The beauty from Durrës

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The mosaic is exhibited in the National History Museum in Tirana.

The beauty from Durrës ( Albanian  Bukuroshja e Durrësit ) is a multicolored , Hellenistic mosaic from the 4th century BC. It is the oldest mosaic in Albania and of great cultural and historical importance. The central element of the roughly nine square meter, elliptical pebble mosaic shows a woman's head against a black background, which is surrounded by flowers and floral elements.

The mosaic from Durrës , then called Dyrrachion and Epidamnos , is dated to the second half of the 4th century BC. Dated.

Today the mosaic is exhibited in the National History Museum in Tirana , where it was transferred in 1982.

discovery

During the First World War Durrës ( Italian Durazzo ) was occupied by Austria-Hungary . Frequent air raids caused the soldiers of the Joint Army to build air raid shelters (“bomb-proof shelters” ( Praschniker : 203)) at a considerable depth . During excavation work for such a cellar in the courtyard of a house in the northern part of the city, the mosaic was discovered in March 1918. "With the caution of the construction officers, the mosaic was secured against damage as far as possible and was essentially not damaged by the listed building [...]." ( Praschniker : 204) The mosaic was only exposed as far as it was planned for the planned one Construction was necessary: ​​a first piece showed the head up to the neck and part of the background above the head, a second piece more of the background of the mosaic on the right edge.

Sketch by Praschniker (1918)

The Viennese archaeologist Camillo Praschniker (1884–1949), who was then staying in central Albania for archaeological explorations, examined the mosaic briefly on April 16, 1918. Then the shelter above the mosaic was finished.

The course of the war meant that the Austrians had to withdraw from Durrës. After the war, Praschniker published the book Archaeological Research in Albania and Montenegro with Arnold Schober and the following year alone the article Muzakhia and Malakastra: archaeological investigations in central Albania. In the wise premonition that the outcome of the war would lead to a loss of knowledge, Praschniker added an appendix to this extensive research report, which contained further notes on archaeological finds. This also included an extensive description of the mosaic from Durrës with a sketch and a photograph. Praschniker regretted that he could not further investigate the "particularly valuable find" ( Praschniker : col. 203), as he immediately recognized the cultural and historical value:

"This is one of the oldest artistically valuable Greek mosaic floors known to us so far."

- Camillo Praschniker : Sp. 203

40 years later, after the Second World War , the Albanian archaeologist Vangjel Toçi, who was familiar with Camillo Praschniker's publications, went in search of the mosaic and found it in 1959, according to other sources, as early as 1947. Much more of the mosaic could be uncovered than is documented by Praschniker. Vangjel Toçi reported in 1962 at the first Albanologie - meeting in Tirana on the Fund.

Location

The site is now in the center of Durrës, probably a little more than 150 meters northwest of the Roman forum or a little more than 250 meters northwest of the central Sheshi Liria square near or a little north of today's district court and the Tophani spring. The oldest source describes the depth of the site as five meters; in more recent sources, 3.80 meters are given throughout.

An ancient brick grave was previously found 1.3 meters above the mosaic . The combination of the stately mosaic and the grave above allows conclusions to be drawn about the location and extent of the ancient city.

The mosaic adorned the floor of a private, luxurious bathroom. The room faced north and was surrounded by semicircular niches to the west and east.

description

The beauty from Durrës is around 2,400 years old and is in a fairly good condition. The mosaic has the shape of an ellipse , the main axis of which is 5.1 meters and the minor axis three meters long. It covers an area of ​​nine square meters; Praschniker suspects that it was the floor of an apse- shaped niche.

technology

The mosaic was put together using a "very rare, extremely complex technique" ( Guntram Koch ). It consists of hand-picked, unprocessed river pebbles of as uniform a size as possible, which have been "left in their natural shapes and colors" ( Guntram Koch ). Praschniker lists the colors used: black, grayish black, white, yellow ocher and brick red in various shades. The many colors are used to give the mosaic a sense of depth and painterly effects.

