West House, Room 4 - wall paintings
Thera wall-paintings: the masterpieces of the Aegean Prehistory
Approximately 3,700 years ago, the cataclysmic eruption buried the town at Akrotiri in thick layers of volcanic material. The volcanic material covered all the buildings and frescos that adorned their interior. Archaeologists and conservators unearthed and restored thousands of fragments of frescoes, bring to light complete iconographic programs of the Bronze Age, something that was evident in Europe for the first time.
The wall-paintings culminate the high level of art that painting had reached at that period. Furthermore, they offer impressive insight into the islanders and their daily life as well as the natural and urban landscapes of Thera as well as other locations of the 17th century B.C. At the same time, a series of depictions are evident that are difficult to interpret as a modern viewer, which portray cult and ritual practices which formed immaterial structural bonds of the prehistoric community.
Private houses had at least one room decorated with wall-paintings, most commonly located on an upper storey. Frescoes in public buildings were more extensive in the surface areas and rooms they covered.
Two fresco compositions are juxtaposed in this exhibition: the whole iconographic programme of the private West House and only a selection of wall-paintings from the public building of Xeste 3 which form the largest iconographic synthesis of the Aegean.
The wall-paintings are displayed in their original order with no intervention of scenography in the museum area. They are portrayed as was intended by the prehistoric painters, as whole series of iconography in four separate areas: two of the West House and two of Xeste 3. The visitor can therefore walk through the four spaces and have an immediate and unobstructed view of the content and aesthetic value of the Theran masterpieces.
West House, Room 4 - wall paintings
Thera wall-paintings: the masterpieces of the Aegean Prehistory
Approximately 3,700 years ago, the cataclysmic eruption buried the town at Akrotiri in thick layers of volcanic material. The volcanic material covered all the buildings and frescos that adorned their interior. Archaeologists and conservators unearthed and restored thousands of fragments of frescoes, bring to light complete iconographic programs of the Bronze Age, something that was evident in Europe for the first time.
The wall-paintings culminate the high level of art that painting had reached at that period. Furthermore, they offer impressive insight into the islanders and their daily life as well as the natural and urban landscapes of Thera as well as other locations of the 17th century B.C. At the same time, a series of depictions are evident that are difficult to interpret as a modern viewer, which portray cult and ritual practices which formed immaterial structural bonds of the prehistoric community.
Private houses had at least one room decorated with wall-paintings, most commonly located on an upper storey. Frescoes in public buildings were more extensive in the surface areas and rooms they covered.
Two fresco compositions are juxtaposed in this exhibition: the whole iconographic programme of the private West House and only a selection of wall-paintings from the public building of Xeste 3 which form the largest iconographic synthesis of the Aegean.
The wall-paintings are displayed in their original order with no intervention of scenography in the museum area. They are portrayed as was intended by the prehistoric painters, as whole series of iconography in four separate areas: two of the West House and two of Xeste 3. The visitor can therefore walk through the four spaces and have an immediate and unobstructed view of the content and aesthetic value of the Theran masterpieces.