JACKSON - While people from around the world have made their way to Mississippi to see the state's international art exhibit, "The Glory of Baroque Dresden," Mississippians are coming out in small numbers.
"People don't realize what we have here," said Jack Kyle, the executive director of the show's organizing group, the Mississippi Commission for International Cultural Exchange.
The Dresden exhibit is the fourth large-scale European art exhibition brought to Mississippi in the past eight years; previous exhibits in Jackson have come from Russia, France and Spain.
The Dresden features 400 objects of art collected during the reigns of August the Strong of Saxony and his son August III from 1670-1763.
"People don't understand the uniqueness, quality and rarity of the exhibit here in Jackson, Mississippi," Kyle said.
Kyle has been traveling across Mississippi, speaking to rotary clubs and appearing on morning TV shows trying to lure more Mississippians to the exhibit.
Among the most famous pieces on display are the 41-carat Dresden green diamond, one of the rarest diamonds in the world, and a 1656 painting by Dutch artist Johannes Vermeer, one of only 36 of his known artworks in the world.
It took a year to restore the Vermeer in the Dresden exhibit, and it is one of only three dated and signed by the painter.
On display are Old Master paintings by Rembrandt and Peter Paul Rubens, along with Meissen porcelain, rare jewels, armor worn during the period and detailed sculptures.
The items survived Dresden's destruction during World War II either by being hidden or shipped out of the city for safekeeping. It is the first major exhibit from Dresden to come to stateside since Germany's reunification in 1989.
The gift shop features a rare Meissen chess set for sale, one of only five in the world.
"We are lucky to have this exhibit and I wish more Mississippians knew that," said Jane Mitchell-Hassan, Dresden gift shop director. "It's a shame they don't come out and see what it's all about. There are other bigger cities who would die to have this exhibit in their states."
Administrators hope to lure more students. A $25,000 grant will be awarded to a Mississippi school that attracts at least 400 people.
Caroline Reed, who teaches at West Bolivar Elementary School in Rosedale, said the grant would be beneficial to her district. Ashley Rea, a fourth-grade teacher at Madison Station Elementary, said her class saw the exhibit while she was out of town.
"The kids really enjoyed it and the parents did, too," she said. "I heard it was well worth the trip and I am sorry I missed it."
Economic officials hoped tourists from across the country would spend millions of dollars at local hotels, gas stations and restaurants as well as at the exhibition and its gift shop.
Martha Turner, sales secretary at nearby Edison Walthall Hotel, said crowds are coming in the hotel because of the exhibit - just not as many as expected. "The response has not been as big as it was before with the other exhibits," she said.
The 1996 exhibition of Russian art had an estimated economic impact of $61 million. Exhibitions of French treasures in 1998 and Spanish art in 2001 each injected about $40 million to the state.
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