Livre - The golden legend

地中海の奥深くに、湖のような黒海が広がっています。黒海の入口は、船の難所として知られるボスポラス海峡です。ギリシャ神話によれば、英雄イアソンはこ の難所をアルゴー船に乗って越えました。イアソンが目指したのは、黒海沿いの王国にある金の羊毛です。イアソンは王女メディアの助けを借りて、この金の羊 毛を手中に収めました。 豊かな黄金を秘める黒海地方の物語。これがただの伝説ではないことが、約40年前に明らかになります。黒海沿岸の町ヴァルナで、大量の金の副葬品を納めた 墓地が発見されたのです。それはエジプトの最古のピラミッドよりも遙か以前、今から６千年以上も前に作られた世界最古の金製品です。骨と化した埋葬者は、 金の杖を携え、大ぶりの金の腕輪をいくつもはめています。骸骨の周りに散らばる円形の金は、死者がまとっていた服をきらびやかに飾っていました。本展で は、最古の金が納められたこの墓を出土の状態のまま復元し、同時に、太古の金の記憶が生み出したアルゴー船伝説の絵画を展示します。 黒海の金製品から３千年以上の時を経て、比類のない金細工技術を誇ったエトルリア文明がイタリア半島に花開きます。エトルリア人の謎に満ちた至高の芸を、ヴァチカン美術館の名高い金の腕輪でとくとご覧ください。 本展では、地中海地域の古代文明がもたらした金の傑作の数々を、金を題材とする絵画とともに展示し、黄金に魅了された人類の歴史をひもといていきます。 黄金ははるか神話の時代から今日にいたるまで、人々を魅了し続けています。とりわけ古代世界では、金は希少価値が極めて高く、権力や富、欲望を反映する、社会の一端を映す鏡でもありました。 この展覧会では、6千年前の世界最古の金、黒海沿岸のヴァルナの遺跡の復元や、世界遺産から発掘され、日本初公開となるトラキアの絢爛豪華な金製品、燦然と輝く金細工の最高峰、エトルリアの遺品など、古代地中海地域に花開いた文明が生み出した、金の傑作の数々をご覧いただきます。まばゆいばかりの金の遺宝と、金にまつわる神話画をあわせて展示し、金に魅了されてきた人間たちの歴史を紐解きます。 The lake-like Black Sea expands deep in the hinterlands of the Mediterranean region. The Bosporus Strait is the entrance to the Black Sea from the Mediterranean, and is renowned as a difficult sea-lane. According to Greek mythology, the hero Jason successfully sailed his ship Argo through this treacherous strait; his goal, the Golden Fleece of a kingdom on the shores of the Black Sea. With the help of Queen Medea, Jason acquired the Golden Fleece, and thus grew the legend of the Black Sea region as concealing golden riches. But, about 40 years ago it was discovered that this was something more than simple legend. Tombs were found in the Bulgarian town of Varna on the Black Sea coast that contained a massive number of golden burial goods. These funerary goods are known today as the world’s oldest golden items, dating to more than 6,000 years ago, even before the oldest pyramids in Egypt. The deceased, reduced to bones today, were found holding golden staffs and wearing large gold armlets. The round pieces of gold scattered around the skeleton were the decorations on the clothing that once garbed the deceased. This exhibition presents a reconstruction of the contents of tombs as they appeared when they were discovered, alongside the display of paintings recounting the legend of Jason and the Argonauts’ pursuit of the then ancient Golden Fleece. Then some three millennia after the golden treasure of the Black Sea, goldsmithing of incomparable intricacy and quality flourished on in the Etruscan civilization on the Italian Peninsula. The superb artistry of Etruscan gold, whose technologies remain a mystery today, can be seen in the renowned golden armlet from the Vatican Museums. This exhibition presents numerous masterpieces of gold work from the ancient civilizations of the Mediterranean region, along with paintings on the theme of gold, reminding us that the human fascination with the material gold is as old as mankind. This exhibition introduces gold items created by the civilizations that flourished in the ancient Mediterranean area – Greece, Thrace, Etruria and Rome. The world’s oldest gold items, excavated in the Bulgarian city of Varna on the Black Sea coast, are restored to how they looked at the time of their excavation, for this display. Other exhibits include jewelry, which reveals how the ancient Greek artisans were particularly skilled at complex designs from this so called Golden Civilization, and the incomparable intricacy of Etruscan arm bands with their technical prowess visible in their tiny granules of gold. Thus this époque-making exhibition presents the breadth and depth of these diverse civilizations and regions. The enduring human fascination with gold, its acquisition and at times its loss, is clearly depicted in Greek myths focusing on this precious metal and its influence through history. Along with ancient gold artifacts, this exhibition features paintings on such gold-related themes as the Golden Fleece, the Golden Shower and the Golden Apple. Their display alongside the ancient materials will illuminate the human fascination with the gleam of gold, and our history of involvement with this eternal metal.