Friday, June 1, 2018

Paolo Orsi Museum, 2018

We visited the Paolo Orsi in 2011 and were impressed, not merely with the collection, but with Orsi himself, the turn-of-the-century native archaeologist who unearthed and interpreted much of Sicily's past, and especially its more remote past. Not many museum's are named for archaeologists. Not many museums are so indebted to one person.
Alas, walking from the marina to the museum we passed
this, the "Basilica" Madonna della Lacrime, which now
dominates Syracuse's skyline
Syracuse has endured 2,700 years as a city, but this
architectural obscenity (neo-teepee?) may be its greatest
challenge
Fortunately you can look the other way at the blossoming jacarandas

We were joined at the museum by several high school classes;
mostly they're on their phones or with each other, barely noticing
what is before them, passing quickly from room to room; same here
as in all the other countries we have visited; except France; oh, in the
foreground are skeletons of (fully-grown) hobbit elephants that once 
roamed Sicily

The paleolithic stuff is incredible...5th to 6th millennium before
JHC, some of it


Hopefully made someone very happy, 6-8 thousand years ago


Strainer?

Use still unkown

Door slab; not hard to figure out; but what was it a door to?
Sex education classroom?

Alas, the Orsi has some roofing leakage problems...


More odd and poorly understood vessels

Arrival of bronze age, iron age

Some beautiful Greek stuff, of course

Gorgon fragment

Votive offering casts

Great educational displays; in English too

Google Earth view of Syracuse, Ortigia pretty clearly in view

Very well preserved Christian sarcophagus

Writing on the lines now

Lamps for Syracuse's extensive catacombs

Nice Anne Boleyn sculpture; 2nd century copy of Greek
4th century bronze; wait, no...

Hobbit-sized satyr/telamon

Toga! Toga!

More sculpture, sarcophagi, on the beautiful grounds

No comments: