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COPENHAGEN-A bronze head of Emperor Septimius Severus on show at a Copenhagen museum has develop into a bone of competition between the Danish museum and Turkey, which claims it was looted throughout an archaeological dig within the Sixties and needs it again. After a long time in the USA as a part of a personal assortment that loaned it to New York’s Metropolitan Museum, a statue of the Roman emperor, who lived from AD 145 to 211, was lately despatched again to Turkey — minus the pinnacle. The statue was believed to have been stolen from a web site in Turkey. Turkish authorities say the lacking head is within the Danish capital — the place it has been on show on the Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek in Copenhagen for over 50 years. However many Danish specialists say they aren’t so certain. “We aren’t satisfied that the 2 issues belong collectively. The documentation is for the time being not very sturdy, we now have to check breaks of the torso and the pinnacle,” Glyptotek’s director of collections Rune Frederiksen informed AFP. In 1979, a former museum curator estimated that the pinnacle — acquired in 1970 with none details about its precise origins — corresponded to a decapitated statue from a personal American assortment.
The 2 bronze elements have been even reunited for an exhibition. “The top was fitted to the torso within the sense {that a} pole was put into the neck of the pinnacle and fitted into the torso in order that the 2 fragments approached one another,” Frederiksen defined. However in his view, the meeting didn’t conclusively show they have been meant to be collectively.
“I’m not saying that they don’t belong collectively. I’m simply saying that we’re not as certain as we maybe have been 25-30 years in the past, after we wrote the catalogues,” he stated. The catalogues — overlaying Danish museum collections — state that “nothing, when it comes to composition or construction, prevented the pinnacle and physique from belonging to the identical statue”.
As for the origin of the bronze head, it’s extra categorical and locations it at Bubon, a Roman web site in Asia Minor, within the historic area of Lycia on what’s now Turkey’s Mediterranean coast. For archaeologist Guillaume Biard, a lecturer on the Aix-Marseille College, there isn’t a documented proof to positively establish the origin of the pinnacle. However he argues it’s clear “the torso that was as soon as exhibited on the Metropolitan Museum in New York and returned to Turkey comes from the Sebasteion — the temple of the imperial cult — at Bubon.”
For Turkish authorities then again, the origin of the pinnacle just isn’t in dispute, and particularly they quote the work of the late Turkish archaeologist, Jale Inan, who took measurements of the pinnacle and physique. “The bronze comes from Bubon in Turkey. And like all objects from Turkey, we’re asking for it to be returned,” stated Mehmet Bulut, the Turkish cost d’affaires in Denmark.
Discussions with the Glyptotek have begun. “The process has been initiated. We’ve got expressed our request, however it would take time”, Bulut added.
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