The Buried Statues of War

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amyntoros
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The Buried Statues of War

Post by amyntoros »

An older but fascinating article on the hiding of the ancient treasures of the National Archaeological Museum on the eve of the German occupation of Athens, 1941. The whole article is well worth a read, however, given the findings in Amphipolis this year, I thought the most relevant (to Pothos) part of the article to be:
The statues were placed like people in a demonstration. Then sand was poured on top, separating the statues from each other yet covering them completely. Finally, a slab of concrete was poured on top. The windows in these basements were sealed with sandbags. This way, nothing could happen during an air raid”. The wooden crates with the clay vases, the figurines, as well as the copper items, were placed in the semi-underground extension of the museum, which had just been completed, towards Bouboulinas street. Subsequently, the rooms were filled up to the ceiling with dry sand in order to resist ruptures to the concrete ceiling in the event of bombing.
So, just under two thousand years after the Amphipolis tomb was sealed and hidden from view, the conservators at the National Archaeological Museum did exactly the same thing to protect their treasures!

Best regards,
Amyntoros

Pothos Lunch Room Monitor
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