Why it is not a good idea to send the Farnese Atlas to the Osaka Expo 2025

The Ministry of Culture statement says that the Farnese Atlas will be tasked with “representing Italian cultural heritage in our pavilion at Expo 2025 Osaka,” and Culture Minister Gennaro Sangiuliano adds that putting the Farnese Atlas at the center of the Italian Pavilion “means making everyone aware of a work that represents the cultural heritage of our nation.” The news, then, is that one of the most valuable works of the National Archaeological Museum in Naples, the Farnese Atlas, a sculpture from the second century A.D., will go to serve as a testimonial of Italian culture at next year’s World Expo in Japan. It will be useful to remember that the Farnese Atlas is a unicum, as the relevant MANN fact sheet defines it. A unique sculpture not only in the literal sense of the term, since no other specimens of the marble once in the Farnese collections are known (and the Atlas should therefore be the only known replica of an otherwise unknown model), but also because of what it represents: a work bearing a depiction of the celestial vault according to the knowledge of the time in which it was made (the marble in the MANN is from the second century AD, but it is thought that the original may be a Hellenistic bronze from the second century BC), the only complete map of the sky of the classical world known to date, thus a valuable compendium of ancient astronomical notions, which moreover transcend centuries, since the globe was presumably updated to adapt it to the changed era.

We speak, therefore, of a work that has no terms of comparison. Now, we are not discussing what Italy should represent in a third-millennium universal expo, whose theme is Designing Future Society for Our Lives. Although some may take issue with that. After all, our country will still be represented at the Osaka 2025 Expo by a Roman marble that probably replicated a Greek original at a time when the word “Italy” connoted a geographical expression. And so, perhaps it would be desirable for Italy to be represented indeed by some contemporary production, possibly of the highest caliber, to show the world that our country is not only spaghetti and Renaissance, but has an advanced industrial system based on research, a university system among the first in the world, a vibrant cultural scene, and a leading role in the challenges that humanity will have to face in the future, starting with those of sustainability, combating climate change, and social justice. However, this is not what we are arguing about. And let us also gloss over the risks to which such a valuable work is subjected for a journey that could have been spared: every journey, it is known, poses a potential danger to a work, and if it is a unicum , attention should be multiplied.

Let us then admit that we want to forget the books and articles of Francis Haskell, who tolerated only and exclusively loans motivated by well-founded scientific reasons. And let us admit the appropriateness of bringing a fragment of the past into a major international event projected into the future, to remind us of where we came from and how we built what we are today. So we admit the legitimacy of the presence of a piece of our heritage at the World’s Fair: the important thing, however, is that that role makes sense, that the chosen work does not go away just to become the element of a set design, that it does not shoulder an international trip for an anachronistic, twentieth-century display, that there is a strong connection between the selected piece and the theme of the event, that the presence of the work serves to enrich knowledge.

The fact is that there seems to be no good reason why the Farnese Atlas should go to Osaka instead of another work. The sculpture, we learn from the statement, was chosen first and foremost for three reasons: because it recounts “the richness of our cultural heritage and the responsibilities that come with it” (so the commissioner general for Italy in Osaka, Mario Vattani), because “it has contributed to making the MANN one of the most important in the world, determining a strong impulse to the dissemination of our culture and the recognition of Italy as the custodian of a unique global heritage” (so the minister), and because it represents the idea of travel and the desire for discovery. The Farnese Atlas is not the only work in state collections that has these characteristics: there are sculptures and paintings from every era, even more capable of representing “our nation,” and which if moved would not cause unbridgeable gaps in the museums to which they belong. Why then precisely the Farnese Atlas, one of those works that the public of the National Archaeological Museum of Naples would expect to see in its place, in its own room, because it is among the institution’s most representative pieces, a fundamental work not only of the MANN?

To this question, those who think the relocation of the Farnese Atlas is a sensible operation might respond by saying that other, less famous and less important works do not have the same recognizability as the Atlas. Fine: but then why not send a reproduction instead of the original? After all, this is not the first time that a piece of our heritage has been chosen for an Expo: everyone will remember Michelangelo’s David buried at the last World Expo, the Dubai 2021 Expo. The problem is that that David was a reproduction. No one would have dreamed of sending the original, the marble preserved at the Galleria dell’Accademia in Florence, to the United Arab Emirates, precisely because it is a fundamental work for its museum, precisely because it is a recognizable work (and therefore the public expects to find it in its place, and not ten thousand kilometers away), precisely because one wants to avoid subjecting it to unnecessary risks. Why then does the same principle not apply to the Farnese Atlas? There are two cases: Either the Farnese Atlas is considered a secondary work, a work that can afford to leave the national borders without impoverishing the museum and all of Italy, or, if it is one of the masterpieces of the National Archaeological Museum of Naples, one of its most valuable, the news is that as of today even a museum’s most representative works can safely leave national borders to take part in fairs and various events, without concern for the integrity of museum funds and the judgment of the public, citizens and tourists alike. Patience, then, if visitors to the MANN have to go without seeing one of the main works in its collection.

And it is precisely the National Archaeological Museum of Naples has already proven in recent months to be at least generous with loans: many will remember the many trips of the Farnese Cup, or the shipment of a nucleus of 160 artifacts to Tokyo in exchange for the restoration of the Alexander mosaic, or even the media case of the Herculaneum Runners lent for a Bottega Veneta fashion show. Now it will be his turn to add, to an already well-stocked list, the Farnese Atlas summoned to be a testimonial of Italian culture in Osaka 2025. The minister, in the statement, says the Farnese Atlas is “a masterpiece as well as an icon of inestimable value.” And that is precisely why the work should remain in Italy.

Warning: the translation into English of the original Italian article was created using automatic tools. We undertake to review all articles, but we do not guarantee the total absence of inaccuracies in the translation due to the program. You can find the original by clicking on the ITA button. If you find any mistake,please contact us.