TAMPA, Fla. — The Tampa Museum of Art has launched a new exhibit called “The Etruscans: A Mysterious Italian People.”
It’s a collection of about 70 donated objects from the ancient Etruscan civilization, which was located near current-day Tuscany in Italy.
Historians consider the Etruscans “mysterious” because very few of their own writings about their way of life have survived.
“We know so very little about them, other than artifacts they left behind,” said Branko van Oppen, curator of Greek and Roman Art at the Tampa Museum of Art. “What we do know about the history of the Etruscans comes from Roman and Greek writers, who were writing as outsiders.”
That’s why van Oppen is so excited about this exhibit. It offers a chance to learn about the “mysterious” Etruscans by seeing some of the objects they would use in daily life, including the glasses they would drink from, the plates they would eat off and the art they would display.
“Step back in time a little bit. Place yourself in the minds of other people and other civilizations, and look at some of the differences of that civilization but also to understand how little humanity has changed,” van Oppen said.
The exhibit will be on display at the Tampa Museum of Art through spring of 2027.
Jeff Butera
Source link