re-constructions and renovations of Monuments

City Palace Berlin, Sagrada Familia Barcelone, FrauenKirche Dresden, Lower Town Quebec City, Ara Pacis Rome, Parthenon Athens.

In my life of travelling and living abroad I have come across many sights which have been resurrected from the past or cleaned up or re-built. Why do governments do it, in most cases to recapture shares of the mass tourist market, tourist want to see things they do not have back home. Per example see London like Mary Poppins or the Rome of the Popes or early Christians or see ancient monument reborn after centuries of neglect. We want to recapture the past and with our modern sensibilities pretend we are just like the ancient, though sometimes it makes for funny situations, per example one remark often heard when visiting a former Royal Palace now a museum, tourist no.1 will say to tourist no.2 Can you imagine living in a place like this, it must have been nice.
The reality is if either of these persons had lived in the past centuries, they probably would have been peasants in the fields working hard and would never have come anywhere near such a place, this because of social barriers and strict divisions of society.

In 1962 the old City of Quebec the portion within the old Walls and the Lower town below by the St-Lawrence river dating back to 1608 was in ruins. Things were so bad the Provincial Government was considering bulldozing the whole thing and making it all modern. Luckily the Federal Government owned most of it and forbade the grand scale demolition, it also started to invest into rehabilitating the City walls, Quebec is the only city in North America with complete defensive walls and gates and dozens of stone homes from the 17th Century built in a French Norman Style. Today people from around the world come to Quebec City to see La Vieille Capitale, because Quebec was the Capital of the French Empire until 1763 and then the Royal Capital of Canada until 1820. So history is everywhere in its historic streets.

 Eglise Notre Dame des Victoires, 1688

Place Royale, Ville de Quebec

Petit Séminaire de Quebec, 1664

I started to visit Athens around 1998 though I had often flown over the City in the late 1980's never had I actually visited.
Athens was a small city until 1960's it is only in the last 35 years that a real estate boom has made it
into a megapolis, though the total population is 800,000. Not exactly Montreal or even Rome at 3 million people.   The Symbol of the City is the Acropolis and the Parthenon built originally in 480 BC and re-built in 438 BC to honour the Goddess Athena Parthénos, ( Virginal Pallas triomphant) who protects her City and its people. The Parthenon is said to be the most perfect Doric style temple ever built.

To my mind the Parthenon is the symbol of the Western World, there is no more beautiful site than to watch the Sun rise in the morning and its rays hitting the White with a golden tinge Pentelic marble of the Temple making it shine as if it was made of gold.  When you look at it you are reminded that theatre, philosophy, democracy, trial by jury, all come from this ancient site.

The statue of Athena stood in her temple until the fifth century AD when a fire destroyed it. With the arrival of Christians the Acropolis and the Parthenon suffered vandalism and then the Ottoman Turks occupied the site for many centuries until that fateful day when a Venetian Captain Morosini attacking Athens from the Sea aimed his canons on the Temple which at this point was used as a gunpowder store by the occupying Ottoman Turkish army. The explosion from the direct hit in September 1687 caused the devastation we see to this day. However in the last 25 years Greek Archeologists with funds from the European Union have worked at restoring this ancient temple and others on the Acropolis, like the small temple of Athena Nike and the main entrance gate the Propylae and the Erechtyion returning them to what they were like before the attack by the Venetian fleet of 1687. It is also a function of consolidating the buildings and preventing any further degradation. Using titanium rods on the blocks instead of steel which rust and then eats away at the marble. In some cases new marble blocks have been carved to replace those to weak or degraded. In my lifetime I can say that I have seen the Parthenon and the other temples restored or reborn. Many might say why restore such an ancient site, I think that in this case given the importance of this sacred place for us Occidentals, this hill must continue to live forever.

Temple of Athena Nike, restored 2011

Propylae gate, Acropolis in restoration 2010

Parthenon under continuous restoration in June 2014.

The Capital of Saxony, Dresden was totally destroyed in a fire bombing by the British forces on the night of 14 February 1945, 600,000 civilians died burned alive in the firestorm. Dresden was not a strategic city and had no military value, it was known for its culture and art. Canaletto had made a very famous painting of the city in the 18th century. This painting was so accurate in its architectural detailing that it was used to rebuilt the city from its ashes after 1989. 

