The Marq, at the opening of the Iberian Museum of Jaén

 

Manuel Olcina, Director of MARQwas invited to the inauguration, by His Majesty the King Felipe VI, of the new Iberian Museum of Jaénon 11 December. The monarch was accompanied at the ceremony by the President of the Andalusian Regional Government, Susana Díaz; the Minister of Finance and Public Function, Cristóbal Montoro; the President of the Andalusian Parliament, Juan Pablo Durán; the Government Delegate in Andalusia, Antonio Sanz Cabello, and the Mayor of Jaén, Francisco Javier Márquez, among other personalities.

The opening featured the temporary exhibition "The Lady, the Prince, the Hero and the Goddess".curated by Arturo Ruiz, Professor of Prehistory at the University of Jaén, and Manuel Molinos, director of the Institute of Iberian Archaeology. An exhibition of 300 restored pieces, exponents of the archaeological research that has been carried out in the province over the last 40 years.

The Iberian Museum of Jaén, is an exhibition and research space on the Iberian world in a built-up area of 11,152 square metres on the site of the former provincial prison and a public investment of over 27 million euros. The museum will not be fully operational before 2019. The base of the collection is made up of the Iberian collections of the Provincial Museum of Jaén, centred on the vestiges of the Upper Guadalquivir and among which stand out sculptural ensembles of the first order such as those of Cerrillo Blanco, from Porcuna, and El Pajarillo, from Huelma. It also includes pieces from the Andalusian Museum Collection, such as the Archaeological Museum of Seville, the Archaeological Museum of Cordoba, the Municipal Museum of Baza (Granada), the Municipal Historical Museum of Baena (Cordoba), the Archaeological Ensemble of Castulo (Linares, Jaen), the Rodriguez Acosta Foundation and the University Institute for Research in Iberian Archaeology. The collection will offer a broad overview of the six centuries of history of this culture, which extended from the Guadalquivir to the south of France between the 6th century BC and the Roman domination.