“The Power of Fashion in the Roman Empire”: Copenhagen’s Glyptotek opens the largest antiquities exhibition in its history

Copenhagen’s Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek, founded in 1897 by brewer and collector Carl Jacobsen, is preparing to open the largest exhibition on antiquity in its history. “The Power of Fashion in the Roman Empire” opens on October 1, 2026 and remains open until March 29, 2027, as The Art Newspaper reports, and is presented as the first major world exhibition dedicated to the fashion of antiquity as an expression of power.

The exhibition, curated by senior researcher Cecilie Brøns, brings together 171 objects and sheds new light on how the human body was adorned in ancient Rome. As the curator explains, Jacobsen had a tendency for “big and spectacular things” — grandiose portrait statues — and this exhibition puts them at the centre for the first time, read through the museum’s research on the original colours of the sculptures.

One of the central discoveries is colour: the mantle of the statue of Emperor Tiberius, white today, was once pink-purple — a shade of the Latin “purpura,” the precious dye extracted from Mediterranean snails. The toga of the freedman Fundilius Doctus, according to research, was also once painted red or orange, reflecting his status as a former slave.

The international loans are equally impressive: the British Museum sends three rare Roman tunics that have never before left the museum, while the Burdur Museum in Turkey, 125 kilometres from Antalya, brings two foot fragments and the head of a once colossal sculpture of Emperor Septimius Severus for an installation dedicated to shoes.

Beyond sculptures and textiles, the exhibition over 1,000 m² includes jewellery, perfumes recreated specially by the Danish brand Karmameju, soundscapes and films — an immersive experience that, according to the museum, invites visitors to reflect on humanity’s eternal obsession with status, identity and appearance. The exhibition is also accompanied by a publication with contributions from international scholars.