Exhibition: at the Mucem, a journey between astronomy, myths and popular traditions
Cécile Jaurès (special correspondent in Marseille)
Published on
Press visit of the exhibition “Reading the Sky – Under the Stars in the Mediterranean” at the Mucem in Marseille on July 8, 2025. NICOLAS VALLAURI / LA PROVENCE/MAXPPP
At the intersection of ethnology, astronomy, and popular beliefs, an exhibition at the Mucem in Marseille examines the role of the night sky in the daily lives and imaginations of the people of the Mediterranean basin. The museum's collections are complemented by two hundred loans and works by contemporary artists.
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I subscribeAn eight-pointed star, a recumbent crescent moon, and a disc. This is how the goddess Ishtar (Venus), the moon god (Sin), and the sun god (Shamash) were represented in Mesopotamia. King Meli-Shipak II had these three symbols engraved on a black limestone stone around 1300 BC. Discovered in Susa and now housed in the Louvre, this stele beautifully opens the "Reading the Sky" exhibition, where it interacts with a mosaic fresco from Pompeii (an Apollo holding the cosmos in his hand), an Egyptian bas-relief with the solar boat, and a painting on wood depicting the Divine Creation of the Sun and Stars ( Icon of the Creed, circa 1700).
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