Museum exhibition · Rome · Brussels · Rome · 2016 — 2018

Ebla Royal Archive

A Syrian palace from 2300 BC, rebuilt sixteen square metres at a time inside the Colosseum.

Act one

What the war
had threatened.

"The situation in Syria is now dramatic. But this exhibition is the first signal, from a Western country, that what ISIS has destroyed can be rebuilt."

— Paolo Matthiae
archaeologist who discovered Ebla — ANSA, 6 October 2016.

Ebla is a city-state in northern Syria brought to light in 1964 by Italian archaeologist Paolo Matthiae, excavating the site of Tell Mardikh. In the rooms of Royal Palace G — dated to around 2300 BC — between 1974 and 1976 the royal archive was unearthed: over 17,000 tablets in cuneiform script, including the oldest known international treaty, between Ebla and the city of Abarsal.

Forty years later, while Syrian archaeology endured the civil war and ISIS destroyed Nimrud (March 2015) and Palmyra (August 2015), Francesco Rutelli and the Associazione Incontro di Civiltà conceived an exhibition that wouldn't document the ruins: it would rebuild them. On 6 October 2016 the exhibition "Rising from Destruction" opened at the Colosseum, inaugurated by President Sergio Mattarella with an implicit dedication to Khaled al-Asaad — the director of the Palmyra museum killed by ISIS the previous year.

The entrance panel, at the Colosseum

Two curators — most likely Paolo Matthiae and Francesco Rutelli — standing in front of the installed Hall of the Archive, press preview — The curators on the eve of the opening

Fragments of cuneiform clay tablets resting on a work surface: ancient Sumerian writing, wedge-shaped signs, simulation of the thousands of tablets from the royal archive — The tablets, subject of the 1974 discovery

Act two

Entirely by hand,
room by room,
brick by brick.

"The reconstruction was done entirely by hand. 3D printers couldn't reproduce the crumbling of the mudbricks."

— Ivano Ferrario, Creation Art
interview StartupItalia, 2016.

For the Hall of the Ebla Archive — sixteen square metres of sand-coloured mudbrick walls, up to 120 cm tall, the faithful cast of the Syrian room — the curators turned to Creation Art. It is the same team that, in the official press releases of the time, was credited as Arte Idea: the historic name under which Ivano Ferrario and his team had signed public works for decades, before the final rebrand.

The process, over a month and a half of work, is a palimpsest of the techniques of our workshop: first a polystyrene model hand-sculpted line by line, then a latex mould, finally a definitive copy in fibreglass on a steel structure — transportable, stable, light enough to travel. The three works of the triptych were made with three different techniques: the Hall in fibreglass (Creation Art), the human-headed bull of Nimrud in polystyrene and travertine (Nicola Salvioli), the ceiling of the Temple of Bel at Palmyra in 3D printing (TryeCo 2.0). Each chose the material the gesture required.

The Hall of the Archive being built in our workshop: wooden frame and fibreglass structure already coated with plaster and sand — Our workshop, August 2016

The walls of the Hall during forming: wooden cage built inside the faux-stone walls, fibreglass still curing — The wooden frame, from inside

Three workers of Creation Art wearing white T-shirts with burgundy logos install the Hall of the Archive inside the exhibition spaces of the Colosseum: they unload a block of wall and position it — Our team at the Colosseum, October 2016

Behind the scenes

The stone wasn't there.
It had to be crumbled.

The walls of the Royal Archive of Ebla, in the archaeological finds, are made of mudbricks — sun-dried clay, not fired. It is a material that ages by crumbling: its texture is made of cracks, friability, dust. To rebuild it 1:1 in the workshop we needed three technical steps: the model hand-carved in polystyrene for the shape, the latex cast for the detail, the fibreglass for stability during transport. Three steps that the 3D printers of 2016 could not yet reproduce.

Wide-angle view of the Hall of the Ebla Archive installed at the Colosseum: the walls of Royal Palace G rebuilt 1:1, cuneiform tablets fallen on the floor, some visitors in the foreground, monitor in the background showing archaeological video — The Hall installed and open to visitors at the Colosseum, October 2016.

Polystyrene by hand

The opening phase is pure sculpture. On blocks of expanded polystyrene cut to size, our modellers reproduce brick by brick the texture of the Syrian wall — entirely by hand, line by line, down to the single crumbled corner. It's the moment when the machine isn't needed: only the patience of someone who knows how to read an archaeological photo is.

Fibreglass on steel

From the sculpted model a latex mould is pulled — flexible, able to catch the detail of the cracks — and from that the definitive copy is cast in fibreglass. Underneath, a steel load-bearing frame allows the Hall to be dismantled, loaded onto a trailer, travel to the Colosseum, then to Brussels, then to Sapienza, and to be reassembled each time intact.

The triptych

The Colosseum exhibition presented three reconstructions, each made with the technique the subject required. The Hall of the Archive (Creation Art, fibreglass) for the friable walls. The human-headed bull of Nimrud by Nicola Salvioli in polystyrene + travertine, five metres tall. The ceiling of the Temple of Bel at Palmyra in 3D printing by the TryeCo 2.0 studio of Ferrara, for the flat ornamental details. Immersive curation by Studio Azzurro.

16 m² of Hall of the Archive rebuilt · walls up to 120 cm

17,000 tablets in the original royal archive · discovered 1974-1976

3 exhibition venues · Colosseum · Brussels · Sapienza

Close-up detail of the Hall's wall: sand-coloured surface with vertical cracks, simulated friability, mudbricks barely distinguishable in the raw — **The wall texture.** Mudbricks crumbled one by one: the handmade signature of the work.