The devastation of Dresden was total and after the end of the Second World War, Dresden was behind the Iron Curtain in East Germany. There was no money for re-building and very little effort was made to repair the damage inflicted. Most of its civilian population had died, so the Communist authorities decided to rebuilt here and there in a haphazard way outside of the old city limits. The Lutheran Church wanted it's main temple re-built because of its association with Martin Luther who had preached there. But all this re-building had to wait German reunification in 1990, from public donations from around the world the Lutheran Church was able to rebuild the Frauen Kirche of Dresden originally built by architect George Bahr in 1726 it had survived intact other wars and invasions until that fateful night in 1945.

The plan to rebuild this one church gave the impetus to massively rebuild the old city including the other churches and the Royal Palace of the Princes of Saxony, the Semper Opera house and other palaces and museum. We first visited around 1999, the old City was a field of construction and the Frauen Kirche was only half rebuilt. When we returned in 2014 most of the work was complete and the Church itself had been re-dedicated and is now serving the Lutheran Community of Dresden. 

Dresden is also famous for its porcelain and the celebrated Meissen Porcelain factory. Some 23,000 pieces of 17th and 18th century porcelain can be admired in the Zwinger Palace forming the private collection of the Royal Family of Saxony.  Then the beautiful Art museums and the Residenzschloss or Royal Palace and its incredible precious jewels and other rare objects collections, requiring a minimum of 2 days to fully appreciate the wealth of the collections which can now be seen as prior to 1939 in all its glory.

Dresden and the FrauenKirche on the New Market Square, 1742 by Bernardo Bellotto

Dresden re-built in June 2014

FrauenKirche re-built in June 2014

FrauenKirche in ruin after fire bombing of 1945 with the Statue of Martin Luther. Reconstruction will start in 1996 only.

Partial view inside the FrauenKirche, Dresden, 2014 (Lutheran Baroque)

Despite the beauty of the reconstruction and how faithful to all the details to ensure accuracy, I was somewhat disappointed, difficult to explain, maybe it was the realization that I was not looking at the original Church or City but a faithful copy. I also wondered if future generations will understand what happened to this city in 1945, one could understand if they forgot all about it or disbelieved any tale of war and mayhem.

Moving on to Rome where nothing is ever changing or so it seems one could be forgiven for the fact that much of what we see today in Rome is often the case of the will of men to change the city to suit a political program. It is often said that Rome looks like a theatre set, every angle is like a theatre set design to attract the eye to a beautiful panorama.
First the Popes on their return from Avignon in France decided to remake Rome.
The numerous well preserved Temples of Antiquity were dismantled to be used in the rebuilding of churches and public works. Then other works of art were used to decorate palaces and gardens, often with a beautiful effect. However much was also destroyed carelessly for mercantile reasons.

Unified Italy as of 1870 embarked on a program of changing Rome to suit its new image as a Republican Monarchy opening new streets like Via Cavour and Via Nazionale in the heart of the City and building the great walls along the Tiber to prevent winter floods. Then when Mussolini came to power in 1923 he wanted Rome to reflect its imperial glory so he employed historians, archeologists and architects to find all those pieces of the puzzle that were still buried and he resurrected temples or part of them like the Temple of the Vestal Virgins in the Roman Forum or the Arch of Titus or went on to build the Via dei Fori Imperiali crossing the whole of the ancient Forum area so he could have great military parades à la Hollywood.

So when you visit Rome today the ruins you see are the work of the Fascist era (1923-1943), unwittingly Mussolini helped the Italian Tourist Industry for decades to come. Tourist have something to see.

One such monument amongst many to have been resurrected and it is a magnificent one, is the Ara Pacis Augustae (Altar to Augustan Peace) as the name indicates it was to celebrate world peace brought about with the pacifying of the Barbarian nations. A monument built as a testimony to the legacy of Octavian the nephew of Julius Caesar better known to us as Augustus the first Emperor of Rome (63BC to 14AD) and probably the greatest and best. His legal legacy still resonates with us today and is found carved in stone on the side of the building housing the Ara Pacis, the Res Gestae in Canada Lawyers call it the Law of Evidence.

