The National Museum of Australia has rescheduled the planned British Museum exhibition, Ancient Greeks: Athletes, Warriors and Heroes, for December 17, 2021.
The international exhibition was due to open in Canberra in December 2020, but logistical challenges due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic prompted the rescheduling.
The exhibition is part of a partnership between the British Museum, the National Museum of Australia, the Western Australian Museum and the Tāmaki Paenga Hira Auckland War Memorial Museum.
National Museum director, Dr Mathew Trinca, said he looks forward to bringing Ancient Greeks to the capital in December 2021.
“We are delighted to bring Ancient Greeks to east coast audiences next year – I know they’ll be mesmerised by the stories of competition in the ancient Greek world and by the beautiful depictions of athletes, the ceramics, sculptures, armour and jewellery featured in the show,” said Dr Trinca.
Featuring some 170 objects which explore the theme of competition through sports, politics, drama, music and warfare, Ancient Greeks will open in Western Australia before starring at the National Museum (17 December 2021 – 1 May 2022), as the show’s only east coast Australian venue.
The exhibition will then conclude its Australasian tour with a final stop in New Zealand.
Dr Trinca thanked the partner institutions and said the unique three-way collaboration is a model for future agreements, allowing cultural institutions to pool and leverage their resources, to bring world class shows of this type to their audiences.
“The National Museum is working creatively with its partners to pool resources to our mutual benefit and bring high quality exhibitions to our audiences as a result,” said Dr Trinca.
Ancient Greeks: Athletes, Warriors and Heroes is the fourth in a series of British Museum exhibitions
that have featured at the National Museum of Australia.
The other three include: Rome: City and Empire (2018), A History of the World in 100 Objects (2016) and Encounters: Revealing Stories of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Objects from the British Museum (2015).
