The Alicante Archaeological Museum is finalising the details of the exhibition '.Alicante. Treasures of the MARQ', a comprehensive selection of 283 parts from its holdings to be exhibited from 22 September 2020 until 8 April 2020 in the National Museum of Iran (MNI) based in Tehran.
This project will turn MARQ into the Spain's first museum to exhibit a large part of its collection in Iran. In addition, it is the the first time that the Alicante centre has held an exhibition The museum is a national museum of this magnitude, and in a foreign country, offering a historical tour of the Mediterranean through material culture and disseminating the rich archaeological heritage of the province.
The First Vice-President and Member of Parliament for Culture, Julia ParraThis morning, together with the managing director of the Fundación CV MARQ, he presented the details of this interesting proposal, José Alberto Cortésthe museum's technical director, Manuel Olcinaand the Director of Exhibitions, Jorge Soler.
"A large sample of the MARQ collection travels for the first time outside Spain, specifically to Iran, which is a big step in our path towards greater international projection, giving it visibility in a new context," said Parra, who added that this action "confirms that the collections of the Alicante museum generate great interest and admiration in centres as important as the National Museum of Iran. Until now we have taken pieces or some small collections, but none like this one, which involves moving nearly 300 works".
The selected pieces spanning from prehistoric to modern times (18th c.) and the predominance of the ceramicsbut will also include large metal, stone and bone assemblies. According to Olcina, all the pieces, some of them unpublished, are originals except for four reproductions: the bronze hand from Lucentum, the Lady of Elche, the tombstone commemorating the foundation of a mosque in Ribat de Guardamar and the lead plate from Serreta with Greco-Iberian writing.. Among the most unknown pieces to the public are a large Iberian jar with a painted horseman and a small Roman sculpture, currently deposited in the MARQ's visitable storeroom.
The exhibition offers a historical overview through material culture, following the format of the exhibition on Iran at MARQ. The The National Museum of Iran is responsible for the museum's design and execution.while the Alicante museum has provided also texts, photographs, drawings, maps and audiovisual resources to contextualise the exhibits and to create a historical account of this area of the Mediterranean from the first human occupation to the dawn of the contemporary world, Soler explained.
The curatorship is collective It is made up of doctors and history graduates from MARQ and the Foundation, and is coordinated by the three curators; Rafael Azuaras well as Olcina and Soler. The museum in Alicante has also made the catalogue, with some twenty articles, which will be published in the Farsi language. by the National Museum of Iran. The assembly of the pieces will be assisted by MARQ technicians, who will ensure the safety and condition of the pieces both during transport and exhibition.
The exhibition will also house facsimile documents of the General Archive of Simancas which deal with the relationship between the Safavid dynasty and the Spanish monarchy of the Habsburgs and which have formed a complementary exhibition in the museum curated by Professor José Cutillas.
The pieces will travel from next week by land and sea to the Islamic republic, together with those that have formed part of the exhibition 'Iran. Culture of Civilisations'. Once there, they will be displayed in two halls with 600 square metres of exhibition space consisting mainly of showcases and panels.
In parallel, a series of conferences in Tehran in December to coincide with the halfway point of the exhibition.
Iran. Cradle of Civilisations'.
The MARQ exhibition, which will be on show at Tehran is the result of collaboration agreement signed with the MNI. This agreement has previously made it possible to bring to Alicante 'Iran. Cradle of Civilisations'.The collection, an unpublished collection of 195 pieces -many of them from sites recognised as World Heritage Sites- traces the trajectory of one of the most remote and prolific cultures in history.
The Iranian exhibition, which will remain on display until next year, will be open to the public. Sunday 1 September at the MARQ, has received since last March a total of 94,236 visitsThis shows the great interest it has aroused among locals and tourists alike. April, with 18,477 people, and May, with 21,592 people, were the months with the highest number of visitors, coinciding, respectively, with the Easter holidays and with events such as the International Museum Day for which the centre organised a full programme of activities with free admission, said Cortés.
In addition, on the occasion of the exhibition's farewell, the Alicante museum has organised for Saturday and Sunday open days for the whole family, as announced by the vice-president and deputy for culture, Julia Parra.
Summer at MARQ
On the other hand, the MARQ has once again successfully concluded its Club Llumiq's summer activities campaign. This 15th edition was held from 1 July to 23 August and the following registered for the event 347 children aged 6-14 yearsmost of them from towns in the province, but also some from Valencia, Madrid, Terrasa and Barcelona, and even from Russia, Ukraine, Italy and Belgium.
The exhibition 'Iran. Culture of civilisations' has focused the content of the activities, which has led the children to travel to a little-known place, giving them the chance to discover a country where great civilisations developed that have left an enormous heritage legacy for humanity. Workshops Islamic ceramics, gold and silverware, Persian pottery and Persian pottery and Arabic script, in addition to yinkanas, track games and drawing competitions are just some of the many activities enjoyed by the children.
With all these figures, as indicated by the manager of the MARQ Foundation, over the course of 2019 the museum and its sites have been visited by around 150,000 people.