The monument was built at the request of the Roman Senate in July of 13BC and was located in the Field of Mars an area nowadays around the Via del Corso and Via del Parlamento. The soil being quite soft in the area the weight of the monument caused it to sink into the ground and only 60 years later it was half buried. Eventually it disappeared completely only to be re-discovered by accident during excavations in 1568 under Palazzo Chigi and more fragments surfaced in 1859 and in 1903. Those fragments ended up in the Vatican Museum, the Villa Borghese, the Uffizi Museum and the Louvre in Paris. In 1937 to celebrate the 2000 Birthday of Augustus, Mussolini ordered that the whole monument be excavated and re-assembled in a new site by the Tiber and next to the Mausoleum of Augustus at Ponte Cavour and Via Tomacelli, a special building was also built to house the monument. That building was again completely re-designed in 2006 by architect Richard Meier. Nonetheless the Ara Pacis is a very important monument for the Western World.

I studied that monument in school as a kid and imagine how wonderful it was for me to see it in 2007 for the first time in person. Though the white marble stone today does not show the original colours, think of an Hindou Temple, every year on the anniversary of the birth of Augustus the monument is displayed at night with a show of light so the public can see it again as it was then, the bold colours are jarring to our modern sensibilities.

I visited the Ara Pacis numerous times and am still in awe of its magnificent grandeur.

West side  

 East Side

Members of the Imperial Family, all can be identified by name.

One monument which is being re-created from scratch is the City Palace of Berlin, for centuries this was the Palace of the Princes of Brandenburg, then the Official Palace of the Prussian Kings and finally the Palace of the German Emperor until 1918.

The palace was bombed and burned in 1944 but could still be restored, however with the partition of Germany in 1945 it fell in the Eastern Sector of the City and the Communist authorities decided to blow it up in 1953 to make way for a military parade ground instead, more goose stepping. 

The palace was in an area of Berlin which housed a unique complex of buildings, university and museums at the end of the ceremonial road Unter den Linden (under the linden trees) which starts at the Brandenburg Gate. The palace was located on an island on the Spree River next to the Lutheran Cathedral and all the museums housing the various art and archeological collections. 

As of 1990 the new united City of Berlin and the Federal Government of Germany decided to renovate all the historical buildings of the Eastern sector left derelict by the Communist government for decades. In fact in 1985 the East German government had threatened to blow up every historical building in its sector if the West German government did not pay the full price of reconstruction. Had this plan gone ahead much of the 800 years of the history of Berlin would have been lost forever. 

Berlin has been one huge rebuilding project since 1990, it's infrastructure, the rail system, the U and S ban and its real estate all of it renewed or rebuilt. The Lutheran Cathedral, the various museum on the island and every other monument and palace rebuilt. Frederick II the Great is back on Unter den Linden riding into the City again a top his monument. The one missing link was the City Palace, it took years of discussion and consultation and finally the Federal Parliament (Bundestag) sitting in the rebuilt old Reichstag building voted in favour of rebuilding, the City of Berlin also supported the plan. However first the old East German Parliament building had to be demolished and that took 3 years when it was discovered the building was full of asbestos. 

Palast der Republik, GDR, Berlin in 1977

The idea is to rebuild the palace on the outside as it was before 1918 and make of the interior a modern University conference centre and library with museums on foreign cultures. It will be called the Humboldt Forum after the German brothers Alexander and Wilhelm Von Humboldt. With the palace rebuilt the entire area will have a homogenous architectural look recalling the 18th Century and the age of Enlightenment. 

What the rebuilt City Palace or Humboldt Forum will look like in 2019.

