The exhibition has been organised by the President of the Italian Republic in honour of the state visit of the King Abdullah II and Queen Rania of Jordan. Sixty items will be on display in the 'Sale delle Bandiere' at the Palazzo del Quirinale and these will reflect the history of Jordan, from the Neolithic era to the end of the Ottoman empire.
Sixty ancient artworks from Jordan – some of them never before seen outside Petra and Amman - are going on display at Rome's Palazzo del Quirinale between 23 October and 31 January 2010. The star attraction at the exhibition is a statue found at the site of Ayn Ghazal near Amman dating from 7500 BC, one of the oldest surviving statues of its kind and size.
The exhibition has been organised by the President of the Italian Republic in honour of the state visit of the King Abdullah II and Queen Rania of Jordan.
Objects on display reflect the history of Jordan, from the Neolithic era to the end of the Ottoman empire.
Exhibits include a limestone bust of a male with a curly beard and hair wearing a pointed hat and a Roman-era pendent or cameo is also on display from the Jordan Archaeological Museum – this dates from the second or third centuries AD and is made of gold and gemstone.
The Quirinal Palace - in Italian Palazzo del Quirinale - is the official residence of the President of the Italian Republic. It stands on one of the tallest of Rome's seven hills - the Quirinal Hill. As well as being the presidential residence, the Quirinal Palace has also been home to popes and royalty in the past. It was built in 1573 by Pope Gregory XIII as a papal summer residence and then hosted papal conclaves four times between 1823 and 1846. The palace was then the headquarters of office for the Papal States until they were overthrown in 1970. When Rome became the capital of the new Kingdom of Italy in 1971, the palace became the royal residence. When the monarchy was disbanded in 1946, the Quirinal Palace then became the residence of the president. There are several works by famous architects at the palace – include Fontana's façade, Maderno's Great Chapel and the frescoes of Guido Reni and Melozzo da Forlì.
The Scuderie del Quirinale (Quirinal Stables, also called Papal Stables) was built from 1722 to 1732. The Scuderie, together with the Palazzo del Quirinale (Quirinal Palace – official residence of the President of the Italian Republic) and the Palazzo della Consulta (Constitutional Court – originally a villa built upon the ruins of the Baths of Constantine and adapted by Sixtus V as a civil and criminal court), make up a stunning urban space.
At the centre of the spacious piazza between these three buildings stands an obelisk – moved from the nearby Mausoleum of Augustus in the eighteenth century – on top of a fountain and the famous statues of the Dioscuri (the two gigantic Roman marble “Horse Tamers”, Castor and Pollux). The Scuderie stands next to the Colonna gardens and on top of the archeological remains of the great Roman Temple of Serapide – some of which are still visible. The building covers approximately 3,000 square meters, over several floors. Wide-open spaces on the second and third floors house exhibitions. A cafeteria is situated on the mezzanine level and a bookstore, a giftshop and special areas dedicated to exhibition-related initiatives are all on the ground floor.
