Riace bronzes

The Riace Bronzes
Year	460-450 BC
Type	Bronze sculptures
Location	Museo Nazionale della Magna Grecia, Reggio Calabria, Italy

The Riace bronzes (Italian: Bronzi di Riace, [ˈbrondzi di riˈaːtʃe]), also called the Riace Warriors, are two full-size Greek bronze statues of naked bearded warriors, cast about 460–450 BC^[1] that were found in the sea in 1972 near Riace, Calabria, in southern Italy. The bronzes are now in the Museo Nazionale della Magna Grecia in the nearby city of Reggio Calabria. They are two of the few surviving full-size ancient Greek bronzes (which were usually melted down in later times), and as such demonstrate the technical craftsmanship and artistic features that were achieved at this time.

The bronzes are now on display inside a microclimate room on top of an anti-seismic platform faced in Carrara marble. Along with the bronzes, the room also contains two head sculptures: Testa del Filosofo and Testa di Basilea, which are also from the 5th century BC.

Although the bronzes were discovered in 1972, they did not emerge from conservation until 1981. Their public display in Florence and Rome was the cultural event of that year in Italy, providing the cover story for numerous magazines. Now considered one of the symbols of Calabria, the bronzes were commemorated by a pair of Italian postage stamps and have also been widely reproduced.

The two bronze sculptures are simply known as “Statue A”, referring to the one portraying a younger warrior, and “Statue B”, indicating the more mature-looking of the two. Both sculptures were made using the lost wax casting technique.^[2]