It had humble beginnings with early examples often simply featuring pebbles pressed into clay or plaster. It is an old art form that was popular in both ancient Greece and Rome. Mosaics are some of the best-preserved type of Roman art and examples have been found wherever the Romans conquered. It was the practice to introduce the finer aspects of Roman life to the Empire’s colonies and holdings, no matter their proximity to or distance from Rome, the center and métropole. The villa was built and the mosaics installed about a century after the city had been elevated to the status of Roman colony, likely reflecting a process of Romanization. Sitting as it did along several busy roads, Lod/Lydda/Diospolis was populated by residents and visitors of diverse backgrounds. Beyond a few mentions in rabbinical texts, however, there is little documentary evidence about the city itself, which was called Lydda in the ancient period and Diospolis by the Romans. Lod was probably in its prime during that epoch. The villa and mosaics date between the third and fourth centuries CE, which corresponds to the period of the Late Roman Empire. The “North Carpet” and “Vine Scroll Frieze” were excavated from a large Roman villa in central Israel. Installation shots: Photo courtesy of the Patricia & Phillip Frost Art Museum. 300 CE, excavated at Lod (Lydda), Israel, stone tesserae, Photo © Israel Antiquities Authority. Roman Mosaic from Lod, Israel (detail), Roman, c. I was amazed by their size, awed by the intricacy and detail, and overwhelmed by a sense of history and authenticity. Several things struck me the first time I stood before them. I had not seen the pieces in person until I walked into the gallery where they are displayed. I have read about the Lod mosaics and had, of course, looked at photographs. Until now the “Vine Scroll” has never left Israel. What makes the South Florida exhibition special is the addition of the “Vine Scroll,” a wide band, or frieze, which was part of the mosaic series unearthed in 1996. The Lod Mosaic exhibition at the FIU Patricia & Phillip Frost Art Museum includes a large carpet mosaic, the so-called “North Carpet,” which has previously visited the Louvre, the Metropolitan Museum, and the Hermitage, among others. Because of the fragility and rarity of pieces from ancient eras, they hardly ever leave their home institutions. Although my teaching touches on more recent artistic periods, it mainly focuses on Ancient Greek and Roman art, which are not as easy to find in the Miami area. As someone who teaches art history, I encourage my students to venture out and see art face-to-face, and, if they like modern or contemporary art or works from Latin America or the Caribbean, the opportunities for such interaction in South Florida are plentiful. Miami is an art city populated by museums and galleries both small and large. 300 CE, excavated at Lod (Lydda), Israel, stone tesserae. Now a shake-up threatens its image.Roman Mosaic from Lod, Israel, Roman, c. Xi remade China’s military to his liking.‘Parents should consider teaching kids Indian classical dance due to its multifaceted benefits’: Kathak exponent Dr Parul Purohit Vats.Netaji Subash Chandra Bose’s nephew, model Ardhendu Bose passes away in Mumbai.“Like a mosaic which brings many pieces together to be one wonderful picture … we are trying to bring all the local people - Jews and Arabs,” the museum’s project manager, Raanan Kislev, told The Associated Press. The museum is free for residents of Lod, a mixed Arab-Jewish city that saw bouts of sectarian violence in May 2021 during Israel’s war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip. The mosaics’ new home at the Shelby White and Leon Levy Mosaic Lod Archaeological Center features guided tours and interactive exhibits in Arabic, English and Hebrew. A series of well-preserved ancient Roman mosaics have returned home to the central Israel city of Lod after more than a decade touring the world’s most prominent museums. They went on display at museums around the globe, including New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Louvre Museum in Paris and The Hermitage in St. Archaeologists believe the mosaics adorned an affluent villa in the 3rd or 4th centuries, after Lod was rebuilt as the Roman city of Diospolis.īut for more than a decade, while Israeli authorities raised funds for a museum, the mosaics had no permanent home. The mosaics feature a menagerie of animals, from fish and fowl to beasts that would have been exotic to ancient residents of Lod: an African elephant, rhinoceros and giraffe. The collection stretches 17 meters by nine meters (56 feet by 30 feet).
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