I have been following the entire saga since the beginning in the 1990's and this December construction of the shell of the palace is complete. Though the Federal Government of Germany will pay for the entire completion of the inside of the structure the decorative Baroque elements on the outside must be paid for by private donations and at the moment some 60 Million Euros still need to be raised, completion date 2019. It should be said that a lot of controversy surrounds this project, though now it is well on its way to be completed. Though it is only to fulfil a wish to have the city centre whole that this project was put forward, many advocated that something different be built. However historically speaking for 600 years a Palace stood in this place. See the link
http://berliner-schloss.de/en/humboldt-forum-new-palace

You can see a photo of today 1 Dec 2014 at 21:05 Berlin Time and how advanced the construction of the Palace is at this point, they are at the roof top.
http://cam01.berlinerschloss-webcam.de/?id=1417459501

Another project this one in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain is the Church of the architect Gaudi, La Sagrada Familia under construction since 1882 it is nearing completion now due to strong tourist interest and ticket sales to visit the site. As a child I had heard of this church by Gaudi and how no one knew if it would ever be completed. Antoni Gaudi died in 1926 in Barcelona run over by a street car. After his death no one knew if the church could be completed, since it was very much his inspiration which created this masterpiece. Then the Spanish Civil War saw a great deal of chaos, the Catholic Church in Spain sided with the Fascist forces of General Franco and in Catalonia there was much repression of the population. The Church was no ones friend, the Republican lashed out and attacked the construction office where all the archives of Gaudi were kept everything was destroyed including the mock-ups of the final product. Now construction stopped completely, to add to this sad situation General Franco was victorious, he exiled the Royal Family and proclaimed himself dictator at the same time he allied himself with Nazi Germany. The Second World War saw more economic disaster befell Spain and despite being a Neutral country it was very isolated. After the war a commission of academics and other experts decided that the Sagrada Familia Church should stand as is incomplete as a monument to Gaudi. It was only in 1975 with the death of General Franco and the return to democracy and a restoration of the Monarchy that once again the construction work re-started but this time with a panel of artists and architects devoted to seeing the vision of Gaudi for his church in the completion of the project. Only having a few documents in private hands from the time of Gaudi and some of his writings to guide them, new financing was devised in organized tours of the site where tourist would pay to gawk at what was going on.

Here is the first drawing of what the Sagrada Familia would have looked like, a design by Francisco de Paula Villar y Lozano, the first architect who would be replaced by Antoni Gaudi. Of this original design only the underground crypt church was completed in 1900. Gaudi then changed everything and started on his vision.

Floor plan of the Sagrada Familia by Gaudi. 

The current construction schedule is going well and the Church is well on its way to be completed after 70 years of sleep. At this time though it is not clear if the main front entrance of the Basilica the Portico of Glory will be completed, the reason is that it now stands above a express train tunnel (Paris -Barcelona) and the vibration of this high speed train as it enters Barcelona may affect the front of the building. Also in 1975 the land immediately across the street was sold to a developer in what many see as a shady land deal. So the great staircase and plaza planned for the area cannot be built now since condominiums occupy this land. 

Glory Portico which may never be finished.

The Passion Portico and the Nativity Portico face parks and can easily be admired. Maybe in a way given the tortuous story of the construction of this church it is better if part of it remains unfinished.

Certainly the rest 90% will be completed by 2026, sone 144 years after the beginning of the work.

What is wonderful about this construction is that all the funds came and still come from private donations and tourists buying tickets to visit the site.  

Panoramic view of the ceiling vault of the Sagrada Familia, Barcelona.

This view is dizzying but given the high luminosity of the Church and the multitude of stain glass, the gold on the ceiling, your eyes are really seeing a marvellous feat of architecture. The columns are not painted, they are stone and they take on various shades of colour as the Sun illuminates the building, this changes as the hours pass. The most magical of effect.
There are more photos at this site http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sagrada_Fam%C3%ADlia

The basilica in 2014.

There are many more projects around the world, St-Petersburg is another one where dozens of Palaces have been meticulously restored and turned into museums or hotels. A whole generation of Russian artisan is being trained to produce furniture and other objects but also trades in refurbishing these historical buildings. This could be another entry unto itself.
In Asia Japan, Vietnam and Cambodia have projects to redo sites which have been neglected or abandoned. China redid its Forbidden City in advance of the Olympics games a few years ago, though unfortunately with little care for historical accuracy. 

