A major exhibition of Roman sculptures from the Augusteum at Narona, Croatia, opened at the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford on 6th July 2004. The exhibition "The Rise and Fall of an Imperial Shrine: Roman Sculpture from the Augusteum at Narona", comes from the oldest museum in South Eastern Europe the Archaeological Museum in Split and will remain open to the public until 17th October 2004.
TOGETHER AFTER 1700 YEARS
THE HEAD AND TORSO OF LIVIA, THE ROMAN EMPRESS, REUNITED AT THE ASHMOLEAN MUSEUM IN OXFORD
A major exhibition of Roman sculptures from the Augusteum at Narona, Croatia, opened at the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford on 6th July 2004. The exhibition "The Rise and Fall of an Imperial Shrine: Roman Sculpture from the Augusteum at Narona", comes from the oldest museum in South Eastern Europe the Archaeological Museum in Split and will remain open to the public until 17th October 2004.
The renowned Dr Emilio Marin, Director of the Museum and Professor at the University of Split, delivered a special introductory lecture on Tuesday 6th July. The exhibition was opened by HE Mr Joško Paro, Ambassador of the Republic of Croatia in the United Kingdom.
The centre-piece of the exhibition is the reunited head from the Ashmolean Museum and torso of Livia, the wife of Emperor Augustus, from the Archeological Museum in Split. The contents of the exhibition were discovered in 1995, following excavations in the area of the Roman Forum of Narona, the present-day village of Vid. When farm buildings were demolished, the ruins of a Roman temple were unearthed. A conspicuous feature of the objects uncovered was the presence of a number of headless marble torsos of male and female figures. One of the headless figures discovered was that of Livia. The head of Livia had been acquired in 1878 for the Ashmolean Museum by Sir Arthur Evans, when he was a Manchester Guardian correspondent in the Balkans.
Upon learning that the excavations in Croatia led by Dr Marin had discovered the body of Livia, the Ashmolean Museum began arrangements to have the two reunited, first in Croatia and now in the United Kingdom.
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