Description

Riace (Calabrian: Riàci) is a comune (municipality) in the Metropolitan City of Reggio Calabria in the Italian region Calabria, located about 50 kilometres (31 mi) south of Catanzaro and about 80 kilometres (50 mi) northeast of Reggio Calabria. Riace borders the municipalities of Camini and Stignano.

The Riace bronzes (Italian: Bronzi di Riace), also called the Riace Warriors, are two full-size Greek bronzes of naked bearded warriors, cast about 460–450 BC 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 superb technical craftsmanship and exquisite 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. 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.

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.

Artist: Maria Angela Cassol