Fragments of cuneiform tablets in white clay, ancient Sumerian script, resting on glassine paper in the workshop — **The reproduced tablets.** Thousands of them, scattered on the floor as on the morning of the Royal Palace fire.

Overall view of the hall with visitors in the foreground: sand-coloured walls, pile of tablets at the bottom left, side lighting, Colosseum setting around — **The hall open to visitors.** Visitors enter the archive, among the tablets, like the archaeologists of 1974.

The Hall of the Ebla Archive installed in the atrium of the Justus Lipsius building in Brussels: sand-coloured walls, platform, flags of the 2017 Maltese EU presidency in the background, red velvet rope marking off the space — The Hall in Brussels, inside the Council of the European Union, April 2017.

The Hall of the Ebla Archive installed at the Colosseum: sand-coloured mudbrick walls, cuneiform tablets fallen on the floor, side-beam lighting. — Rome, Colosseum — October 2016

The Hall of the Ebla Archive installed inside the Justus Lipsius building — seat of the Council of the European Union in Brussels — on a platform with a red velvet rope. — Brussels, EU Council — April 2017

Federica Mogherini, EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs, interviewed in front of the Hall of the Ebla Archive installed at the entrance of the European Council during the Brussels Conference on Supporting the Future of Syria. — The Brussels opening, among the EU flags

What ISIS has destroyed
can be rebuilt.

Paolo Matthiae, archaeologist who discovered Ebla ANSA · 6 October 2016

Tech sheet

Sixteen square metres, made by hand

The Hall of the Ebla Archive is a 1:1 reconstruction of the room of the royal archive of Royal Palace G — 2300 BC. Sixteen square metres of mudbrick walls, walls up to 120 cm tall, made with three technical steps: polystyrene model hand-carved, latex cast for the detail, definitive fibreglass copy on a steel load-bearing frame. A month and a half of work in our Creation Art workshop. Scientific supervision by Frances Pinnock, Sapienza.

Seventeen thousand tablets

The royal archive of Ebla was found by Paolo Matthiae and the Sapienza archaeological mission between 1974 and 1976: over 17,000 tablets and fragments in cuneiform characters, written between 2500 and 2250 BC. It is the oldest known administrative-diplomatic library of the ancient Near East — and it allowed the reconstruction of the Eblaite language, a Semitic language hitherto unknown.

Four thousand three hundred and fifty years of peace

Among the tablets is the Ebla–Abarsal treaty, dated ca. 2350 BC: nearly 4,350 years ago. It defines commercial and diplomatic relations between the two Syrian city-states and is the oldest known international treaty. On 5 April 2017 it was displayed at the Council of the European Union in Brussels, during the Brussels Conference on Supporting the Future of Syria and the Region, presented by Federica Mogherini and Angelino Alfano. A peace treaty from 4,350 years ago, inside the hall where the peace of today is being discussed.

Three venues: Colosseum, Brussels, Sapienza

The Hall of the Archive was dismantled and reassembled three times. Colosseum, 6 October – 11 December 2016: inauguration by President Mattarella, Minister Franceschini, Prime Minister Gentiloni. Brussels, Justus Lipsius building, 4–5 April 2017: exhibited in the atrium of the EU Council during the conference on Syria, presented by Federica Mogherini. Sapienza, Marco Polo building, from 13 December 2018: permanent exhibition. The fibreglass on steel structure remains intact after three transports.

All production data

Type: Museum exhibition · 1:1 archaeological reconstruction · scenography to be transported across multiple venues
Exhibition title: "Rising from Destruction — Ebla, Nimrud, Palmyra" (Colosseum); "Ebla. A new culture, a new language, a new history" (Brussels)
Curators: Francesco Rutelli (Associazione Incontro di Civiltà) · Paolo Matthiae (archaeologist who discovered Ebla, Sapienza)
Scientific supervision: Frances Pinnock, Sapienza University of Rome
Client: Associazione Incontro di Civiltà · Fondazione Terzo Pilastro–Italia e Mediterraneo (Emmanuele F.M. Emanuele)
Patronage: UNESCO · Soprintendenza Speciale Colosseo (F. Prosperetti)
Catalogue publisher: Electa
Colosseum opening: 6 October 2016 · President Mattarella, Minister Franceschini
Open to the public: 7 October – 11 December 2016 (Colosseum)
Brussels, EU Council: 4–5 April 2017 · Justus Lipsius building · presented by Federica Mogherini and Angelino Alfano
Sapienza permanent: From 13 December 2018 · Marco Polo building, Sapienza University of Rome
Triptych — work 1: Hall of the Ebla Archive — Creation Art: polystyrene + fibreglass on steel
Triptych — work 2: Human-headed bull of Nimrud (Nicola Salvioli): polystyrene + resin + travertine, ~5 m tall
Triptych — work 3: Ceiling of the Temple of Bel at Palmyra (TryeCo 2.0, Ferrara): 3D printing
Immersive installation: Studio Azzurro
Our role: 1:1 reconstruction of the room of the royal archive of Palace G at Ebla. Manual polystyrene modelling, latex casting, definitive fibreglass copy on a steel load-bearing frame. Clay cuneiform tablets reproduced individually. Built in our workshop, August–September 2016.
Recent destructions: Nimrud (Iraq, March 2015) and Palmyra (Syria, August 2015) were destroyed by ISIS. Ebla has suffered damage from clandestine excavation and the Syrian civil war, but no documented iconoclastic destruction.