Golden opportunity to see tomb treasures of ancient Georgia

‘From the Land of the Golden Fleece’ opens today and runs until January 4 next year. It is the first-ever UK exhibition of the treasures excavated from two sanctuaries and four tombs at Vani.

Vani was a rich city in the ancient kingdom of Colchis, now part of the Republic of Georgia. Colchis is most famous in Greek mythology as the destination of Jason and the Argonauts during their search for the Golden Fleece.

The spectacular display - featuring nearly 150 items dating from the early 5th to 1st Centuries BC - include jewellery, sculpture, pottery and funerary items, including a magnificent gold necklace with 31 pendant tortoises.

Dr Timothy Potts, Director of the Fitzwilliam Museum, said: “The spectacular finds from Vani are of great importance both as works of art and as reflections of the interaction between the ancient Greeks and the culture of the Black Sea.

“This exhibition offers a unique insight into one of the least known but most intriguing aspects of classical civilization.”

Vani was home to a fascinating but long-forgotten culture on the eastern shores of the Black Sea. East of the Greek world and north of the Persian empire. It was both a crossroads for ideas, art and cultures and a city with a strong independent identity.

Professor David Lordkipanizde, the first General Director of the newly-founded National Museum of Georgia, was on hand yesterday to speak at previews of the show for the press and invited guests.

He said: “This exhibition shows that Georgia is also about culture and history – and is not just a conflict zone.”

All the artefacts in the exhibition were excavated between 1966 and 2007.
Prior to its arrival in Cambridge, the exhibition has toured the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, the Institute for the Study of the Ancient World, New York University, the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston and other major museums in the United States and Europe.

Other prize exhibits include a stunning silver belt showing scenes of banqueting and animal processions, and an exceptional bronze sculpture of a youth.

Meanwhile, the exhibition will be further enhanced by a special display of ancient coins from the Black Sea drawn largely from the Fitzwilliam’s own collection. The first UK exhibition on this theme, it will also run until January 4, 2009.