Alexander the Great brought to life in Sydney

The rich and beautiful world of an ancient hero lives on writes Marcus Megalokonomos

Having clocked up an incredible 29,000 kilometres in his lifetime, Alexander the Great is still travelling and now looks certain to conquer Sydney. The largest exhibition ever to be seen in Australia, Alexander the Great: 2000 years of treasures opens to the public at the Australia Museum today. Direct from the world famous State Hermitage in St Petersburg, the exhibition promises to be the most exciting and prestigious classical culture exhibition ever to be hosted by the Australian Museum.

A figure who captured people’s imagination in the past and still does, Alexander the Great – king, commander, warrior, politician, scholar, explorer – single-handedly changed the nature of the ancient world in little more than a decade. And here at the Australian Museum we can share his world and all its glory. “This exhibition tells the story of Alexander and his conquests and his lingering influence which has lasted 2000 years to now – it’s Hellenistic, aesthetic, right through the Renaissance, 17th 18th and 19th centuries across Europe and right up to now having seen movies made about him,” says Frank Howarth, director of the Australian Museum.

Alexander’s story has never lost that special place in the hearts and minds of history lovers all over the world and now with the winning bid over countries including Canada, Greece and Italy, the exhibition is set to be exclusively shared with Australia. “The only place outside of St Petersburg that the collection has travelled to is its branch in Amsterdam, and we are privileged to be the first non-Hermitage museum to show this incredible exhibition, Howarth says. According to Howarth, the exhibition is a combination of a number of things all depicting the complexity of the man who was Alexander the Great.

“He had a rock star persona. It was a number of European, female leaders like Catherine the Great who had a fascination in Alexander whereas the Napoleons of the world admired his military genius, power and ability to hold up to 100,000 wildly diverse people together and go right through what was ancient Greece and ancient Macedon to the borders of India.

He was the first leader to use paid soldiers from other cultures and was a person who once he invaded a place, made first attempt to work with the locals,” Howarth says. Not just simply the story of the iconic leader, he hopes the exhibition will also mark the beginning of a long and wonderful partnership with the Hermitage. “This is the biggest collection that has ever come to Australia from the State Hermitage and reflects a vote of confidence that we can look after and share material that tells an incredible story… and it allows the State Hermitage to literally take their contents and share it with the farthest corners of the globe.”

Elizabeth Cowell is the exhibition project manager at the Australian Museum. She has previously worked on the Egyptian exhibition and projects from Italy featuring the excavations in Pompeii. But it is the current exhibition which holds a special excitement for her. “It’s absolutely fantastic, we are really blessed and privileged to have this opportunity to bring these artefacts to Australia,” she beams. According to Cowell, the success of the Australian bid was largely due to our multiculturalism.

“We were granted this because Alexander was a multicultural person and he believed in spreading culture. Our democracy and a lot of our politics, the polis – the city- it’s all part of Greek influence and we thank Alexander for spreading that influence throughout the world.”

The exhibition includes over 400 priceless objects and works of art about Alexander the Great and life during his time (356-323 BC), including artefacts from classical antiquity through to the modern age, from both Western and Non-Western origins, spanning a period of almost 2500 years. Catherine the Great, 18th century Empress of Russia and founder of the State Hermitage in St Petersburg was fascinated with Alexander. She began this collection of treasures relating to him which is internationally recognised as being unsurpassed in terms of its breadth.

Within two years of ascending the Russian throne, Catherine the Great made her first significant purchase of artworks, which would grow into one of the richest and most extraordinary museums in the world housing more than three million objects of the world culture. Dr Svetlana Adaksina the deputy director and chief curator of the State Hermitage is not surprised that Alexander’s influence is still felt after 2000 years. “Alexander’s period is an amazing era in the development of civilization, the time that his dreaming became reality… as a 23 year old boy he began his conquests, he worked and travelled… he got the name ‘Great’ and proved that he was,” she says.

