Osijek, Archaeological Museum of Osijek, February – April 2008
Rijeka, Maritime and History Museum of the Croatian Littoral, April – June 2008
Split, Ethnographic Museum, July – December 2008
Prior to being permanently placed in its own museum, the ancient bronze statue of the Croatian Apoxyomenos was shown in three towns: Osijek, Rijeka and Split, to draw the publics’ attention to this valuable and unique archaeological find.
Alongside the Apoxyomenos statue, the exhibition presented botanical material from inside the statue and featured posters in Croatian and English. The posters detailed the entire project starting from how the statue was discovered and raised from the sea, archaeological research on the site, conservation-restoration with all accompanying research and documentation, casting technique, botanical material, research and dating, along with art historical research of similar sculptures and Mediterranean sea routes in the Antiquity. A film produced by the Croatian Radiotelevision as part of its Croatian cultural heritage series was also shown. The exhibition also featured lectures on his exceptional find.
Croatian Conservation Institute carried out the Croatian Apoxyomenos project with broad-branched cooperation and through the support of the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Croatia. It was acknowledged as a significant contribution by a joint jury of the European Commission and Europa Nostra. Among 158 project applications from 32 countries, the Croatian Apoxyomenos project was awarded the European Union Prize for Cultural Heritage and Europa Nostra in the category “Conservation of Works of Art”. The Croatian award for special achievement in the field of cultural heritage protection – “Vicko Andrić” for 2006 was awarded to the project coordinator Miljenko Domijan, chief conservator of the Ministry of Culture, conservators-restorers Giuliano Tordi and Antonio Šerbetić and conservator art historian Iskra Karniš Vidovič.