ARTS & CULTURE
Antioch Reclaimed Ancient mosaic tile slabs, some buried outside the Museum of Fine Arts for decades, make their long-awaited debut. PHOTOS/ MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS ST. PETERSBURG
Left, the mosaic slab entitled The House of the Drinking Contest was excavated from the floor of a villa in Antioch as seen on the photo mural.
BY MARCIA BIGGS It’s always interesting to see how museums select new exhibits in their never-ending quest to excite the public, attract new members and satisfy the older ones. The Museum of Fine Arts St. Petersburg has done a fine job in recent years under executive director Kristen Shepherd to shake things up regularly, bringing in a diverse array of unique exhibits from dead bugs to colorful modern commentary art and oversized origami to stunning jewels. The new Antioch Mosaics exhibit turns attention to the museum’s antiquities, an important yet often overlooked collection. Ancient history and archaeology buffs, this one’s for you. There’s a crazy story behind the newly restored mosaic slabs which date from the 2nd to the 5th centuries AD, and some interesting artifacts from their excavation in the 1930s that make this small yet mighty show worth your time. Antioch was the most dynamic, important ancient city of the Eastern Mediterranean. Founded around 300 B.C. by Seleucus I, one of Alexander the Great’s generals, its cultural prominence spanned centuries of change. First a Greek city, it became the capital of the
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StPeteLifeMag.com
May/June 2021
Roman province of Syria from 64 B.C., and was ultimately home to the first Christian community. The city is now modern Antakya, a provincial capital of southern Turkey. Organized by the Museum of Fine Arts in partnership with Princeton University, the exhibit tells the story of the excavation of Antioch, which was led by Princeton from 1932 to 1939. Most of the artifacts were eventually sold to museums and public institutions in North America and Europe. The documents, artifacts, photographs, and fascinating film footage played on a loop of the actual excavation reveal how Antioch and its suburbs were uncovered, exposing some 300 mosaic pavements. The slabs were discovered covering the floors of the elegant private villas in the wealthy region and were given names accordingly such as The House of the Drinking Contest (hey, it was Greco-Roman times). Photographs of the home excavation sites have been enlarged and cover the gallery walls as floor to ceiling murals. Princeton University Art Museum is lending complementary works to the collection including three sculptures, while Princeton Archives
