The Apoxiomen ( Apoxyómenos) is a statue of a young athlete shown scraping the dust and oil from his body with a strigil. Covered with thick encrustations and algae the statue was discovered on the sandy bottom off the islet of Vela Orjula in the Lošinj Channel.

The Croatian Apoxiomen is one of the eight preserved Hellenistic copies from the second and first centuries B.C. Its integrity and fine workmanship make it one of the best copies of the prototype produced about 300 B.C.

For more on the discovery of the statue, its recovery and conservation-restoration work see the web site of the Croatian Conservation Institute and on the web-site pan-European federation Europa Nostra.

Croatian Conservation Institute

Apoxiomen