A Yemeni statue’s journey to Paris

The museum staff handle the statue with great care.

A bronze statue that was a gift from ancient Yemeni King Hawthar Athat to the moon god Almaqah recently traveled to Paris to receive intensive care.  Abdul-Aziz al-Jendari, the curator of the National Museum of Sana’a, visited Paris last week with a team to attend the fete held to celebrate the restoration of this unique bronze statue by the Louvre Museum in France. The Yemen Observer met him after he returned from Paris, and sat down to talk with him about his trip.   

YO: How was it that the Louvre Museum offered to repair the bronze statue?  
Abdul-Aziz al-Jendari: As part of the cultural cooperation between the Republic of Yemen and France, an agreement was signed for five years of cooperation between the National Museum in Yemen and the Louvre Museum in France.  The agreement was signed on December 8, 2006, to strengthen the relationship between the two museums, exchange services, train and rehabilitate the National Museum workers, exchange the temporary exhibitions, and to recover, renovate, and show some of the important Yemeni archeological pieces. As part of this cooperation agreement, the Louvre offered its readiness to maintain and repair this bronze statue that represents the 6th century B.C.  

YO: Where is the statute being exhibited?
AJ: The statue is on display in one of the Eastern Antiquities halls at the Louvre Museum, and will stay for six months. It is presented to the Louvre visitors from all over the world as one of the prominent Yemeni personalities.  The Louvre prepared a special celebration to display the statue on May 15. The party was attended by Henri Loyrette, director of the Louvre Museum; Dr. Abdullah Ba Wazeer, head of the General Authority for Heritages; Gilles Gauthier, French Ambassador to Yemen; and Francoise Demange, director of  department of Eastern Antiquities in the Louvre Museum. They all showed their happiness for the cultural cooperation.  

YO: Did Yemen participate in the process of repairing the statue? 
AJ: Fahmi Mukared, director of the restoration and maintenance department in the National Museum, and Hanan al-Dali, the deputy, have participated in the repair process, for which they stayed in Paris for 25 days. The aim of this experience is to improve their restoration knowledge in addition to involving Yemen in the process. Their participation proved that they have advanced and improved levels. It was not only training, but participation too. 

Have visited the louvre during year. In six months, I can expect about four million visitors to see the Yemeni antiquities in this current exhibition.

YO: How long did it take to finish working on it?
AJ: The repair of the statue took about five months, from when they started working on it to the day it arrived. The statue left Yemen on December 18, 2006. The process was done according to the newest and modern techniques either mechanical or by hands.  

YO: Tell us about the history of the statue? 
AJ: The most important thing in repairing the statue was that it disclosed the original history of it. It was found that the statue is from the 6th century B.C. We knew this through another similar statue found in Marib from the same period but smaller in size.   The restoration process found 12 lines written in the Mosnad writing. The lines disclosed the owner of the statue and the place it came from. The owner of the statue is the ancient Yemeni King Hawthar Athar, whose name was written on it. He presented the statue as a gift to the moon god named Almaqah. The king is from Nashaq, known as al-Baidha in al-Jawf.  The process also disclosed that the statue is made with a special technique from that time. There are only five statues of its size made with this technique in the entire whole world.   

YO: How did the National Museum get the statue? 
AJ: The statue was among a collection owned by a well-known Yemeni person. He sold this statue and other archeological pieces to the National Museum for YR 5 million, according to orders from the president. The king was kept in the store of the National Museum. A commission from the Louvre then came to Yemen, headed by Francoise Demange, director of department of Eastern Antiquities in the Louvre Museum. During their visit, the National Museum showed them the statue, which was nominated to be repaired by the Louvre. Immediately, she showed the Louvre’s readiness to repair it. She was so excited and anxious to repair it.  

YO: How much care did the statue need?
AJ: The process included strengthening the external body of the thin metal and the scorched mud stuffing, which is a unique technique that could not be found in other bronze statues.   The Louvre finished working on the statues on May 10, and it is invited to spend several months in the Louvre Museum in Paris and to participate in an exhibition starting May 15, that will continue until October 15.  

The restoration required for the bronze statue was extensive.

YO: Will the statue be returned to Yemen?
AJ: The statue will be returned to Yemen, because it belongs to the National Museum.  It will be shown in the king Dhamir Alay hall with the Dhamir Alay bronze statue and the bronze cauldron. There is a collection of Marmaris inscriptions, which will be replaced with this bronze statue, to have a hall specialized for bronze pieces.  There is also a huge annotations card that will cover part of the hall wall. The card will describe the process of repairing the statue, the history of the statue, the lines written on the statue’s chest, with a translation in French, and some comparisons with other Yemeni statues of the same historical period. We asked the Louvre to translate the card into Arabic too.    

YO: Are there any problems with displaying the statue?
AJ: There were some problems with the standing of the statue. It must be shown lying down, due to the thinness of the bronze metal and the broken legs. So, it had to be shown lying on its back. A special base was designed to show it this way.  

YO: How do you evaluate the special care the statue received in the Louvre?
AJ: I can say that the bronze statue is a lucky one, because it received the interest of the Louvre, so that it could leave the National Museum and go to Paris to receive intensive care. Amisr al-Aidarous, Yemeni ambassador to France, told me that the statue received a special attention in the process of repair more than a sick person would receive were he to enter the intensive care unit in any hospital in France.   It is a great gain for Yemen to cooperate with the Louvre Museum, as it is an international museum. When Yemen participates with archeological pieces in such museums, then we can say that it is one of the most important ways to promote Yemeni tourism.  I expect that millions of visitors have seen the statue. The last year’s statistics of the Louvre showed that 8 million visitors have visited the Louvre during year. In six months, I can expect about four million visitors to see the Yemeni antiquities in this current exhibition.  

YO: Tell us about the statue’s size? 
AJ: The statue is one meter and 65 centimeters tall and is very rare. It weighed about 100 kilograms before it was restored It is now weighs 90 kilograms. It was suffering from bronze disease, which is a green layer usually affecting metal and bronze statues.         

YO: Give us a brief conclusion or recommendation that you came up with from this experience. 
AJ: I highly recommended such temporary exhibitions in universal museums and exhibitions like the Louvre Museum and the British Museum to introduce Yemeni Civilization to the world, and to make people know more about other civilizations. Yemen has participated in many mobile exhibitions, like the one started in the Arab World Institution 1997 and continued until 2005. This exhibition visited many European countries, including Austria, Germany, Italy, and Spain. The European audience learned a lot about Yemen and Yemeni civilization through this exhibition.  The European Commission came to visit the National Museum during their trip in Yemen. One of them told me that she wanted to see Yemen after she saw the Yemeni exhibition in Austria. 

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