The Minister of Culture Lina Mendoni He paid an official visit to China, with the aim of expanding the cultural partnerships of the two spaces, but also to attend the inauguration of the “Daedalus, Legends of Crete-Daedalus: Myths of Crete”. The exhibition is organized by the Archaeological Museum of Heraklion, in collaboration with the Palace Museum of the forbidden city, in Beijing, on the occasion of the 100th anniversary celebration of the founding of the Chinese Museum.
According to a statement from the Ministry of Culture, Lina Mendoni held a meeting with GAO Xiang, president of the Chinese Academy of Social Studies (CAAS), which includes the Chinese School of Classical Studies in Athens and supervised by the Ministry of Culture. The start of the school’s activity was discussed, in the context of the provisions of the existing archaeological legislation, with a special reference to the first international conference organized by the School, on the study of the Homeric Eples, in the presence of the Secretary General of the Ministry of Culture George Teachou and the Vice -President of the Ministry of Culture. The Minister of Culture and the President of CAAS discussed the co -organization of a conference on the comparative study of the mythologies of the two countries, based on archaeological data, while discussing the possibility of translating literary works in Greek and Chinese, respectively.
In the same context, Lina Mendoni had a working meeting in Sian – the starting point of the ancient Silk Road – with the Deputy Governor of the province of Shaanxi Xu Mingfei, responsible for cultural and cultural heritage issues. In the jurisdiction of if. The ruler of Shaanxi also belongs to the Museum of the Mausoleum of Emperor Qinshihuang, with which the National Archaeological Museum collaborates. As part of this collaboration and with the support of the Tsinghua Heritage Institution of Digitalization, the digital exhibition “Parallel Space: Meet the Clay Army in Greece” was created. Xu Mingfei is set to visit Athens, within the current month for talks with the administration of the National Archaeological Museum, and to be informed about the methods of restoring the Acropolis monuments as optimal practice.
Lina Mendoni visited the Emperor Qinshihuang’s Mausoleum site Museum, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, known worldwide for finding the impressive clay army. The minister was informed about the history of the excavation, as well as the recent findings and proposed to An. Governor to organize the warrior exhibition in Athens, as it is one of the most important archaeological finds of mankind. Of particular interest was the reference, by the Chinese experts, to the elements of Greek style, which have been found in the clay statues, which highlights cultural interactions with Greece as early as the 3rd century BC.
In the archaeological site of Taiping, Lina Mendoni discussed with the director of the excavation Han Jianhua the possibility of scientific exchanges, experts in prehistoric archeology. As the excavation is being conducted by the Chinese Academy of Social Studies, the organization of scientific seminars was discussed as part of the school’s activity in Athens. The Taiping Heritage site was discovered in 2021 during a tank. It covers 2 million square meters and dates back to the Xiahang period, 4,150-3,700 years ago.
It is the largest archaeological site of this period found in northwest China, offering important elements for the study of early Chinese cultures. The Shaanxi Province Museum, which toured the Minister of Culture, hosts extremely interesting findings from the excavations in the area, which appears to have the most archaeological sites in China.