Statues of worshippers dressed in typical Sumerian costumes and in prayer poses.
From the second half of 2019, the China Cultural Relics Exchange Center began to communicate closely with the General Administration of Syrian Cultural Relics and Museums to coordinate the exhibition of Syrian ancient cultural relics in China. The final selected exhibits came from nine Syrian museums, including the Damascus National Museum, the Aleppo Museum, and the Deir Ezzor Museum.
In May 2021, Syrian exhibits are boxed at the Damascus National Museum and ready to travel to China.
In June 2022, the staff of the China Cultural Relics Exchange Center set up an exhibition at the Beijing exhibition site.
The Chinese is a hedgehog-shaped wine container. It can be seen that symbolic pottery of the shape of birds and other shapes is not used in daily life, but for sacrificial ceremonies.
The cultural heritage of Syria during the Roman period, with the first example of architecture and sculpture. Portrait sculpture has a variety of themes, ranging from kings and nobles to ordinary commoners, reflecting the emphasis of Roman sculpture on realism and story, good at portraying the characteristics of the original appearance of characters, and is one of the artistic representatives of ancient Syria.
The picture shows a tomb sculpture found at the site of the ancient city of Palmyra.
"Mesopotamia" in Greek means the middle of two rivers, that is, two river basins, roughly including present-day Syria, Iraq, Kuwait, Jordan, western Iran, northeast Saudi Arabia and other places.
From 5000 BC to 300 BC, Sumerians, Babylonians, Assyrians, Chaldeans, Persians, etc. were born successively, forming a great fusion of various cultures. The region created a splendid civilization, including the invention of the lunar calendar, cuneiform scripts, methods of calculating weight and length, the construction of the world's first arched buildings, the introduction of the world's first code of law, the Code of Hammurabi, and the amazing craftsmanship of pottery, bronze, iron and so on.
With the development of modern archaeological technology, ancient city walls and related cultural relics have reappeared.
The portrait of two Assyrian officials is one of the few Assyrian frescoes that have survived to this day.
(Source: China Cultural Relics Exchange Center)
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Among the 196 exhibits/groups, 3 were provided by the Chinese side, which together showed the close exchanges between different civilizations. The Great Qin Jingjiao Popular Chinese Stele is engraved in ancient Syriac and is an important physical material for studying the spread of Jingjiao in China during the Tang Dynasty and the cultural exchanges at that time.
The picture shows the rubbing (partial) of the "Great Qin Jingjiao Popular Chinese Stele".
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The blue-green glazed pottery bowl from Syria, similar in color to the color of the sky, has been found by experts to be the result of an improvement in its ceramic billets that may have been the result of imitating Chinese porcelain-making techniques. Although the ceramic techniques of the region were not yet up to the level of Chinese porcelain-making technology at that time, during the Abbasid dynasty, this glazed pottery was already mass-produced in northern Syria.
(Courtesy of this edition: China Cultural Relics Exchange Center)
Located at the "crossroads" of the three continents of Asia, Africa and Europe, Syria is home to more than 3,500 monuments, like a vast museum exposed under the blue sky. The dawn of civilization in the Two Rivers Valley, the Hellenistic trend and other cultures exchange and merge here, leaving this land with ancient cuneiform scripts, many magnificent monuments, diverse artistic styles, as well as world-famous astronomical astrology, mathematical methods, literary epics...
A few days ago, the "Encounter mesopotamia - Syrian Ancient Cultural Relics Exhibition" jointly sponsored by the China Cultural Relics Exchange Center and the National Library came to Beijing and was launched at the National Museum of Classics, which is the first large-scale exhibition of Syrian cultural relics in Beijing.
Presenting a cultural picture of 500,000 years
Cultural relics are silent, but the civilization they carry is colorful.
The serpentine chlorite jar that embodies the "cross-cultural" style, the rolling seal of the material relics of the Two Rivers Valley, the sheep's head lion Sphinx carved from Egyptian mythology... The exquisite cultural relics on display not only let the audience feel the brilliance and thickness of Syria's historical civilization, but also make people lament that years of suffering cannot detract from its brilliant light.
Step into the exhibition hall and follow the timeline into Syria's "ancient yesterday". Divided into five units: "Dawn", "Change", "Hegemony", "Integration" and "Dialogue", the exhibition spans syria's Stone Age, Bronze Age, Iron Age, and Greek, Roman and Islamic eras, depicting a cultural picture of 500,000 years and showing a magnificent historical picture.
Qi Yu, curator of the China Cultural Relics Exchange Center, told this reporter that in addition to the fifth unit of "dialogue" aimed at showing the friendly exchanges between China and Syria, the cultural relics of the other four units are all based on time clues to show the historical civilization process of Syria. "In curating, we hope that the cultural relics of each unit can reflect the characteristics of the times, for example, the Paleolithic era selected cultural relics that highlight the gradual mastery of stone tools by humans and the presentation of the hunter-gatherer lifestyle, and in the Bronze Age, people began to use metal raw materials to make ornaments, labor production tools and living utensils, so we chose lapis necklaces, perforated bronze axes, roll prints, cuneiform clay tablets and other cultural relics ..."
