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Getty Art + Ideas Podcast: Palmyra – Loss and Remembrance

Together with Curator of Antiquities at J. Paul Getty Museum Ken Lapatin, Centre director and Professor of classical archaeology Rubina Raja joins Jim Cuno, President of the J. Paul Getty Trust, to talk about Palmyra in a new Getty Art + Ideas Podcast.

Rubina Raja's Getty lecture in October 2016 (© J.P. Getty Museum).

On the 3rd of October, Getty Media aired the podcast “Palmyra – Loss and Remembrance” as part of the Getty Art + Idea podcast series by President of the J. Paul Getty Trust Jim Cuno. In the podcast, Professor Rubina Raja, Curator of Antiquities Ken Lapatin, and Jim Cuno talk about the ancient Syrian caravan city of Palmyra and the unique blend of eastern and western influences in the visible remains from the city.

The podcast, which explores the Palmyrene funerary portraiture, partly revolves around the currently featured exhibition “Palmyra – Loss and Remembrance” in the Getty Villa, Los Angeles, USA. The exhibition explores the ancient peoples who lived in Palmyra and how cultures developed through artistic, social, and political interactions. On display in this exhibition are several sculptures that have all – except one – been generously lent to the J. Paul Getty Museum by the Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek, Copenhagen, Denmark.

Raja is director of the Palmyra Portrait Project, which has been funded by the Carlsberg Foundation since 2012. The Palmyra Portrait Project is one of the leading research-based initiatives on an international scale to study Palmyra and the Palmyrene cultural and religious sphere through its funerary portraiture. Because of her outstanding work with this material, Raja acted as one of the head consultants on the exhibition “Palmyra – Loss and Remembrance”, and she was furthermore a Getty Guest Scholar at the J. Paul Getty Museum in July and August this year.

While the Palmyra Portrait Project has already received much attention in both the scholarly world as well as in the general public, this mutually beneficial association between research institutions and museums have already further expanded the reach of the Palmyra Portrait Project and the important work being conducted within the framework of the project.

As part of the important collaboration between the Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek, the Palmyra Portait Project, and the J. Paul Getty Museum, Raja and Lapatin are currently co-organising the conference “Palmyra and the East” which will be held at the Getty Villa in Los Angeles in April 2019. The conference will feature a number of international experts on Palmyra.

Listen to the podcast here.