Buenos Aires: the Aphrodite of Capua on display for three months.
For three months, the Aphrodite of Capua will welcome the visitors of the Buenos Aires National Museum of Fine Arts in its main hall. The Argentinian Minister for Culture, Pablo Avelluto, took part in the opening ceremony together with the Italian Ambassador, Giuseppe Manzo, the Museum’s Director, Andrés Duprat, and 200 guests representing Argentinian cultural and political institutions.
This gem of classical culture is on loan from the Archaeological Museum of Naples (MANN) as part of a series of integrated promotions for “The shape of beauty. 2000 years of art, culture and the industry of beauty in the Gulf of Naples”.
Avelluto thanked the Embassy of Italy, the Italian Cultural Institute, and MANN for making it possible to launch this operation, which is the result of an intense and consolidated cooperation effort by the two countries in the field of culture. The Museum’s Director, Duprat, underlined the emblematic value of the work. It not only represents a canon of beauty, but also brings a universal message of peace (“Love triumphs over war”). Duprat also emphasized the enthusiasm shown by the country upon the arrival of the statue, thanks as well to the strong cultural influence of the Italian community in Argentina. Ambassador Manzo, after acknowledging the Director’s enhancement of the work by placing it in the area of the museum with the highest visibility, gave “a warm welcome” to “the new citizen”. This event, he added, is part of a high-profile cultural journey at a time when Buenos Aires is a global capital preparing for the upcoming meeting of the Heads of State and Government of the G20.
The initiative “The shape of beauty” has gone on throughout November and will finish up with a gala ballet of the corps de ballet of the Teatro San Carlo on 4-5 December at the Teatro Coliseo, celebrating the great composer Gioachino Rossini on the 150th anniversary of his death; and the staging of the theatrical piece Filumena Marturano by Eduardo de Filippo, directed by Liliana Cavani on 8-9 December. This will conclude a series of events and shows for the integrated promotion of Italy, aimed at describing Italian culture, creativity, “know-how” and its “industry of beauty”, with beauty in its multiple facets serving as the common thread of the project.