In front of a necklace unearthed at the site of Ebla, many viewers admired its exquisite craftsmanship. The necklace consists of a thin chain and two acorn-like pendants, made of crystal and stone, and the thin chains are interwoven with small gold rings; In front of the hedgehog-shaped wine container from the Aleppo Museum, the audience stops to admire, understand its function, and capture the cultural information in it; In front of the Ugalit clay tablet, the viewer is speculating about the information it records; In front of the square glazed bricks with blue background and black pattern as decoration, the audience admires the Persian plastic art... As one viewer put it: "Previously with little knowledge of Syrian civilization, the exhibition offers an opportunity to empathize with it." This is the first time I have seen ancient Syrian artifacts and have a personal feeling for the long-standing Syrian civilization. ”
From the hand axe, a typical representative of the Ashel culture, to the pottery balls used for the record of the storage accounts, from the cuneiform clay tablets mentioning the number of cows and birds in agricultural distribution to the Assyrian frescoes, from Hellenistic coins to pottery statues of musicians... The exhibits that have left different marks on the course of time show the splendid civilization that the land of Syria has nurtured at different times and the resulting rich, diverse and open culture.
Preparations have been in place since 3 years ago
The large-scale exhibition of ancient Syrian cultural relics in China has been in preparation since 3 years ago.
In May 2019, the "GreatEr America, Asia AndIa - Asian Civilization Exhibition" co-hosted by the National Museum of China and the China Cultural Relics Exchange Center was launched at the National Museum of China, telling the stories of civilizations of various countries and presenting the beauty of civilizations of various countries, and the response was very good. This exhibition has built an important platform for Asian countries to exchange, display, communicate and understand each other, and expanded the diversified channels for dialogue among Asian civilizations. At that time, 37 cultural relics from Syria were unveiled, and that was the first time that Syrian cultural relics were exhibited in China.
Feng Xue, deputy director of the International Liaison Office of the China Cultural Relics Exchange Center, still remembers the shock he received at that time, "The 37 cultural relics were very stunning. But at the same time, in the process of holding this exhibition, we found that people do not know much about Syrian civilization. The Asian Civilization Exhibition is an opportunity for us to gain a preliminary understanding of Syrian civilization."
In this context, in order to promote mutual learning among civilizations, the China Cultural Relics Exchange Center has the idea of exhibiting Syria's ancient cultural relics in China on a large scale. "Located in the western part of the Asian continent, Syria's cultural diversity, due to its important geographical location, composes a magnificent epic, and its antiquity and splendor are awe-inspiring. Despite the changes of the times, Syria's rich cultural heritage is still breathtaking today. We hope to present the complete history of the development of Syrian civilization to the audience through the exhibition, and share with the audience the artistic masterpieces and classics inherited by architects and sculptors of different periods and civilizations in Syria. Feng Xue said.
After the idea was finalized, in the second half of 2019, the China Cultural Relics Exchange Center began to contact the General Administration of Syrian Cultural Relics and Museums to coordinate the exhibition of ancient Syrian cultural relics in China. "In the process of cooperation, we received very positive feedback from the Syrian side, and the cultural relics selected for the final tour exhibition in China are very precious." In Feng Xue's view, in addition to the background of Sino-Syrian friendship, one of the reasons is that the Syrian side believes that China is very safe, and the exhibition conditions of the museum are also very good.
According to Tan Ping, director of the China Cultural Relics Exchange Center, the final exhibits of 196 pieces/groups of exhibits came from damascus National Museum, Aleppo Museum, Deir Ezzor Museum, Jappol Museum, Latakia Museum, Holmes Museum, Tartus Museum, Della Museum and Sveda Museum, 9 Syrian museums and 3 museums in China, and domestic exhibits include the "Great Qin Jingjiao Popular Chinese Monument" rubbings of the Forest of Stone Steles Museum in Xi'an, and the carved stone stele of the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region Museum. Dunhuang Research Institute's Syriac copy of the Bible and Psalms, etc. "It aims to showcase the cultural exchanges and trade exchanges between China and Syria in history, and to show the traditional friendship between China and countries along the 'Belt and Road'." Tan Ping said.
China and Syria have made joint efforts
Before finalizing the exhibits, there is an important task - to complete the planning draft and outline the context of the exhibition.
