Alexander the Great: Exhibit at the Onassis Cultural Center

In perfect timing with the release of a (by other accounts) bombastic movie about Alexander the Great is the exhibition of a terrifically refined gem of a show that includes Hellenistic artifacts gathered from museums and collections all over the world at the Onassis Cultural Center in the basement of the Olympic Tower.

The armor, the weapons, but also the jewelry and everyday pieces were wonderfully selected and arranged to give an evocative picture of life in the 4th century BC. In some ways I enjoy smaller exhibitions, because what you lose in breadth, you can pick up in detail. I don't know if I would have spent so long examining the golden beads of a women's necklace if I thought there were 6000 other artifacts to look at. But what a reward to be able to look so carefully at the inscriptions on gold laurel leaves, or the craftsmanship in the sculpting of a head on a silver wine jug.

Upstairs, casts of the Elgin marbles adorn the walls of the lobby. How funny to see people in business suits speed by them, indifferent to thousands of years of history. But maybe that's generally how we are -- indifferent to thousands of years of history.