(This reproduction was printed from a digital file created...)
This reproduction was printed from a digital file created at the Library of Congress as part of an extensive scanning effort started with a generous donation from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. The Library is pleased to offer much of its public domain holdings free of charge online and at a modest price in this printed format. Seeing these older volumes from our collections rediscovered by new generations of readers renews our own passion for books and scholarship.
Cyprus : Its Ancient Cities, Tombs, and Temples: A Narrative of Researches and Excavations During Ten Years' Residence As American Consul in That Island
(This book was originally published prior to 1923, and rep...)
This book was originally published prior to 1923, and represents a reproduction of an important historical work, maintaining the same format as the original work. While some publishers have opted to apply OCR (optical character recognition) technology to the process, we believe this leads to sub-optimal results (frequent typographical errors, strange characters and confusing formatting) and does not adequately preserve the historical character of the original artifact. We believe this work is culturally important in its original archival form. While we strive to adequately clean and digitally enhance the original work, there are occasionally instances where imperfections such as blurred or missing pages, poor pictures or errant marks may have been introduced due to either the quality of the original work or the scanning process itself. Despite these occasional imperfections, we have brought it back into print as part of our ongoing global book preservation commitment, providing customers with access to the best possible historical reprints. We appreciate your understanding of these occasional imperfections, and sincerely hope you enjoy seeing the book in a format as close as possible to that intended by the original publisher.
Zypern, Seine Alten Städte, Gräber Und Tempel (German Edition)
(Zypern, seine alten Städte, Gräber und Tempel ist ein unv...)
Zypern, seine alten Städte, Gräber und Tempel ist ein unveränderter, hochwertiger Nachdruck der Originalausgabe aus dem Jahr 1879. Hansebooks ist Herausgeber von Literatur zu unterschiedlichen Themengebieten wie Forschung und Wissenschaft, Reisen und Expeditionen, Kochen und Ernährung, Medizin und weiteren Genres.Der Schwerpunkt des Verlages liegt auf dem Erhalt historischer Literatur.Viele Werke historischer Schriftsteller und Wissenschaftler sind heute nur noch als Antiquitäten erhältlich. Hansebooks verlegt diese Bücher neu und trägt damit zum Erhalt selten gewordener Literatur und historischem Wissen auch für die Zukunft bei.
Luigi Palma di Cesnola was an Italian-American soldier, archeologist, author, and museum director who amassed one of the largest collections of antiquities from Cyprus. He was United States consul at Larnaca in Cyprus (1865–1877) and first Director of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York (1879–1904).
Background
Luigi Palma di Cesnola was born on July 29, 1832 at Rivarolo, near Turin, Italy. He was the second son of an Italian count who had served under Napoleon and whose family had come from Spain to Piedmont in 1282. His mother was Countess Eugenia Ricca di Castelvecchio.
Education
The young count was educated at the Royal Military Academy of Turin (1843 - 48), where he had an English tutor. In 1851 he graduated as full lieutenant from the Royal Military Academy of Cherasco, later becoming a staff officer in the Crimean War.
Career
His military experience began at seventeen in the Sardinian Army of Revolution. He became its youngest commissioned officer when promoted to a second-lieutenancy for bravery on the field of Novara (Mar. 23, 1849). When the Civil War broke out he founded a military school for officers, instructing over 700 students. Strongly in sympathy with the Northern cause, he enlisted in October 1861 as a major in the 11th New York Cavalry of which he became lieutenant-colonel. He excelled as a drill-master and a disciplinarian. In September 1862 he became colonel of the 4th New York Volunteer Cavalry, was wounded and taken prisoner at the battle of Aldie (June 17, 1863), and was confined in Libby Prison until the spring of 1864. He fought under Sheridan throughout the Shenandoah Valley Campaign, and served till the end of the war, when Lincoln brevetted him brigadier-general of volunteers and offered him the consulship at Cyprus on condition that he would become an American citizen. This he did (1865), and on Christmas Day he landed on that island with his family. Of his eleven years there, he has himself given us an entertaining account, in excellent English, in Cyprus, Its Ancient Cities, Tombs, and Temples, published in London (1877) and New York (1878). He soon made himself so respected and feared by the Turkish Government, and so trusted by the natives, that he was enabled to undertake the excavations which constitute his claim to lasting remembrance. Singlehanded, save for native diggers, with no capital but his own slim purse, without training or experience, he explored sixty-five necropoli (60, -932 tombs) and at least twenty-three other sites, digging up 35, 573 objects. Of these, about 5, 000 were lost at sea, a selected series went to the Turkish Government, and a few were sold in Europe before he decided, in the interest of science, to keep his collection a unit. The great mass of the objects was ultimately purchased by the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, in three instalments, for a moderate sum, less than a quarter of what experts told Cesnola it should bring if auctioned by the piece. He finally left Cyprus in 1876 because of his wife's health, going first to London, where he brought out his book, and later to New York, where he was elected secretary of the Metropolitan Museum in 1877, and director in 1879. Both these posts he held until his death a quarter of a century later, in the face of constant fire on the authenticity of his collection, his personal honor, and his museum administration. The Art Amateur in August 1880 contained an attack on his collection by Gaston L. Feuardent, a well-known art dealer, and at once the press took sides with the most intolerant partisanship. In 1882 Clarence Cook, the critic, wrote for Feuardent a scathing pamphlet. Cesnola had meanwhile printed counter-attacks on Feuardent, who sued him for libel. The trial lasted from October 31, 1883 to February 2, 1884. The jury voted unanimously for Cesnola on the counts affecting the standing of the collection, and he had a majority of ten to two on the count which concerned his business dealings with Feuardent--this being technically a disagreement. His collection had been sustained also by the examinations of an investigating committee and by those of sculptors and stone-cutters, but the public remained skeptical and there was another attack by Dr. Max Ohnefalsch-Richter. Later researches in Cypriote archeology have been the most satisfactory vindication of the authenticity and value of the Cesnola collection. As museum director, Cesnola was accused of being hostile to the public and students, ignorant of modern art, and afraid of experts. The trustees, for the most part, credited him with laying the firm foundation on which the Museum was built by his administrative ability and tireless, devoted supervision. In the memory of his associates on the staff, he left a warm glow of affection and admiration. Throughout his life, he gave and inspired intense loyalty and bitter enmity. He retained the Italian excitability and a slight accent. When he traveled in Italy in 1900, the press featured his progress as that of a conquering hero.