The stones were laid as closely as possible, often in rows that follow in the course of the depiction “and thus remind of the later opus vermiculatum of the Tessera mosaics” ( Dieter Salzmann : Kieselmosaike). A kind of white tesserae were already used for the outlines . Small stones in different shades of white, which were placed with great skill, give the portrait a three-dimensional effect. Few black lines were used to highlight the main features of the portrait.

Woman portrait

The woman portrait

The central element of the mosaic is the 1.20 meter high woman portrait.

“The woman has blonde hair, the outer contour of which is separated from the base by a white outline. Its movement is expressed in the arrangement of the stones. Small curls frame the forehead and above them lies a diadem adorned with a row of black spirals. "

- Camillo Praschniker : Sp. 206

The diadem can also be interpreted as a hood.

Facial contours made from black lines were only used to represent the chin, nose, eyes and eyebrows. A single, small, yellow and red pebble in the pupils - "as an attached light" ( Camillo Praschniker : 207) - gives the eyes an expressive look. Praschniker mentioned little red stones in the inner corner of the eye, which are no longer recognizable today. The three-quarter portrait - Praschniker calls it shoulder picture - results in a broad face. The woman has a calm expression and looks a bit dreamy and melancholy. The small, slightly open red mouth gives her a feminine expression.
It is not entirely clear who the illustration shows. Historian and archaeologist Moikom Zeqo believes that the beauty is the Minoan deity Eileithyia , the deity of childbirth and obstetrics. The archaeologist Afrim Hoti sees the virgin aura , a companion of the hunting goddess Artemis , in the depiction .

Design of the background

The head is surrounded by various flowers such as hyacinth , lilies and bluebells as well as other floral elements that fill the entire surface. The head and two twisting tendrils rise from an acanthus cup .

“Finely curved tendrils wrap around it. […] The main color of these tendrils is white. The main branches are white, as are the sweeping, curled up twines, with the parts lying backwards in gray as being in the shade. The sepals of the manifold flowers, the calyx-like calyxes, rosettes, lilies and composites are also white, the interior of the flowers is yellow or red, the separating contours are given in black. "

- Camillo Praschniker : Col. 207 f.

The halves on either side of the head are not symmetrical. The lines are clear, the background is black. The representation shows "the intention to fill the picture ground with a multitude of individual forms, whereby the deep spatial elements are given special attention." ( Dieter Salzmann : Kieselmosaike)

Dating

Comparable motif on an Apulian skyphos in Gnathia style in the Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco , around 330/20 BC. Chr.
Comparable motif on an Apulian pelike Museo archeologico provinciale Sigismondo Castromediano in Lecce , around 310/290 BC Chr.

Archaeologists compare the art style with Gnathia pottery , in the 4th century BC. Vase painting that emerged in Apulia .

"It is a representation that we have long known from another branch of Greek handicrafts, nothing more than the often and often recurring shoulder image of one of the great Apulian pompous amphorae, which is enlarged here many times over in the mosaic."

- Camillo Praschniker : Sp. 205

The resemblance to the multicolored portraits of women from the opposite side of the Adriatic on a black background, which are surrounded by plant motifs, is very clear - “typologically and stylistically” ( Dieter Salzmann : Kieselmosaike). "The mosaic of Dyrrachium is closely related to the Basel crater by the Ganymede painter from 330/20." ( Dieter Salzmann : Kieselmosaike) There is also a very similar painting of a crater among the Apulian vases in the Berlin Collection of Antiquities .

From the close design context, Praschniker also deduces a temporal connection. From this similarity he concluded that it was made in the first half of the 3rd century BC. Thus the find for Praschniker was one of the two oldest known Greek mosaics at that time. The other, a floor mosaic in the pronaos of the Temple of Zeus at Olympia , the dating of which, at least at that time, was not entirely clear, seemed to him to be around 50 years older.

