inchide

Newsletter

Stay tuned with arts. Subscribe to Artline art news send directly to your mailbox by artLine.ro
Artline.ro on FaceBook Artline.ro on Twitter Multimedia
ro | en
Contact
Upload artworks

Aromas of Antiquity at the Hermitage in St Petersburg

0 Comments

The State Hermitage will open in the 7th of March 2007 an interesting exhibition devoted to the world and culture of aromas, perfumes and fragrances in the times of the Ancient Greece and Rome. The event will be hosted in the Arab Hall of the famous museum in St Petersburg.


It was mandatory in the Ancient times for the beautiful marble statues to be painted in bright, even intense colors, for them to resemble living people. This taste might seem too much today, as we are accustomed with the splendid and cold beauty of the Ancient Greek and Roman sculpture, but then it was very fashionable. But not only statues were painted over, but even the smallest and most trivial items, such as the vessels for cereals or dried fish, were carefully painted over and richly recorated. And literature was very important too, as the Iliad, for example, was copied over and over again in Ancient Greek, being the most copied work of those times.


 


The Antiquity was a free and rich world, filled with events, values and especially aromas. Aromas and perfumes were very important and valued at that time, but today, in order to catch a mere scent of the popular fragrances of that time, the only was is by studying the texts of the Ancient classics. For them, and especially for the Greeks, the aromas and perfumes played a key-role in everyday life, being a sign of respect, luxury, civilisation and a symbol of the Gods. The word aroma has Greek origin defined it all : perfumes, spices, fragrances, pleasant smelling medicines and others, in short what we now call cosmetics and perfumes. A perfume was maybe not the most powerfull odor, but was highly valued and useful in the Ancient World.


 


The State Hermitage has a rich collection of censers and flasks from that time, created to hold the fragrances and substances used for creating perfumes, by the masters of this art. Some of this bottles and flasks equal in their beauty the complicated and intriguing ones used in our time, being simply extraordinary works of art, real masterpieces. Today we know about these aromas mainly from the works of Ancient authors, as the writers and poets of those times were fascinated by the universe of aromas and often presented how these were used.


 


The exhibition at the State Hermitage presents an unique chance to discover this world and to dream with open eyes about returning evening for a quarter of an hour there and to sense the fragrances that trasformed the spirit then.


 


February 2007


 


 

Rate This


Same subject: perfumes | Ancient Greece | cereals | spices
Comentarii 0 comentarii
Scrie comentariu
Introdu mai jos textul de aici
Scrie in casuta de mai sus codul de verificare
Alte articole din:
ArtLine News
Ozzy Osbourne Announces His Farewell Tour
Ozzy Osbourne Announces His Farewell Tour

Legendary singer Ozzy Osbourne has recently announced his fans that his next world tour will also be his final one, as the Prince of Darkness will put an end to a carreer of over five decades. This ...

Stephen King Might Write Another Dark Tower Novel
Stephen King Might Write Another Dark Tower Novel

With eight novels (some of them massive) in the series, comics, an online game called Discordia, a novella (included in the Everything's Eventual collection) a recent movie and several future ...

Joe Hill A Short Biography
Joe Hill - A Short Biography

Being born as the oldest son of Stephen King ought to be a silver spoon if you want do be a writer to, yet Joseph Hillstrom King (born of June 4th 1972) wanted to make it on his own. If he was ever ...

Roger Waters Is This the Life We Really WantA
Roger Waters - Is This the Life We Really Want?

The new Roger Waters album. For many of his casual listeners Waters is still thoroughly linked with Pink Floyd, despite the break-up, but his fans, who have carefully and patiently followed his solo ...

Two New Harry Potter Books To Be Published in October
Two New Harry Potter Books To Be Published in October

Fans of Harry Potter have a short time to wait until two new books set in the famous wizard's universe will be released, in October 2017, celebrating two decades since the publishing of the very first ...

Works from the George de Bellio Collection

The Marmottan Monet Museum in Paris will open on the 10th of October 2007 an exhibition showcasing some of the best works from the collection of Georges de Bellio, one of the most important ...

Two lines: global and local - Romanian architecture presented in Venice

Arhitext design Foundation, with the help of the Ministry of Culture and Cults and with the partnership of the Institute of Culture and Human Research «Nicolae Iorga» - Venice, presents ...

Gaylord Ho the masterfully sculptor and artist
Gaylord Ho - the masterfully sculptor and artist

Gaylord Ho , a master sculptor and inspired artist, was born April 11, 1950, in Hsin – Wu. His parents were poor farmers and were living on a small rice farm in middle Taiwan. Gaylord Ho spent ...

RCINY continues its Reading the Tea Leaves
RCINY continues its Reading the Tea Leaves

Romanian Cultural Institute New York continues its "Reading the Tea Leaves" program of performative readings with "Pas de deux," a series of events that highlight classic or ...

Angela Gheorghiu an extraordinary talent
Angela Gheorghiu - an extraordinary talent

Angela Gheorghiu was born in a small town from Romania, Adjud. She is one of the most elegant, glamouros and taleted opera singer of our time. She went to a Music School in Bucharest and than she ...

Alexander the Great King of Macedonia
Alexander the Great King of Macedonia

Alexander III the Great was born in 356 B.C.E. in Pella, the ancient capital of Macedonia. His father was King Phillip II and his mother was Olympias. From the earliest age his mother taught Alexander ...

Timisoara s h arta group takes over Ludlow 38 with a feminist exploration
Timisoara's h.arta group takes over Ludlow 38 with a feminist exploration

Timisoara's h.arta group takes over Ludlow 38 with a feminist exploration, EVERYDAY FRAGMENTS November 2 - December 11/ MINI/Goethe-Institut Curatorial Residencies Ludlow 38 Opening on November ...

Michael Jackson Breaking News
Michael Jackson - Breaking News

Michael Jackson is realeasing a new album in December. It is really weird to hear a news like that, but it is somehow possible. The King of Pop recordet his last album, a material which he ...

The Romanian Cultural Institute in New York presents
The Romanian Cultural Institute in New York presents

The Romanian Cultural Institute in New York presents THE WINDOW New Dates Added for the Site Specific performance in our Storefront Gallery on Third Avenue: June 5-7 & June 12-18, 8.30-10pm ...

Elvis Presley the legend of rock n roll
Elvis Presley – the legend of rock 'n' roll

Highly influenced by the African – American musicians Elvis Presley became in the middle of the 50s and early 60s a successful and famous artist. He produced hundreds of hit songs, while he ...

Newsletter

Stay tuned with arts. Subscribe to Artline art news send directly to your mailbox by artLine.ro

Recommended News

Bruce Springsteen Facts Bruce Springsteen Facts
1. In the official video for Glory Days you can see both Bruce's first wife, Julianne Phillips, and his second and current wife, Patti Scialfa. 2. During decades of touring The Boss has ...
Other recommandations:
Five Facts About Pierre-Auguste Renoir World Wide Facts Five Facts About David Duchovny Five Facts About Prague + Read More

Facebook

Be our friend on Facebook and keep in touch with art world wherever you are.

art-Travel

Five Facts About Leipzig Five Facts About Leipzig 1. Leipzig made media history in 1650, when it was the city where the very first newspaper was published. The work of Timotheus Ritzsch, a printer and book merchant who wanted to present the news of the day, Einkommende Zeitungen was published four days a ... Alte destinatii: Did You Know? Facts About Switzerland Five Interesting Facts About Beijing The Neamt Citadel The Warley Museum. Maybe the Smallest One Strange Laws From All Around the World + Places to go