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random-brushstrokes · 2 days

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Alexander Golovin - Prows of Gondolas (1896)

#Alexander Golovin #russian art #venice #1890s

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ancientorigins · 3 days

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St Marks Basilica, Venice

#venice #italy #st marks basilica #history #art

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scavengedluxury · 3 days

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St. Mark's Basilica, Venice, 1910. From the Budapest municipal photography company archive.

#venice #italy #architecture #byzantine #romanesque #1910s

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gemsofgreece · 20 hours

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The Parthenon marbles this, the Parthenon marbles that...

I don´t know how known the extent of Greek antiquity looting by West Europeans is to most people or most have a limited image painting the British Museum or Lord Elgin as the sole / main villain.

Here we have the Piraeus Lion (Italian: Leone del Pireo) , one of the four lions decorating the Venetian arsenal in Italy. The prominence of the 3 meter tall lion statue in the port is such that it is also known as Porto Leone ("Lion Port").

We are eternally thankful for the massive courtesy of calling the statue the Piraeus Lion, indicating its origin from Piraeus, the port city of Athens. The statue was sculpted around 360 BC and remained a famous landmark of Piraeus, Athens until 1687.

In 1687, it was looted by Venetian naval commander Francesco Morosini, the man also notoriously responsible for the bombardment of the Parthenon during the wars of the Venetians with the Ottoman Turks, therefore in fact the most irreversible destruction it suffered in its 2,500 year long history. Somehow they were fighting the Turks but it was the Greeks paying for it.

Is it totally and universally acknowledged that Morosini illegally looted this sculpture among so many others? Yes. Does the Piraeus Lion still sit casually in the Venetian port in 2024 as if Venice has a shortage of artefacts to decorate itself with? Also yes. Meanwhile, the Greeks have to limit themselves to a replica in the Piraeus Archaeological Museum.

The Horses of Saint Mark in Venice are also Greek artefacts, this time looted from Constantinople during the crusades, although their original display was in Chios island. Another thing little known is how many ancient and medieval Greek artefacts were looted from the Eastern Roman / Byzantine Empire because people tend to focus on classical antiquities looted in the 19th century.

[Fun fact: The Piraeus Lion has runic inscriptions carved by Swedes in the 11th century. These were either Viking explorers or Varangian mercenaries of the Byzantine Empire.]

#greece #europe #greek culture #ancient greece #western appropriation #crusades #antiquity looting #ancient greek statues #piraeus lion #venice

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alice-the-demon · 2 days

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A lil gift for @lunar-dal