  

Third Anniversary

In June of 2011 we packed our house on 26 Via Dei Villini for our return to Ottawa. It seems like a long time ago but we returned to Rome since for visits. The first time was in March 2012 and again in November 2013, always a pleasure, Rome remains our home, we know the city well and comfortable everywhere.

What we loved was the Art and the panorama of the City, just turn your head and look, there you have it a splendid view. The arts are everywhere in monuments, in private collections, in Churches or public buildings, minutes away from you. Even from our living room window lush greenery and historical piazzas. Impossible to forget.

I am listening to Ottorino Respighi the Fountains of Rome and the Pines of Rome, he certainly captured well in music the sights of the Città. I can see it now.

 Bronzino's portrait of Princess Eleonora of Toledo and her son Giovanni, she was the wife of Cosmo I de Medici Grand Duke of Tuscany. (1545) Both will die within days of each other of malaria in 1562.

Pauline Bonaparte Princess Borghese (1780-1825) died of liver cancer, sister of Napoleon I.

 Pope Leo X (1475-1521) son of Lorenzo il Magnifico Medici, by Raphael

Portrait of a lady by Bernardino Luini. The elaborate head dress this lady is wearing is made of her own natural hair and took hours to comb and weave on a frame made for this type of hairstyle. Only the very wealthy could afford such fancy dress.

a luncheon

We went last weekend to the Royal Ottawa Golf Club for lunch given by the Aylmer Heritage Association. This is an annual event held in the Spring by the Association, usually about 60 to 70 people attend. Since Aylmer is known for its numerous golf course, we had our lunch at the Royal Ottawa Golf Club (1891) which is the premier golf club in the National Capital Region and an historical site. The Club house is stately, built in Tudor baronial style, with crystal chandelier, oak paneling, massive fireplaces, oil paintings, real silverware, monogramed china and fine linen. A dress code is enforced, gentleman must wear a jacket and jeans and denim clothes or shorts are not allowed. You are always invited by a committee upon recommendation to join the Club, you cannot simply buy a membership. In fact cost of membership is not mentioned anywhere, if you have to ask obviously you do not belong. The Club has its own Crest and Flag bestowed by  Royal decree from the Office of the Chief Herald of Canada at Rideau Hall.

King George V in 1911

The membership is a whose who of Canadian Society, Governor Generals, Prime Ministers, Ministers and Justices of the Supreme Court, Bank Presidents, old wealth, etc....

The Governor General of Canada, the Duke of Connaught

It is called the Royal Ottawa though it is on the other side of the river in Aylmer, Quebec because the club started on 50 acres of land on Gladstone street near the Rideau Canal in Ottawa, only after the city expanded did the club decide to move to more open spaces on the Quebec side. The title Royal was bestowed on the Club by the King Emperor George V who was the nephew of the Duke of Connaught and Strathearn, upon his recommendation during his mandate as Governor General of Canada in 1912.  The golf course has 27 holes and is beautifully designed to give any golfer the most out of the game. The course was designed by Tom Bendelow and champion golfer Willie Park Jr., it is beautifully maintained, they even have a formal flower garden.

I had never set foot in this august Club and took the opportunity when I saw that the Aylmer Heritage Association to which we have belonged for many years was meeting there. The food was quite good and the service was as is expected in such a place.

another walking tour of the Roman Forum

Today I took another tour of the Roman Forum, you would think that after all the reading and walking around I have been doing in the last 16 years that I would know everything about the place, not quite. Today the walking tour was with Yannick Nexon the Director of the French library in Rome and a man of great erudite knowledge. I had taken a tour of the Farnese Palace seat of the French Embassy on Piazza Farnese. It was a fantastic tour, his knowledge is just amazing. He has a great talent for details that will catch your imagination. He is one of the many experts who work at Inventer Rome which is a group of French historians and archeologist, all specialists in their own field.

(ancient fig tree where the shepherd found Romulus and Remus)

The Roman Forum today is very different from what is was 200 years ago, as of 1805 when Napoleon I arrives in Rome, he orders massive excavations, what you see today is the street level of the age of Augustus 40BC onwards, but there are another 800 years of sub-soil prior to Augustus from the early foundation time of Rome that are yet to be excavated. For most visitors to the Forum it is a very confusing place, you need to know some Roman history, otherwise it is just a field of ruins, but what a fascinating place it is.

