True to the spirit of Olympic cooperation, some of the world’s major museums will be loaning artefacts for display at Athens’ National Archaeological Museum during this summer’s Olympic Games. The borrowed antiquities, along with pieces from the museum’s permanent collection, will be showcased at an exhibit entitled Agon, the ancient (and modern-day) Greek word for contest. Running from July until October of this year, the exhibition is bound to be a primary attraction during the 2004 Olympic high season.

By presenting 234 quintessential works of art on loan from 16 Greek and 18 museums in Europe and the USA, the exhibition’s organisers aspire to convey the notion of peaceful competition cultivated in ancient Greek society. According the museum’s director Dr. Nikolaos Kaltsas, “The primary goal is to make clear that the ancient Greeks had a highly developed sense of competition. Repeated submission to tests, and the insistence on improvement and striving to be the best, formed the basis of education and culture and were inherent in philosophy.”

The exhibition is unique in that it branches out from the dominant theme of athletic competition to explore the other forms of friendly contest and rivalry espoused by ancient Greek culture. Aside from the well-known athletic matches of the Olympics, various other creative competitions were staged throughout ancient Greece in honour of the 12 mythical gods of Olympus .

Thus, to celebrate these lesser know facets of ancient Greek culture, in tandem with the age-old tradition of athleticism, the exhibition will be divided into of four thematic categories. The first segment contains artefacts that exemplify the personification of “agon” in ancient Greek mythology. Section two features works relating to the Panhellenic Games , local athletic events, and spiritual games. The third thematic component explores poetry competitions, drama festivals and artistic tournaments, whereas the fourth part of the exhibition is organised around the idea of victory.

“Until now there were many exhibitions for athletic games, but I do not think there has ever been an exhibition about all of these contests,” remarked Kaltsas in a comment made to the Associated Press.

From near and far
Apart the National Archaeological Museum, Greek museums contributing to the exhibition include the Numismatic Museum, the Epigraphic Museum , the Acropolis Museum , the Museum of Ancient Agora of Athens , the Museum of the Royal Tombs in Aigai (Vergina) , and the Archaeological Museums of Nafplio, Corinth, Kerkyra (Corfu), Thebes, Chalkis, Pella, Veria and Paros .

As for the exhibit’s international lenders, the list in equally impressive. New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art will be transporting three terracotta vessels portraying paintings of ancient Greek tragedies, including one basin with a particularly impressive scene of the Olympic torch relay. Egle Zygas, a senior press officer at the Met, informed GreeceNow that these three bell-shaped kraters date back to around 400 B.C. and were most probably used for mixing water and wine. Two of the artefacts were discovered in Attica , while the other was found in southern Italy.

Despite the perennial row over the rightful home of the Parthenon (or Elgin) marbles , the world-renowned British Museum is also making a substantial contribution to Agon. The museum’s Department of Greek and Roman Antiquities will send 10 painted vases depicting competitive themes, ranging from spear throwing to musical training. The Department of Coins and Medals will also be temporarily donating two silver coins, a stater of Elis and one of Peparethus, which functioned as currency in ancient Greek times According to information posted on the British Museum’s website, the institution is lending £2 million worth of objects to exhibitions connected with the Athens Olympics.

In Italy, a group of top museums from around the country have teamed up to provide key works for the Agon exhibition. The National Archaeological Museum in Naples , the Civic Museum in Arezzo, and the Capitoline Museums in Rome will donate a total of 8 objects, while the Vatican plans to lend three Roman copies of Greek originals – including a statue of Sophocles . For their part, German museums will be offering ancient art pieces currently stored in museums in Berlin, Frankfurt, and Munich.

The list does not end there. Other major contributions will made by the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford, the National Museum in Warsaw , the Louvre in Paris, the Musée des Beaux-Arts in Lyon , the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna , the State Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, and the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston .

Ready, set, …
In preparation for this summer’s influx of Olympic tourists, Athens’ National Archaeological Museum has undergone a much-needed face-lift. The 115-year old, two-storey building has been shut for renovations since October of 2002. According to the museum’s director, the ground-floor showrooms will be gradually reopened in June and three new elevators will be in place for the commencement of Agon in July. Although legal wrangling has caused significant delays, it is also hoped that the museum’s collection of vases, which has been closed since the powerful earthquake of 1999 , will be open for visitors and that a new central air-conditioning system will be in place.

With an average of 500,000 visitors each summer, the National Archaeological Museum is bracing itself for much larger turnout this year. After all, it is unlikely that tourists – or native Greeks for that matter – will pass up this unique opportunity to see so many major Greek antiquities, spanning from 6500BC to the 1st Century of the Roman Empire, gathered together in their place of origin.