Today's literature sees the emergence in the second half of the 4th century BC. BC, with the period stretching from the middle of the century to its end. Dieter Salzmann dated the mosaic to the period 340-320 BC due to the floral decoration. Chr.

Other authors mention the possibility that The Beauty from Durrës and floral decoration mosaics in Pella , capital of ancient Macedonia , could have been created by the same workshop, that is, they were created around the same time (350-325 BC). The spiral motif that appears in the background plays a dominant role in the deer hunt mosaic from Pella. It was signed by an artist named Gnosis .

reception

The beauty of Durrës as a symbol of beauty has become an icon that has been widely adopted in the performing arts, poetry, folk culture and business, especially in Durrës.

The portrait adorns books and awards and organizations have been named after him. An Albanian artist imitated the mosaic, as it otherwise served as a template for various designs.

In 2004 the Banka e Shqipërisë minted a 50 lek commemorative coin with the portrait of the beauties of Durrës.

literature

  • Camillo Praschniker : Muzakhia and Malakastra: archaeological investigations in central Albania . In: Austrian Archaeological Institute (Hrsg.): Annual books of the Austrian Archaeological Institute in Vienna . Supplement, No. 21-22 1922-1924 . Vienna 1920, Appendix: Durazzo, Sp. 203-214 , doi : 10.11588 / diglit.33680.17 ( online ).
  • Vangjel Toçi: Të dhëna mbi topografinë dhe elementin ilir të Dyrrahut në dritën e zbulimeve të reja arkeologjike . In: Konferenca e Parë e Studimeve Albanologjike (15–21 Nëndor 1962) . Tirana 1965, p. 460–467 (in the same year in French translation with the title Données sur la toponymie et l'élément illyrien de Dyrrah à la lumière des nouvelles découvertes archéologiques, published in: Studia Albanica . 2/1965, pp. 49–99).
  • Dieter Salzmann : Investigations into the ancient pebble mosaics from the beginnings to the beginning of the Tessera technology (= German Archaeological Institute [Hrsg.]: Archäologische Forschungen . Volume 10 ). Gebrüder Mann, Berlin 1982, ISBN 3-7861-1300-9 , catalog no.33, p. 90 .
  • AT THE. Guimier sorbets: La mosaique héllenistique de Dyrrhachion et sa place dans la série des mosaïques à décor végetal . In: Pierre Cabanes (ed.): L'Illyrie Méridionale et l'Épire dans l'antiquité II. Actes IIe du Colloque International de Clermont-Ferrand, réunis par P. Cabanes (25-27 October 1990) . Paris 1993, p. 135-149 .

