CubaPLUS Magazine

The Juan Miguel Dihigo Museum of Classical Archaeology, located in the Faculty of Arts and Letters of the University of Havana, has a wide collection of sculptural reproductions of Greek’s classical period. The university heritage stands out a replica of the Venus de Milo, an icon of universal art.

The original is in one of the rooms dedicated to statuary in the Paris Louvre Museum. Made of white marble, it is one of the most famous sculptures of Ancient Greece and Greco-Roman mythology. But the Venuses were not always stylized figures, of astonishing beauty ... their history dates back millions of years.

From the Venus de Milo, to the mythological Aphrodite, or the syncretized virgins and saints, many of the female representations are associated not only with beauty, but also with fertility. These figures are inspired by the well-known Palaeolithic venuses, small allegories built by primitive men.

Made of various materials: bone, ivory, stone, terracotta or wood, the prehistoric venuses date from the Upper Paleolithic, a period located between 35,000 and 10,000 BC. The most famous are that of Willendorf, Lespugue, Laussel and Dolní Věstonice, named after the places where they were found.

According to the historiography of art, they were symbols of the sacred power of motherhood. This interpretation is due to the noticeable bulge in certain areas of their bodies: breasts, hips, buttocks and abdomen; characteristics that the female physiognomy generally adopts when gestating a child.