In her role at the State Hermitage which has six directors and a staff of 2500 people, Dr Adaksina oversees the care of more than three million items housed there. Believing that every object has its own life, Dr Adaksina says she hopes the exhibition will not just be about education but rather offer a complete experience for the visitor. “The exhibition tells the story of the myths we know about him through history and art and influence on the world. I hope Greek Australian and the non Greek Australians can feel the dream come alive, especially for children, because Alexander was the figure who believed everything was possible and showed that in his actions,” she says passionately.

Recognising that perceptions differ, the exhibition features a variety of learning experiences in a bid to connect with all ages. With this in mind, Dr Adaksina and her team creatively tailored the exhibition to be accessible and relevant to all ages and walks of life. “Children are an important part of the visitorship of this exhibition and they don’t just care that Alexander the Great was the conqueror of the world… they have to be interested in the viewing experience and it has been done well here for the show,” she explains.

Technology plays an integral role in the exhibition. Multimedia touch screens and iPads can be used to show objects such as coins and cameos in more detail, providing a deeper level of learning and understanding to the information displayed on exhibit’s labels. “We have a wonderful ‘Pack ‘n Plunder’ story which is a game for kids 8-12, with ability to download to phones, iPads or laptops… the story allows the person to help Alexander pack his bag for his journey and take the journey together,” says Elizabeth Cowell.

Touch screens also enable the visitor to engage with important aspects of the battles and the tactical strategies used by Alexander the Great as well as provide a unique medium for visitors’ exploration of the logistics of supporting an army in excess of 100,000 men. The exhibition narrative is guided by the voice of the ancient historians, encapsulating the epic stories of Alexander that have been told and re-told in later centuries. The narrative is divided into six main themes beginning with the Myth of Alexander featuring stunning engravings of his heroic deeds from the 17th century. The narrative then moves on to Alexander’s background, his native Macedonia, his teachers, his heroes, Achilles and Heracles, and his ideals. One of the highlights of the exhibition is the very impressive statue of Dionysus, 2nd CE.

The central area to the exhibition features Alexander’s Eastern Campaign, an unparalleled journey of conquest lasting over ten years. Objects from Egypt and Persia, from the nomads and the Babylonians, evidence of the rich cultures that he encountered along the way. Two key objects in this section are the Gonzaga Cameo – the portrait of Ptolemy II Philadelphus and Arsinoe II, and the large basalt statue of Cleopatra VII. Alexander’s conquests and city building laid the foundation for the spread of Hellenistic culture and ideas from the 4th century BCE to the first few centuries CE and is reflected in the common language of Hellenistic, art and architecture, religion, government and economics and in the spread of luxury items and trade.

The appealing terracotta figurines depicting men and women, gods and satyrs, musicians and Eros, and stone fragments of architecture testify to the artistic wealth that characterised the Hellenistic territories. Hellenism laid the ground work for the Roman Empire and the spread of Christianity and this is revealed in the display of imposing funerary reliefs from Palmyra, the delicate textiles from Coptic Egypt and the silver and bronze ware from the Byzantine period. The final section of the exhibition brings alive the myths and legends about Alexander in both the East and West from the 12th century to the modern age. In the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, Alexander played a prominent role in Persian literature, in which he is known as Iskander.

He is recognisable in finely executed miniatures and in particular in this exhibition, where he is seen with the dying Darius. As impressive as the travels of Alexander the Great so wonderfully depicted in the exhibition, so is the team involved in managing the enormous scale of the project which required the accompaniment of 23 curators from Russia. “The logistics of bringing it all here were massive. It took a year to get the contract signed, there were three shipments, two passenger planes and a big freighter… one courier took five days to bring a big freighter in and there were 15-20 crates in each load… they were spread in order to spread the risk.

“I think Greek Australians can be so proud. Their heritage is all around them and can be proud they had such an incredible leader that influenced art, architecture and many other things around the world. I think they will come here and feel very privileged for this heritage connection.”

The exhibition will run until April 28 next year and is subject to timed entry in order to cope with the anticipated crowds. For more information visit www.alexandersydney.com.au