Alexander the Great: 2000 Years of Treasures

Alexander the Great: 2000 Years of Treasures is the most exciting and prestigious classical culture exhibition ever to be hosted by the Australian Museum in Sydney and features the largest collection of treasures ever to come to Australia from the world famous State Hermitage in St Petersburg, Russia. This exhibition will be exclusive to Sydney.

No ruler in history appeals to the imagination as much as Alexander the Great. No other king has been so often cited and depicted as an example of mighty achievement, even though he died at the tender age of 32 in 323 BCE.

He owes his epithet ‘The Great’ to the enormous territory that he conquered, all within the space of just 11 years, the largest empire in history – from Greece in the west to the river Indus in the east.

The exhibition includes over 400 objects from classical antiquity through to the modern age from both Western and Non-Western origins, spanning a period of almost 2500 years.

Among the works that will be shown are signature pieces that people travel from all over the world to the State Hermitage to see, such as the famous Gonzaga cameo and the polished black basalt statue of Cleopatra VII. Another highlight of the exhibition is the figure of Heracles fighting the lion from the 2nd century AD.

Alexander the Great: 2000 years of treasures is an exhibition that will entrance the general public with its diversity of treasures and the entertaining and engaging way in which it places one of history’s most legendary figures into context: the world he took over when he became king, his campaigns as far east as the Indus River in India, the man himself and his legacy. It incorporates the great cultural and artistic changes that followed his conquests.

“The Alexander exhibition brings to Sydney some of the finest known treasures from the court and cities of Alexander the Great and his Successors. Alexander's remarkable empire, stretching from the Mediterranean across to India, was carved out in battles and campaigns waged over a few short years. It barely outlasted his death at the age of 32, but its legacy is still with us today. The Hermitage holds one of the finest antiquities collections in the world and this exhibition has been brilliantly curated by Dr Anna Trofimova, the museum’s Head of the Department of Classical Antiquities.”

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