Roman Art from the Louvre

From September, 2007, through the first week of January, 2008, the Indianapolis Museum of Art hosted an extraordinary exhibit, Roman Art from the Louvre. Nearly one hundred fifty pieces of ancient Roman sculpture, pottery, mosaics, metalwork, and jewelry dating over two thousand years into the past were on loan from the French museum.

During their first week back at school, our students had the opportunity to see these precious antiquities. The previous day Miss Sandra and helped them make mosaics, and the day of the trip Steve Perkins, one of our fathers and board members, talked with them about what they would see. Miss Melissa had also read with them again the story from Luke 2 about the Emperor Augustus and the census that caused Mary and Joseph to go to Bethlehem.

When our students arrived, the first thing they saw was a bust of Augustus dating to 27 B.C., some two thousand thirty-four years old. To put it in another perspective, this is more than 400 times as old as some of our pre-K students!

What was most impressive were the questions our students asked. One girl wondered why most of the busts were white, but another looked blue (answer: it was made of basanite, the others of marble). Another asked why part of a statue's head was missing (answer: it had been damaged over time). All in all it was an exciting and once-in-a-lifetime educational experience. To see some pictures from our trip, visit http://www.vitanovaindy.org/up_close.html.