Norwich is a small town in Southeastern Connecticut. Its claim to fame is that Norwich is home to the Norwich Free Academy (NFA), a high school that focuses on liberal arts education. The NFA is also home to the Slater Memorial Museum which is a small museum that houses incredible treasures.
The Slater has multiple galleries that focus on foreign objects from several wealthy familys' Grand Tour visits, American art, the whaling industry, and all things Connecticut. However, the real jewel of this museum is its plaster cast collection.
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| Examples of casting techniques |
The Slater has dozens of plaster casts of classical Greek and Roman, Hellenistic, and Renaissance sculptures. It is truly amazing, overwhelming, and bit of a sensory overload to walk into these galleries and be surrounded by almost every major sculptor from your classical art history class.
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| First Gallery |
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| Apollo Belvedere in the Vatican Museum, Rome and Boy Drawing a Thorn from His Foot in Palace of the Conservatori, Rome |
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| Dying Gaul in the Capitoline Museum, Rome |
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| Slabs from the Eastern Section of the Gigantomachy Frieze of the Altar of Zeus from Pergamon in Staatliche Museum, Berlin |
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Aphrodite from Melos in Louvre, Paris and
Reliefs from the Parthenon Frieze in British Museum, London
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| Nike of Samothrace in Louvre, Paris |
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| Pieta by Michelangelo in St. Peter's,Vatican, Rome |
Obviously if you have or are planning to visit Europe you should definitely see the original sculptures firsthand. However, if a trip to Europe is not in your immediate plans the Slater Memorial Museum offers a unique experience that is absolutely worth the $2 admission price.
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