In a move that celebrates the heritage of the Black Sea’s ancient settlements, nine archaeological artifacts from Apollonia Pontica—modern‑day Sozopol in Bulgaria—will be displayed at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York as part of the “Across Wine‑Dark Seas: Art and Identity beyond Ancient Greece” exhibition. The show opens on December 20, 2026, and will run until April 11, 2027.
The exhibition gathers more than 180 works from the Eastern Mediterranean, the Black Sea region, western Asia Minor, north Africa, Egypt, Sicily, Sardinia and the Apennine Peninsula. The museum will feature pieces from major collections including the Louvre, the Vatican Museums, the National Archaeological Museum in Athens, the National Archaeological Museum in Taranto, the National Museum of Serbia, the Archaeological Museum of Heraklion in Crete, the Archaeological Museum of Samos, the Archaeological Museum of Cordoba, and the Albacete Museum in Spain.
Seven of the Apollonia artefacts come from the Municipal Cultural Institute Museum Centre in Sozopol, while two are from the Regional History Museum in Burgas, the city on the Black Sea. Burgas’ materials will bring to the exhibition a relief of the goddess Cybele, dating from the first half of the 5th century BC and recovered from the waters of Sozopol Harbour, and a young mankouros, the oldest marble statue currently held in Bulgarian museums, from the 6th to early 5th century BC and found on Atia Peninsula.
Sozopol Museum Director Dimitar Nedev told BTA that "the Black Sea is represented in the exhibition exclusively through Apollonia Pontica, with artefacts from the collections of the museums in Burgas and Sozopol." He added that this recognition highlights the city’s role in cultural contacts between the Greek world and peoples along the western Black Sea coast.
Nedev said, "The Black Sea is represented in the exhibition exclusively through Apollonia Pontica…"
The two Burgas artefacts were dispatched to New York on November 12. Preparations for their transport took three days: a specialist team packed the stone sculptures, placed them in custom‑designed transport crates and built ramps for loading onto a truck, the Regional History Museum team reported.
The seven Sozopol artefacts, which include seven ceramic vessels associated with the religious practices of ancient Apollonians, are yet to be shipped to the United States. Their arrival is expected before the exhibition opens.
Metropolitan Museum curators emphasize that the exhibition places a particular focus on the Black Sea, a region underrepresented in Greek art histories. By foregrounding Apollonia, the show offers a dialogue between the ancient Greek metropolis and the cultures surrounding the western Black Sea coast.
Attendees at the Metropolitan will have the opportunity to step into the past of Apollonia along with the wider Mediterranean and Black Sea artistic tradition, bringing a sense of ancient identity to a modern, global audience.
