Locals in Shanghai now have a chance to have close contact with the origin of the mysterious gods of Olympus.

An exhibition of collections from the Acropolis Museum of Greece kicked off at Shanghai Museum on Wednesday, with the joyous rhythm of traditional Greek music played by Vassilis Xiros, Consul General of Greece in Shanghai, and a Malaysian musician, Kian.

Presenting only two collections, the exhibition is being held at the lobby of the museum. Yang Zhigang, director of the museum, said that this is the first time that the museum is using its lobby for an exhibition, hoping to bring new experiences to the audiences.

"Despite the small scale, the two collections represent the symbol of ancient Greek civilization," Yang said.

The collections, Statue of a Kore and Lekanis' lid depicting a Dionysian scene, were evacuated from the Acropolis, a complex of historic sites from ancient Greeks located in the center of Greece's capital Athens. In ancient times, the Greeks worshiped gods, especially their protector, Athena, on the Acropolis.

Kouroi and Korai, marble statues of boys and girls, are the first characteristic sculptures in Greek Archaic Period (6th century BC to the beginning of 5th century BC) which were initially dedications to the gods. As Athena is a goddess, Korai representing the images of girls became the most featured dedication.

Over 200 statues of Korai were brought to light during the archaeological evacuations in the Acropolis, making the Acropolis Museum the largest collectors of such sculptures in the world.

Active yet motionless

Standing 1.15 meters, the Kore exhibited in Shanghai was found in 1886. She has a young face with soft smile, walking with one hand lifting her dress and her long curly hair on her shoulders.

Korai have been interpreted as priestesses, goddesses or girls serving the goddess, but what exactly they represent is still unknown. Appearing active yet motionless at the same time, they represent the elegance and beauty of Athenian women.

Excelling at painting human figures on potteries using black dyes, in around 530 BC the Athenians invented a new pottery painting technique: the red-figure. They used a natural red color of the clay to present human figures and painted the background into black.

Lekanis' lid depicting a Dionysian scene exhibited in the museum was made by the red-figure technique in the second half of the 4th century BC. Found in 1956 in a household cistern dating back to the 2nd century BC, it is one of the most impressive exhibits of Acropolis Museum today.

A Lekanis is a shallow vessel with two handles used by women in the past to store their jewelry and cosmetics. The Lekanides were frequently given to newly-wed couple as gifts. The painting on the lid of a Lekanis is closely related with the worship of Dionysos, the god of fertility and wine in Greek mystery. The god, holding a scepter in his hand, is drinking wine and dancing with others.

Cultural cooperation and exchange

According to Yang, Shanghai Museum and Acropolis Museum issued a memorandum of cooperation in 2015. This exhibition is the first project of the cooperation. As an exchange, Acropolis Museum started exhibiting two Chinese collections provided by Shanghai Museum since October of 2017. Yang also released future exhibition plans of the museum on Wednesday.

In addition to those related to Chinese culture, such as Chinese lacquer art from different dynasties and the paintings and calligraphy works of Dong Qichang (1555-1636), an outstanding Chinese artist of the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), the museum will also exhibit artworks from other countries such as British landscape paintings of the 18th to 20th centuries and American artworks from 1865 to 1945.

Apart from that, the museum will also bring Chinese artworks including the ancient bronze wares,  incense culture and treasures of China's Ming Dynasty to the US, France and Russia respectively.

Yang said that he hopes such cooperation between Shanghai Museum and foreign cultural institutions will help foster further cultural exchanges between China and the world.