2,500-year-old terracotta gets Valentine Day's love in Italy

4 yıl önce

ROME â A pair of terracotta lovers caught in a tender embrace for 2,500 years are getting some Valentineâs Day TLC from Italian cultural officials.

One of the most famous loversâ statues in the art world, the reclining spouses fashioned out of terracotta are being offered high-tech protection from the threat of earthquakes and lesser tremors from passing traffic outside, officials said Monday as they unveiled the 18-month project.

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The Sarcophagus of the Spouses, made by an unknown artisan, is actually an urn constructed to hold the remains of the deceased. It is a top attraction at the National Etruscan Museum at Villa Giulia.

âThe Sarcophagus is threatened on a daily basis by the vibrations produced by the tramway and the railroad Rome-Viterboâ said Valentino Nizzo, the museumâs director.

The 18-month project includes the construction of an anti-seismic platform for the sarcophagus that will help reduce vibration that threaten it.

The Sarcophagus, dating to the 6th century B.C., was discovered in 1881 in a necropolis in Cerveteri, a former Etruscan settlement near Rome. It was reconstructed from approximately 400 terracotta fragments.