Newsletters
Eighteen artifacts from Türkiye's Burdur Museum have gone on display at Copenhagen's Glyptotek Museum as part of "The Power of Fashion in the Roman Empire," an international exhibition examining how clothing, jewelry and hairstyles reflected identity, social status and power in the Roman world.
Culture and Tourism Minister Mehmet Nuri Ersoy announced the loans, saying the artifacts from Anatolia were being shown alongside works selected from some of the world's major museum collections.
"Anatolia's cultural heritage is being brought together with art lovers around the world," Ersoy said.
The exhibition, which opened on Oct. 1 and will run through March 29, 2027, brings together large-scale marble sculptures depicting members of the imperial family, Roman elites and people from different parts of the empire, while archaeological textiles, jewelry and footwear shed light on how individuals presented themselves in society.
The 18 works loaned from Burdur Museum are being displayed alongside the Glyptotek's Roman collection as well as artifacts selected from the British Museum, the National Museum of Denmark and the Thorvaldsens Museum.
According to Ersoy, the exhibition shows how clothing, jewelry and hairstyles functioned as visual markers of identity, social standing and authority during the Roman period.
He said Türkiye was pleased to bring Anatolia's rich history before an international audience and thanked those involved in putting the exhibition together.
By placing objects from Anatolia alongside material from other parts of the Roman world, the exhibition sets out to examine Roman-period cultural heritage through the relationship between clothing, identity and social status.
At the center of the exhibition are monumental marble sculptures, which are accompanied by surviving textiles, ornaments and footwear that reveal how personal appearance could be used to communicate position and identity.
The exhibition also connects ancient approaches to clothing and self-presentation with broader discussions about fashion, identity and visual representation, tracing the historical relationship between appearance and power.
The project comes amid a period of cultural cooperation that followed the return of the head of Septimius Severus, highlighting how restitution processes can develop into longer-term cooperation involving academic research, exhibitions, artifact loans and cultural exchange.
A peer-reviewed publication in Danish and English is also being prepared as part of the exhibition under the editorship of curator Cecilie Brons and museum editor Anna Manly.
Made up of 12 chapters contributed by international scholars, the publication will examine clothing and identity in Roman sculpture from different perspectives.
The exhibition program will also include educational activities, guided tours, lectures, interdisciplinary events and audio guides, as well as planned collaborations with fashion designers and media organizations.
Set as preferred source
Set as preferred source
1 min read
1 min read