Web links

Commons : The Beauty of Durrës  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Skënder Anamali: Fjalor enciklopedik shqiptar . Ed .: Akademia e Shkencave e RPSSH . Tirana 1985, keyword Mozaiku i Durrësit me portretin e një gruaje , p. 726 .
  2. ↑ a b c d Gëzim Kabashi: Cure “Bukuroshja e Durrësit” u njoh nga të gjithë. In: Lajme Durrës. February 18, 2014, accessed April 5, 2020 (Albanian).
  3. ↑ In 1982 Salzmann stated that it was still “ in situ ”. It can therefore be assumed that it was only excavated at the beginning of the 1980s.
  4. ↑ a b Praschniker (1920), col. 203.
  5. ↑ a b c d Praschniker (1920), col. 204.
  6. ↑ a b c d 50 Lekë përkujtimore Antikiteti Shqiptar (Bukuroshja e Durrësit). In: Banka e Shqipërisë . Retrieved April 5, 2020 (Albanian).
  7. ↑ a b c Christian Zindel, Andreas Lippert , Bashkim Lahi, Machiel Kiel : Albanien. An archeology and art guide from the Stone Age to the 19th century . Böhlau, Vienna 2018, ISBN 978-3-205-20723-8 , pp. 479 .
  8. ↑ Aristokracia e mozaikëve të Durrësit ( Memento of March 8, 2012 in the Internet Archive )
  9. ↑ Toçi (1965).
  10. ↑ Praschniker (1920), col. 204 with reference to Praschniker / Schober (1919), p. 32.
  11. ↑ Praschniker (1920), Col. 213 f.
  12. ↑ Praschniker (1920), Col. 213 f.
  13. ↑ a b c d e f Skënder Anamali, Stilian Adhami: Mosaiques de l'Albanie . 8 Nëntori, Tirana 1974, p. 4 (with photographs by Refik Veseli , the beauty from Durrës on p. 15).
  14. ↑ a b Salzmann (1982), catalog no.33.
  15. ↑ a b Afrim Hoti: Durrës Épidamnus - Dyrrhachion: guide . Cetis, Tirana 2006, ISBN 99927-801-3-4 , pp. 81 .
  16. ↑ a b c Guntram Koch : Albania. Art and culture in the land of the Skipetars (=  DuMont art travel guide ). DuMont, Cologne 1989, ISBN 3-7701-2079-5 , p. 126 .
  17. ↑ a b c Salzmann (1982), p. 79.
  18. ↑ a b Praschniker (1920), p. 205.
  19. ↑ a b Praschniker (1920), col. 206.
  20. ↑ a b c Apollon Baçe, Aleksandër Meksi , Emin Riza, Gjerak Karaiskaj, Pirro Thomo: Historia e Arkitekturës Shqiptare . Ed .: Instituti i Monumenteve të Kulturës. Tirana 1980, p. 87 f .
  21. ↑ Praschniker (1920), Col. 206 f.
  22. ^ Praschniker (1920), col. 207.
  23. ↑ a b Praschniker (1920), col. 207 f.
  24. ↑ a b c d e Salzmann (1982), p. 18.
  25. ↑ Salzmann (1982), p. 14.
  26. ↑ Praschniker (1920), Col. 205 f.
  27. ↑ The crater of the Loebbecke painter from the Apulian picture vases for a funeral ceremony in the Antikensammlung Berlin contains a representation that is very similar to that in Salzmann (plate 96, image 4) (barely recognizable on file: Lower Italian grave find of red-figure vases 6.jpg )
  28. ↑ Praschniker (1920), Col. 208 f.
  29. ↑ Praschniker (1920), col. 211.
  30. ↑ Representations of the mosaic of Olympia can be found in file: Architecture, classic and early Christian (1888) (14772756935) .jpg and file: Greece-0555 (2215146747) .jpg .
  31. ↑ Praschniker (1920), col. 211-213.
  32. ↑ a b Salzmann (1982), p. 28.
  33. ↑ Halil Myrto: Albania archeologica: bibliografia sistematica dei centri antichi (=  Temi i luoghi del mondo antico . I (A – D), no. 8 ). Edipuglia, Bari 1998, ISBN 88-7228-213-6 , pp. 98 .
  34. ↑ Famous pebble mosaic by Pella with a floral decoration
  35. ^ Katherine MD Dunbabin: Mosaics of the Greek and Roman World . Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 1999, ISBN 0-521-00230-3 , pp. 15 ( limited preview in Google Book search).
  36. ↑ Salzmann (1982), p. 29.
  37. ↑ Ferik Ferra: 4 shekuj para Krishtit . Naimi, Tirana, Albania 2011, ISBN 978-9928-10910-1 , pp. 64 (English).
  38. ^ Durres International Film Summerfest - Awards 2010 ( Memento from March 16, 2012 in the Internet Archive )
  39. ↑ Durres: Suedzët E Hap E Mbyll Kutitë, Në Festivalin E Dancit Modern. In: lajme.gen.al. May 13, 2010, accessed April 6, 2020 (Albanian).
  40. ↑ Bukuroshja e Durresit vjen përsëri nga artisti i mermerit Isa Shuaipi. In: AlbaniaPress.com. June 10, 2009, accessed April 6, 2020 (Albanian).