The National Museum of Archaeology of Portugal (MNA) has inaugurated this morning the exhibition Idols. Millenarian gazes'. organised by the Archaeological Museum of Alicante (MARQ) and the Museum of Regional Archaeology of Madrid (MAR), with 270 pieces from 17 museums in Spain and 11 in Portugal. The exhibition can be visited until the next 12 October.
The opening ceremony was attended by the Ministers of Culture of Spain and Portugal, José Manuel Rodríguez Uribes and Graça FonsecaThe Spanish ambassador to Portugal, Marta Betanzosthe director of the MNA, António Carvalhothe curators of the exhibition, Primitiva BuenoProfessor of Prehistory at the University of Alcalá, and Jorge A. SolerDirector of Exhibitions and Curator of Prehistory at MARQ, as well as the Managing Director of the MARQ Foundation, José Alberto Cortésamong other authorities.
The Vice-President and Member of Parliament for Culture, Julia ParraHe assured that "thanks to international collaboration and understanding between museums and institutions, as of today it will be possible to enjoy in Lisbon an exhibition promoted by the MARQ and the MAR that has aroused great interest and to which we wish great success in Portugal".
Portugal holds in this first half of 2021 the rotating presidency of the European Union and the Portuguese Ministry of Culture, together with the General Directorate of Cultural Heritage through the MNA, wanted to complement the Agenda of this important six-month period with a international tourist-cultural attraction The exhibition 'Idols' is one of the most important of its kind. Lisbon is the third city in which this exhibition, which has been visited by nearly 45,000 people in its first two venues, Alicante and Madrid.
The proposal is made up of a relevant collection of anthropomorphic figuresknown since the first half of the 20th century as "Idols", which are interpreted as a reference to the great Oriental Mother Goddess and make up an extraordinarily interesting collection of furniture that reveals the early artistic expressions of the human figure and face The pieces are in a variety of media including stone, ceramic, bone, ivory and gold. The pieces correspond to the prehistory in the Iberian PeninsulaThe exhibition, which takes place between 3300 and 2500 BC, focuses on the origin of religiosity, social hierarchies and Neolithic survival. The exhibition has been designed by the architect Angel Rocamora and is supported by a number of audiovisuals directed by Gustavo VilchezThe exhibition and the research process of the idols are presented and their significance is evoked.
