The exhibition “Art in Gold. Jewellery in Hellenistic times” hosts masterpieces of the art of gold processing, jewellery of the Hellenistic period.

The jewellery reflects the multicultural world, the wealth, the mobility of people and ideas, the constant exchange of influences but especially the high level of skill, knowledge and experience of the goldsmiths, the people who managed to create works of unique aesthetics.

The aim of the exhibition is twofold: the presentation of Hellenistic jewellery as a highly significant object and the investigation of its construction techniques, an issue that is rarely presented in an exhibition context. The study of the techniques was carried out by the team of the Metal Laboratory of the Conservation Department of the Benaki Museum. The exhibition is structured in thematic sections, one of which is dedicated to the technology of Hellenistic goldsmithing with the presentation of tools of a jeweller of the 2nd century BC. In the same room, a video is shown that records the result of an experimental process lasting about three years, which aimed at reconstructing a part of a Hellenistic gold diadem from the Benaki Museum’s collections. The reconstruction was carried out by Akis Goumas, a jeweller and student of ancient Greek jewellery techniques.

Gold jewellery, which mainly concerns the female gender, is approached as a means of projecting social status and wealth, as an accompaniment to the critical stages of the life cycle (adulthood, marriage, death), as objects with guardian/atropical properties, as offerings to deities, as an investment of financial capital, as a means of adorning clothing and, above all, the body in order to enhance beauty.

Apart from the jewellery, which forms the main body of the exhibition, clay figurines and vases illustrate how they are applied to the human body.

In the centre of the room is a large part of the so-called “Treasure of Thessaly / Karpenisi”, which is shared between the Benaki Museum and the National Archaeological Museum of Athens. They are women’s jewellery of exceptional art, elaborate creations that have been attributed to an important Macedonian workshop of the 3rd-2nd century BC and probably belonged to members of the Macedonian court.

Curated by

Irini Papageorgiou

In collaboration with Maria Sarri

PARALLEL ACTIVITIES

GUIDE TOURS

Within the framework of the exhibition, guided tours for the public will be conducted by the exhibition curator Irini Papageorgiou. The November guided tours are as follows:

Thursday 21/11 at 18:00

Saturday 23/11 at 12:00

Thursday 28/11 at 18:00

EDUCATIONAL ACTIVITIES

The Benaki Museum’s Education Department will present programmes aimed at children in school groups, while workshops will be held for the adult public, visitors with visual loss and visitors with memory difficulties or incipient dementia.

Information and reservations at the Education Department, 2103671067-69, [email protected]