The Drents Museum has launched a new exhibition – Under the spell of Mount Ararat – Treasures from ancient Armenia–, that will run until the end of October.
Armenia and Mount Ararat are the protagonists of the exhibit, which features objects from the History Museum of Armenia in Yerevan and a relic of Noah’s Ark.
Visitors are taken on a journey through the history of Armenia, starting from the Stone Age to the realm of King Tiridates III (AD 287-330), who made Christianity the state religion. Many of the objects on display – including gold and silver ornaments, weapons, and pottery – are shown in the Netherlands for the first time.
Noah’s Ark relic is one of the main pieces of the exhibition. According to the Drents Museum, Saint Jacob of Nibisi supposedly found the piece of wood at the foot of Mount Ararat in the 4th century AD. The precious fragment is usually kept in the oldest cathedral in the world, Etchmiadzin Cathedral in Armenia.
In front of the Museum, visitors can admire a model of the Ark, ten meters long, four meters wide, and four meters high, reported RTV Drenthe. It was reconstructed by Roden company Next Builders, and designed by the late designer Sergio Jove Rodriguez and architect Koen van Uden of Nex Lab.
Speaking on the Radio Drenthe program Cassata, museum director Harry tupan said it is difficult to estimate how many visitors Under the spell of Mount Ararat will attract, but that he will be happy if 75,000 show up. The Frida Kahlo exhibit, which closed in April, was the Drents Museum’s most visited showcase ever, even despite the pandemic, with a total of 140,000 visitors.
