ThreeCenturies of Greek Artistry in a Spectacular Exhibition in USA

In spring 2016, for the first time in the United States, a major international loan exhibition will focus on the astonishing wealth, outstanding artistry, and technical achievements of the Hellenistic period (323-30 B.C.) —  the three centuries between Alexander and Cleopatra. Opening at The Metropolitan Museum of Art on April 18, Pergamon and the Hellenistic Kingdoms of the Ancient World brings together more than 265 exquisite objects that were created through the patronage of the royal courts of the Hellenistic kingdoms, with an emphasis on the ancient city of Pergamon. The conquests of Alexander the Great transformed the ancient world, making trade and cultural exchange possible across great distances. Alexander’s retinue of court artists and extensive artistic patronage provided a model for his successors, the Hellenistic kings, who came to rule over much of his empire.

The exhibition represents a historic collaboration between The Met and the Pergamon Museum in Berlin, whose celebrated sculptures comprise approximately one-third of the works on view. Numerous prominent museums in Greece, the Republic of Italy, other European countries, Morocco, Tunisia, and the United States are also represented, often through objects that have never before left their museum collections.

Turkey seems not to have collaborated, but this shows the value of the good encyclopedic private and public collections of the western world, we can do it without their help.