MOULDED IN THE ORIGINAL. THE BRONZE OF RIACE

Professors Ulrike Koch-Brinkmann and Vinzenz Brinkmann conducted a special experiment for the Liebieghaus Museum of Frankfurt. In collaboration with noted professor Settis and the superintendent of the Reggio Calabria Museum, Dr. Simonetta Bonomi, they produced a cast of one of the Riace bronze statues. The original is a work of the Ancient Greek Classical period, from the 5th century BC. In a foundry close to Stuttgart, Germany, they produced a cast of the original statue of the so-called “Riace warrior”, using a very vivid patina and colour finish, complete with eyes of opal and quartz and teeth of silver; the result was a fascinating copy, unveiled at the Fondazione Prada in Milan. The two bronze statues of the “Riace warriors” which were discovered at sea in 1972 hail from the Acropolis of Athens. Today they adorn the National Museum of Magna Graecia, in Reggio Calabria, Italy.