Riace Bronzes

The two warrior statues are the centerpiece of the Museo Nazionale della Magna Grecia in Reggio Calabria, southern Italy. They were housed in the museum after a multi-year restoration at the Central Institute for Restoration in Rome. The museum reopened for them in 1981 after structural work.

A Roman tourist diving off the coast of Riace Marina spotted an arm on the sandy seabed in August 1972. The find was recovered by Italian Carabinieri and the Superintendence. A nearby group of fragments indicates additional sculpture may remain in the bay.

Scholars have proposed various subjects, including the Athenian heroes Erechtheus and Theseus or Trojan warriors. Each holds a shield and spear; the lost weapons were likely separate metal attachments. The natural copper-inlaid teeth, silver eyelashes, and red copper lips indicate superb lost-wax casting.

Most large Greek bronzes were melted down in antiquity, so surviving large-scale bronzes from Classical Greece are extremely uncommon. The empty eye sockets of the Riace figures once held glass or stone inlays. Their preservation resulted from the Adriatic sea conditions that protected them for over two millennia.