"We feel very proud to be able to bring this archaeological heritage to our audience at the Getty Villa, also very excited and a little bit nervous," Sarah E. Cole, co-curator of the exhibition Ancient Thrace and the Classical World: Treasures from Bulgaria, Romania and Greece, said in a BTA interview. The exhibition explores the cultural relations between the Thracians and their neighbors over two millennia.
"It took a long time preparing for an exhibition of that importance, significance. We worked out agreements with the Bulgarian Ministry of Culture and our partners at the National Archaeological Institute with Museum in Sofia" said the other curator Jens Daehner. He added that the work started about six years ago but it was delayed by the COVID. "But we are finally here, we are excited and we are looking forward to receiving a great number of special guests tonight", he added.
Although the exhibition is in the United States, Daehner noted that visitors are from many countries and that Bulgaria, Romania, and the Balkan Peninsula in particular, are of great interest to an audience that is generally interested in ancient art, and the Getty Villa is focusing precisely the ancient Mediterranean world.
Sarah Cole said that it is difficult to point out which are the most valuable exhibits, as the exposition includes some very significant groups of materials, among them the Panagyurishte, Rogozen, Valchitran treasures and the bronze head of the Thracian ruler Seuthes III, which is visiting the "Getty" for the second time.
"It is particularly important that we actually widen the lens to include Thrace and its neighboring cultures, mainly Greece but also Ancient Persia", that have left their mark, she said.
Co-curator Jens Daehner added that there were political and geographical connections in the ancient world and "our job is to show what they were". "History is much more comprehensive to look at Thrace also from the perspective of its neighbours in the ancient world," he added.
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