From 30th October, 2017; 12.00 pm to 7th January, 2018. Travelling exhibition.
Vernissage: 30th October, 2017; 12.00 pm - National Museum in Szczecin - Museum of Regional Traditions, 29 Staromłyńska Street, Szczecin. Free entry.
The groundwork of the exhibition "Barbarian Tsunami" are the events of European history which shook the civilization of late antiquity between late 4th and early 6th centuries, during the Migration Period. It was a time of intense migrations of Barbarian tribes, which broke the borders of the Roman Empire, invading its territory, which was spread onto large areas of Europe and North Africa, and put the final blow to the existence of Western Roman Empire. The Barbarians often created their own kingdoms on these lands. Some of those peoples, mentioned by ancient written resources, originated from Oder and Vistula river basin, where they had been living since first centuries A.D. They played a vital role in the events related to the migrations of tribes and in shaping the new order in mediaeval Europe. The testimony to their presence in Polish territory and their contacts with other Barbarian societies and the Roman civilization are being discovered in various regions between the Baltic Sea and Carpathian Mountains. They often belong to the most spectacular archaeological findings in Poland and are landmarks of museum collections.
The choice of the most important relics from Oder and Vistula river basin, enriched by several findings from the areas of The Black Sea and France, is presented on common exhibition of the objects from the collections of several Polish museums. They are mainly objects originating from treasures and tombs containing elite equipment. They make it possible to illustrate the presence of various societies in the Polish lands and their participation in cultural exchange and transformations at the time of the Migration Period with the background of the events from before this period (3rd-4th centuries) and after it (6th-7th centuries).
The exhibition has been arranged by The National Museum in Szczecin and The University of Warsaw in cooperation with eleven museums. It is also an aftermath of a "Maestro” project financed by National Science Centre entitled The Migration Period between Oder and Vistula rivers (http://www.mpov.uw.edu.pl/), carried out at The University of Warsaw by Polish researchers in cooperation with their colleagues from other European countries.
The exhibition will be presented in twelve Polish museums between the end of October 2017 and March 2020. It is a combination of traditional exhibition, with the main role played by museum exhibits, and new technologies, dynamically and discreetly teaching about the epoch and its relics and about the results of research supporting the reconstruction of colonization history.
„[…] Of keenest warriors meeting, shall ye now many a wonder know” – the quotation from mediaeval epic "The Song of the Nibelung" shown in the introduction has not only to encourage us to visit the exhibition, but also to highlight that the lands in Oder and Vistula river basin were the scene of vital transitions at the verge of antiquity. The middle Oder river basin is where, before the migration, Burgundians had their seats, among whom the events depicted by the epic took place, and the events of the Migration Period are its historic basis.
Curator:
PhD Bartłomiej Rogalski
The exhibition arranged by The National Museum in Szczecin and The University of Warsaw.
Source: http://muzeum.szczecin.pl/
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