Exhibition dedicated to Romania's historical heritage - presented in Belgium, at Europalia Festival

An exhibition dedicated to Romania's historical heritage, which brings together hundreds of artifacts and sets of ancient pieces discovered on our country's territory, presented as a convergence space of the Scythian, Greek, Celtic, Dacian, Getae, and Roman civilizations will be opened at the Gallo-Roman Museum in Tongeren (Belgium), from October 19, 2019 - April 26, 2020, during the Europalia Festival.

According to a statement from the National History Museum of Romania (MNIR) sent to AGERPRES, the exhibition, titled "Dacia Felix. Romania's Glorious Past", will be opened on Friday, from 19:30 hrs, in the presence of the Interim Chairman of the Romanian Cultural Institute, Mirel Talos, of the mayor of Tongeren, Patrick Dewael, of the Director General of Europalia International, Koen Clement, of the director of the MNIR, Ernest Oberlander-Tarnoveanu, of the director of ICR Brussels, Liliana Turoiu, and of the director of the Gallo-Roman Museum in Tongeren, Bart Distelman.

The exhibition features 298 artifacts and sets of ancient pieces, both older objects and archaeological research, as well as artifacts discovered in the last two decades. Selected and located according to a concept of the Gallo-Roman Museum in Tongeren, the exhibits come from the MNIR and from 18 other museums in the country, which contributed to the realization of this large project.

For more than six months, the visitors of the Gallo-Roman Museum in Tongeren - awarded in 2011 with the prestigious European Museum of the Year Award (EMYA) - will have the opportunity of a comprehensive and unique journey through the ancient cultures documented within the current Romanian space, seen as a place of convergence of many major civilizations for Europe's and humanity's cultural heritage, the MNIR release mentions.

Among the most spectacular pieces of Romanian cultural heritage displayed in the exhibition in Belgium are: the silver Rhyton discovered in Poroina Mare, Mehedinti County, dating from the 4th - 3rd centuries BC; an inscription dedicated to Caracalla in Ilisua "Vicinal" (Arcobara, previously identified as Arcobadara), Uriu commune, Bistrita-Nasaud County, sandstone plaque dedicated to the Roman emperor Caracalla, dating from 213 AD., remarkable because it refers to a military unit that activated in Dacia, but had the recruiting area in the region where the Belgian city of Tongeren is currently located; the Helmet from Ciumesti, Satu Mare County, made of bronze, dating from the 5th century BC.

The exhibition, which is intended to be a "comprehension exercise of a present-day civilization, the Romanian one, from the perspective of the relation with a common European past", is organized by the MNIR, the Romanian Cultural Institute and the Gallo-Roman Museum in Tongeren, with the support of the Ministry of Culture and National Identity (MCIN) and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MAE).

Located in the province of Limburg, the Flanders region, Tongeren is the oldest city in Belgium and one of the oldest European cities, being part of Most Ancient European Towns Network. During the Roman Empire, it was the capital of the Romanian province Civitas Tungrorum, known as Aduatuca Tungrorum.

The Europalia Festival is considered to be the largest cultural event in Belgium, being organized under the patronage of the Royal Family of Belgium, every two years, in Belgium and neighboring countries - France, Holland, Luxembourg and Germany or the United Kingdom. The ICR coordinates Romania's participation, as the guest of honor country, at the 27th edition of the Europalia Festival, a large-scale project unfolding between October 2019 - February 2020 and implemented in collaboration with MAE, MCIN and the General Secretariat of the Government, alongside Europalia International, the organizer of the event.