According to Qi Yu, from the second half of 2019, the planning draft was revised nearly 10 drafts, and it was not until the first half of 2020 that it was finally completed. "The next step is to select the exhibits according to the planning outline, which is a relatively long process. In order to achieve the best presentation, it is necessary to negotiate repeatedly and constantly adjust. ”
The road to the exhibition of ancient Syrian cultural relics in China can also be described as a series of twists and turns. After the selection of exhibits, how to transport cultural relics from Syria to China is another difficult problem. After the unremitting efforts of the Staff of both Sides, the cultural relics arrived in China at the end of June 2021 and went to Shenzhen in July. Originally, according to the original plan, the first stop of the tour in Shenzhen was held in June, but it was postponed to the beginning of August.
According to the touring exhibition order, the "'Narrative' Writing Legend - Syrian Ancient Cultural Relics Exhibition" was exhibited at the Nanshan Museum in Shenzhen from August 4 to November 7 last year, and the "Kaleidoscope of Civilization - Syrian Ancient Cultural Relics Exhibition" was exhibited at the Chengdu Jinsha Site Museum from December 30 last year to May 8 this year. The "Encounter Mesopotamia - Syrian Ancient Cultural Relics Exhibition", which is currently on display in Beijing, is the third stop of the Syrian Ancient Cultural Relics Theme Exhibition in China.
From the beginning of contact to the finalization of the exhibition, Qi Yu and the Syrian side repeatedly communicated by email. "After the launch, I saw the audience consciously queuing up in order to view the exhibition in chronological order of the exhibition, and noticed that the audience carefully read the text on the exhibition board and the introduction of the exhibits, and at that moment, I felt that everyone's previous hard work was worth it." Qi Yu said.
At the exhibition site, a female audience member opened her mobile phone and connected with her daughter on the other end of the phone to describe for the little girl: "This is the stone sculpture of the sun god Helios, this is an Assyrian relief, this is an ancient Greek copper coin"; A silver-haired grandmother photographed every exhibit in the exhibition, every word on the panel... When the reporter relayed these scenes to Qi Yu, her voice on the other end of the phone suddenly became higher, "Wow! It was so touching."
Promote exchanges and mutual learning among civilizations
Standing at the "crossroads of civilization" in Syria, you can not only appreciate the colorful colors that diverse human civilization has given to the world, but also feel the friendly chapter written by the people of all countries on the ancient "Silk Road". It is also the interaction and integration between different civilizations that has finally become a powerful driving force for the common development of world civilizations.
Syrian Minister of Culture Lubana Mshawe said that the "Silk Road", known by the ancient Assyrians as the "Semiramis Road", it takes China as a starting point, through mountains and seas, deserts, plains, valleys, connecting thousands of towns, establishing links with India, Persia and other places in Mesopotamia, and then through the land of Syria, all the way to Europe and the Maghreb region. This road has made the Syrian people and the Chinese people know and intersect, established a bridge for cultural exchanges, and influenced each other with customs, beliefs, and lifestyles.
The "Dialogue" section of this exhibition shows the friendly exchanges between China and Syria.
According to Tan Ping, Chinese history books have successively referred to the countries established in ancient Syria as "Tiaozhi", "Great Qin", "Great Food" and so on. The "Silk Road" also connects Syria and China, and the two places have always been in constant exchanges, trade and cultures, and have continued to this day, which has had an important impact on the development of their respective civilizations.
For example, the rubbings of the "Great Qin Jingjiao Popular Chinese Stele" in this exhibition record the jingjiao doctrines and rituals that originated in ancient Syria, and in addition to the Chinese characters on the stele, the first and last two lines are engraved in ancient Syriac. The stele is an important physical material for studying the history of Jingjiao and its spread in China's Tang Dynasty, as well as cultural exchanges and friendly exchanges between ancient China and Syria. Tan Ping said.
The Syriac Bible and Psalms, unearthed in the Mogao Caves of Dunhuang, Gansu Province, have 15 lines of Syriac on each page from right to left, providing original materials for studying the rituals of Jingjiao. This exhibition features reproductions of it.
In addition, Syria's Palmyra, Dura Europa and other places served as relay stations and watersheds of the "Silk Road", extending the Silk Road trade to Europe to the northwest and egypt to the southwest.
In this exhibition, the exhibit "Silk Fabric" from the National Museum of Damascus was found in a tomb in Palmyra, possibly imported from China; Also from the National Museum of Damascus, the Abbasid period exhibits blue-green glazed pottery bowls, similar in color to the color of the sky, experts have found that the improvement of their pottery blanks may be the result of imitating Chinese porcelain-making techniques.
Relevant experts said that the series of traveling exhibitions of Syria's ancient cultural relics has injected new vitality and new content into the cultural exchanges between the two ancient civilizations of China and Syria, provided a new platform for people-to-people exchanges to promote exchanges and mutual learning and mutual enlightenment between the civilizations of China and Syria, and also allowed Chinese audiences to feel the characteristics of Asian cultural proximity, cultural affinity, harmony and harmony from different angles.