Museum of the Dancing Satyr of Mazara del Vallo
The Museum of Sant'Egidio in Mazara del Vallo is now better known as the Museum of the Dancing Satyr given the importance of the work it houses: the bronze statue of " The Dancing Satyr ".
The museum is housed in the deconsecrated church of Sant'Egidio, of high architectural interest, built in the early 1500s and houses the precious statue since 2005, when at the end of restoration, carried out by the Central Institute for Restoration of Rome, the Satyr returned to Mazara del Vallo.
The bronze statue was found in the waters of the Sicilian Channel in two phases: in the spring of 1997 the left leg was unearthed and on March 4, 1998 the body without the other leg and arms.
The statue of the Dancing Satyr is a very rare example of Greek bronze statuary. The Satyr is caught in the moment of ecstasy of the orgiastic dance. According to the iconography of the satyr in ecstasy, already known from the 4th century, the statue had to hold the thyrsus, attribute of Dionysus with the right hand, while the left arm held a panther skin and the left hand a cup of wine. The abandonment of the head, the flowing hair rendered in thick locks underlined by thin incisions, the parted lips, the twist of the bust suggest the delirium of the whirling dance. Extraordinarily preserved eyes, in alabaster limestone originally integrated with colored glass paste. The statue is just over 2 meters high and weighs 96 kg.
The Museum of the Satyr also exhibits other finds from the waters of the Sicilian channel, including the bronze fragment of an elephant's foot Punic-Hellenistic period, a bronze cauldron from the Middle Ages, a selection of transport amphorae from the Archaic, Classical, Hellenistic, Punic, Roman and Medieval periods. Two iron cannons from Torretta Granitola are also exhibited, from which some Corinthian and Ionic capitals are also exhibited.
