25 March 2023 The Future is the Product of the Past

Famous Celtic hero bust of the Czech Republic “The head of Mšecké Žehrovice”

Located in the Czech Republic, the Mšecké Žehrovice’s head makes an appealing piece with its delightful curling mustaches- “perhaps the closest thing to a Celtic self-portraiture”.

This Celtic Hero was found during a course of 1943 excavation of an oppidum in Mšecké Žehrovice in central Bohemia, Czech Republic. It was probably created at the end of the third or at beginning of the second century BC. Ever since its discovery in 1943, the head has become one of the icons of Celtic art.

Mšecké Žehrovice’s head is one of the most well-known surviving pieces of Celtic art not just in the Czech Republic, but across Europe.

The Celts were one of the great peoples of antiquity that inhabited much of Western and Central Europe. To their contemporaries, the Romans and the Greeks, they were known as great warriors who carried out deep invasions into Italy, the Balkans, and even modern Turkey.

The Mšecké Žehrovice Head. Photo: National Museum in Prague
The Mšecké Žehrovice Head. Photo: National Museum in Prague

They created art that is now known as “La Tène culture” between the fifth and first centuries BC. It is named after the site of La Tène in Switzerland, where thousands of objects deposited in a lake were found during the 19th century.

The Mšecké Žehrovice Head, also known as The Celtic Hero from Bohemia was probably created at the end of the third or at beginning of the second century BC.

The sculpture was buried in a pit on a southwest corner of a square enclosure located within the oppidum. The stone head, sculpted from local Cretaceous limestone, has a maximum height of 234mm and width of 174mm. The sculpture was broken into at least five pieces sometime in antiquity. Four pieces have been found in fairly good condition.

The Mšecké Žehrovice Head. Photo: National Museum in Prague

The face is quite flattened. Facial features are projected on an almost flat surface surrounded by braid-like shaped hair. It has little combed hairs in the area above the forehead. At the back of the head, the hair appears to be shaved in a tonsure. The most prominent are the bulging oval eyes, contoured by a curvilinear eyebrow matching a similarly imposing curvilinear mustache. The mouth is suggested by a mere downward bending line. The ears are not naturalistic but rather represented as lotus buds, a stylistic form representative of La Tène art. The neck is formed in a shape of a torc, a traditional Celtic necklace.

Unfortunately, some parts of this precious sculpture were never recovered, including the right-hand side of the head and the upper part of the ear.

Along with the Glauberg “Prince” and the Warrior of Hirschlanden, it is one of the most well-known pieces of Celtic art from Iron Age Europe.

Banner
Related Post

Khirbet Midras pyramid and  Archaeological Site in Israel

28 November 2022

28 November 2022

Khirbet Midras (Arabic) or Horvat Midras (Hebrew) is one of several antiquities sites located within the Adullam Grove National Park,...

Istanbul’s Iron Church of Unique Beauty

1 November 2021

1 November 2021

The Bulgarian Church of St. Stephens was constructed like a cross-shaped Basilica. St. Stephen Church is also known as The...

700 Years After Dante’s Death, His Handwritten Notes Are Discovered

11 July 2021

11 July 2021

Dante Alighieri, an Italian poet, and scholar are best known for his masterwork La Commedia (also known as The Divine...

500-year-old Inca mummy, as if in a deep sleep “La Doncella”

24 August 2021

24 August 2021

Three Inca mummies found near the high Volcán Llullaillaco peak in Argentina in 1999 stunned all scientists. The 3 Incas...

Some interesting facts regarding its use the Galata Tower in Istanbul

10 July 2021

10 July 2021

The Galata Tower is one of Istanbul’s most recognizable landmarks, and its bright lights can be seen from all across...

Incredible Mayan Inventions and Achievements

31 July 2022

31 July 2022

The Mayans excelled at agriculture, pottery, writing, calendars, and arithmetic, leaving an incredible quantity of spectacular architecture and symbolic artwork...

Egypt’s Lost city “Thonis-Heracleion”

6 September 2021

6 September 2021

Thonis-Heracleion (Egyptian and Greek names of the city) is a port city lost between myth and reality until 1999. Few...

The World’s Largest Pyramid Is Hidden Within a Hill in Mexico

8 October 2022

8 October 2022

The largest and tallest pyramids in the world are incredible feats of design, engineering, and construction. The Great Pyramid of...

Brief history and 9 unknowns of Hagia Sophia

11 August 2021

11 August 2021

The Great Church was the name given to Hagia Sophia when it was initially constructed (Megale Ekklesia). However, the Church...

The Dispilio Tablet: may be the earliest known written text

7 January 2022

7 January 2022

Although traditional archeology claims that writing was not invented in Sumer between 3000 and 4000 BC, an artifact that contradicted...

7500-year-old cursed city of Iran

17 March 2023

17 March 2023

Sialk Hills, located in the southwestern part of Kashan city in Iran, was known among the locals as a ‘cursed...

The Babylonian captivity or Babylonian exile

16 August 2021

16 August 2021

The Babylonian captivity or exile was an era in ancient Israel’s history. That exile began with a two-stage expulsion in...

An Interesting Ottoman Tradition Resembling Christmas tree: “NAHIL” OR WISHING TREE

28 December 2022

28 December 2022

Nahıl, a word of Arabic origin, means date palm. This word was later used by the people to mean the...

Michelangelo, the artistic giant, was actually rather short

3 September 2021

3 September 2021

The legendary Michelangelo Buonarroti left huge works behind as an artist. But Italian researchers found that the shoes of this...

Venice of the Pacific: The mysterious Micronesian ruins of Nan Madol

12 July 2022

12 July 2022

Sometimes art and architecture challenge our perceptions of what was formerly thought to be feasible and what our forefathers were...

Comments
Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *