratulate the entire team of the Alicante museum "for this magnificent exhibition that brings us closer to these cities of light and to our own history, a journey through two millennia that we are going to enjoy".
For her part, the director of the MAN, host of the event, emphasised that the relationship with the MARQ "is magnificent and as the home of archaeology in our country, we are delighted to participate in this new exhibition project, which will be a great success".
According to Isabel Izquierdo, "temporary exhibitions are very important for the life of museums because they generate and activate a whole programme in parallel". She also said that the National Archaeological Museum "has agreed to loan various pieces, such as numismatic collections, Hispano-Roman silver coins and Hispano-Carthaginian coins, whose issues are perhaps the most beautiful in the entire monetary history of antiquity".
Exhibition itinerary
The main axes of the exhibitionconceived from a chronological narrative and which will occupy the three temporary exhibition halls, the library and the anteroom, are structured according to the cities that inhabited this emblematic area of Alicante, La Albufereta.
The FIRST ROOM will focus on the first documented city at Tossal de Manises, from the Carthaginian period, corresponding to the Ákra Leuké quoted by Diodorus of Sicily. It formed part of Hannibal's rearguard in his war against Rome. Before this, we will review the historical background of Albufereta, framed in the Iberian Contestania, with special emphasis on the Iberian sites located in the immediate surroundings of the Tossal de Manises.
In the second chamber will address the Lucentum Roman, the municipality under Latin law cited by Pliny the Elder, which, after a long historiographical journey, has once again been located in the Tossal de Manises. This space will detail the most public facet of this culture, especially its society, religion and power.
At the beginning of the third chamber the most everyday aspects of the Roman city will be on display. Presided over by the Islamic cemetery excavated in the Tossal de Manises and coeval with the Laqantmentioned in the Pact of Teodomiro, the visitor will follow the abandonment of Lucentum by the low-Imperial villas of La Albufereta, the occupation of the Benalúa, Benacantil and Fontcalent districts and the Christianisation of the area around the Tossal de Manises.
The exit corridor will be exclusively dedicated to the shaping of the landscape of the Huerta de AlicanteThis was to last until the beginning of the 20th century, coinciding with a renewed interest in the settlement of this area of Alicante.
Finally, the library will serve to illustrate the process of recovery, restoration and enhancement of the siteThis complex task has been carried out for decades by the Diputación de Alicante, through the area of Architecture, the MARQ and the Fundación C.V. MARQ.
Manuel Olcina acknowledged that the exhibition presented today "is a huge, methodical, serious and rigorous work initiated by the Provincial Council through the MARQ". The director of the Alicante museum, who recounted the process and history of the recovery of the Tossal de Manises, pointed out that this exhibition "is a vital journey with a fascinating design and more than 600 pieces, a hundred of which come from other Spanish museums".
According to him, "coins, sculptures, jewellery, weapons and carbonised remains can be seen in this exhibition, which will be accompanied by an extensive catalogue with more than forty contributions". Olcina has highlighted the value of the technical team in charge of putting together "this complex exhibition through hard work that we hope will serve to showcase our rich and extensive heritage".
Finally, Rafael Pérez assured that "we are definitely looking at an exhibition that will not only show the results of the excavations of the site, but will also express through images and materials the long and dizzying process, at times, of how this territory has come down to us and the constructive remains that underlie it".
