17.05.2023.

A Vial In The Shape Of A Medusa From Roman Times At The Museum Of Ancient Glass

An exhibition not to be missed is the one in the Museum of Ancient Glass in Zadar. It is called “Glass of Antiquity from the Mimara Museum” and includes a collection of glass from Mimara Museum in Zagreb consisting of 70 items that represent a rich range of glass shapes dating from ancient Egyptian, Greek, Alexandrian and Roman glass workshops.

This is a continuation of the cooperation between the two museums, which began when the Museum of Ancient Glass was opened in Zadar, and especially in these difficult times for Mimara Museum having suffered major damage in the Zagreb earthquake on March 22, 2020.

That is the actual reason why the museum in Zadar hosted this valuable exhibition and thus enabled the public to experience the true concepts of ancient glassmaking.

The author of the exhibition is Lada Ratković Bukovčan, the director of Mimara Museum, actually a museum counselor and employee of the Museum from its very beginnings.

- This is very important for us for Mimara Museum was badly damaged in the earthquake and the exhibits were moved from the museum, so we are very glad that at least part of that glass structure will be available for public viewing. Here we have, as you well know, a very rich presentation of ancient glass. However, we do not have ancient Egyptian and ancient Greek exhibits so we are very glad that our Zadar audience will have the opportunity to get to know these exhibits – noted with satisfaction Anamarija Eterović Borzić, senior curator in the Museum of Ancient Glass in Zadar.

What makes the exhibition even more attractive is the fact that the items on display were made using a completely different technique than the one we see in the Zadar exhibits, she noted.

- They are made using other techniques, not blowing or mold blowing techniques, such as the items represented here, but with the oldest technique used to make glass items, which is the core molding technique. We are delighted that our visitors will be able to get to know that segment of ancient glasswork.

The entire exhibition is very attractive but we must point out an item of Roman production.

- It is a vial in the shape of a medusa. What is interesting is that we have one just like it. Mimara's glass item is white, ours is purple, but what is very important is that they are the product of the same workshop. Therefore, they were made long prior to Roman times in the same workshop and have again met right here in the Museum of Ancient Glass in Zadar. Mimara’s medusa is from an unknown context, we know the date and production, but we don't know the context, and ours was found in a grave in an ancient Zadar necropolis – we learned more from curator Eterović Borzić.