Yemeni bronze statue visits the Louvre

The restored Yemeni king

An ancient Yemeni king has traveled to Paris, where he will be placed on a pedestal and admired by thousands. This king is an enormous bronze statue, believed to represent a 6th century B.C. Yemeni king. He has been invited to spend several months in the Louvre Museum in Paris, standing among the other antiquities in an Eastern Antiquity area, according to the Saba News Agency.  The statute, called Man of Bronze, belongs to the National Museum in Sana’a. It is some 65 centimeters tall and is very rare.

One of his hands is lifted and the second is low, and there is an ancient Yemeni inscription on his chest. The Louvre took the statue from Yemen last year, in order to restore it, after the museum signed a cooperation agreement with the Public Authority for Antiquities. The restoration process in the Louvre helped the statue shed its rust. It required a complex restoration process and a long treatment by means of high-tech implements.  Now, finally, the Louvre is introducing it to the public along with the Sabaean language inscriptions found on the chest of the statue.  The bronze will return to the National Museum in Sana’a next October.

Henri Loyrette, Director of the Louvre Museum, said that the statue was crafted with a distinctly Yemeni technology.
 “The old Yemenis were working in a distinct and special style. Their art differs from the methods of the Middle East,” he said. “The restoration of this statue is the first product of the agreement signed last year with the Public Authority for Yemeni Antiquities, and there are a lot of actions to come,” said Loyrette.

The inauguration ceremony was attended by the Yemeni Ambassador in Paris, Amir al-Aidroos; the French Ambassador in Sana’a, Gilles Gauthier; the Chairman of the General Authority for Antiquities, Dr. Abdullah Bawazier; and director of the National Museum in Sana’a, Abdul-Aziz al-Jandare. The oil company Total paid the restoration costs of the bronze.

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