ATHENS, GREECE.-The Museum of Cycladic Art in Athens presents Eleutherna: Polis-Acropolis-Necropolis Selected finds from the excavations at the Museum of Cycladic Art. A new temporary exhibition, entitled "Eleutherna: Polis-Acropolis-Necropolis" is presented at the Museum of Cycladic Art of Athens from December 2, 2004, to September 2005. The exhibit, which features selected important finds from the excavations of the University of Crete at Eleutherna, brings together the results of systematic excavations at Eleutherna over the past 20 years, and includes items never seen before. Among them, a famous statue, known as the "Dame d' Auxerre" from the Louvre Museum of Paris.

Eleutherna is located on the foothills of Mount Psiloritis, in the heartland of Crete, 25 km. southeastern of Rethymnon. It was inhabited continuously from the Sub-Neolithic period (4th millennium BC) down to the 12th cent. AD and its rich history is now summarized by five hundred selected artifacts unearthed from houses, shrines, public buildings and tombs.

Statues, architectural members, metal vases, weapons, tools, jewellery and pottery of various periods reflect aspects of both private and public life in that active settlement, that enjoyed extensive commercial contacts with all areas of the Eastern Mediterranean.

The highlight of the exhibition is "Dame d’Auxerre", a small sculpture, that portrayed a young woman, perhaps the young goddess Persephone. The sculpture was stored in a deposit at the Museum of Auxerre, near Paris, in 1907, when -by chance- it was noticed by a commissary of the Louvre Museum The statue is dated from the medium Daedalic Period (around in the 640 B.C.), that was named after the fabulous sculptor Daedalus. It is indeed the best preserved sculpture of this period that can be found today worldwide. The sculpture is programmed to remain at the Museum of Cycladic Art of Art for three months.

Visitors can also see a statue of Aphrodite preparing for her bath, having God Pan by her side. Particuarly interesting is also the Geometric-Archaic cemetery, which illustrates vividly the burial practices described by Homer in his epics Iliad and Odyssey. The excavation at Eleutherna was conducted by professors P. Themelis, Ath. Kalpaxis and N. Stampolidis

The exhibition is organized in cooperation with the Ministry of Culture -25th Ephorate of Prehistoric and Classical Antiquities- and the University of Crete.