Today we started by the Arch of Septimus Severus, at the foot of the Clivus Capitolinus. It turns out that on the original 7 hills where basically little villages, the Sabines lived on one, the Latins on another, etc.. Really small villages of 50 to 60 people living in huts and below was a big swamp and a place of mystery and myth, separating them and this place became the Roman Forum, the central square, place of business of ancient Rome. There was no understanding in Antiquity of what a swamp was, people believed that it was the entrance to the underworld or Hell. This gave rise to a lot of the original beliefs, all tied to history and the development of the Pagan religion. There is a well by the arch, I had never noticed it before, it was said to be the Gate of Hell which you can see and this door was opened 3 days a year for worship and prayers. Today the door is gone so the Gate of Hell is simply open, a fence keeps people away just in case you wanted to walk into Hell to see what is going on, like Euridice.
There are also old trees in the Forum, one group is an Olive tree, a Fig tree and a Vine, they have been there since antiquity, seen as sacred symbols, source of life and were worshipped as such.
Another Fig tree by the Senate house is said to also be the sacred tree which gave shade to the shepherd who found Romulus and Remus being suckhold by the She-wolf. It was also the spot in ancient Rome where prostitutes of all stripes use to hang out. As we arrived at the House of the Vestal Virgins and Temple to the holy fire, Nexon explained that what we see is a construction of the period after he great fire of Rome under Nero in 64 AD. Nero wanted a city with a grid pattern, the ash from the fire found in the area was a foot deep. we know that the Vestal remained an order who maintained the fire until at least 410AD, when under the order of the Pope it was put out for ever.

(gate to the underworld and Hell)

I also learned that Anastasia the sister of Emperor Constantine in 320 AD created what we know today as Christmas, she basically instituted the holiday, inventing the Christmas story and its observance and for her efforts she is mentioned in the second mass in the Christmas Service. No one before then believed that Jesus was born on December 25 and no observance existed, there was no date as such.  In ancient Rome this was the date for a famous Pagan Festival the Saturnalia, a festival to male virility and female fecundity. Apparently also the conversion of Constantine to Christianity was not well received at all by the majority of the population who belonged to numerous other religions including the old Pagan cults of Rome. The population could not understand why they had to adopt a new religion based on Jewish beliefs.

(Arch of Emperor Titus who destroyed the Temple in Jerusalem)

Until 520 AD many pagan temples still functioned and worship of the old gods continued, until the Pope became so exasperated that he started to institute persecution of non-Christians and the destruction and closing of Pagan temples. Now that was a twist I did not expect, the Roman Catholic Church in Rome loves to paint itself as a victim, now it turns out that they were the persecutors, apparently much evidence of aggressive Church policies have emerged in the last 20 years with new discoveries in the Forum.

What we see today of the Forum is mostly a field of ruins, this was caused primarily by a series of earthquake in Rome in the ninth century and in the 14th century and as of 1500 the Popes started using the Forum area as a vast quarry for their own Church building projects robbing the world of priceless art work, our Western Cultural legacy. This was done in response to the Reformation in much of Europe which scared the Popes and shook the Church. A period of great intolerance and violent repression under several Popes. The barbarian invasions did some damage but none lasting and what was damaged was often rebuilt afterwards.

The swamp was eventually drained by the Romans with the building of the Cloaca maxima, (purifying drain) which took the water to drain into the nearby Tiber river. Many buildings in the Forum are now newly opened to visitors, such as the House of Augustus on the Palatine, the temple of Jupiter Stator also known as the church of St-Romolo, one can walk to the grain storage houses which are also a support platform 7 storey high supporting what was the Palace of Caligula and connecting it to the Capitoline hill and the Temple of Jupiter great and best.

By walking around the Forum, Nexon also explained how today's Roman Catholic Church incorporated as much as possible of the old Pagan religion into Christian beliefs, per example Castor and Pollux the twins of the underworld are replaced by St-Damian and St-Cosmo, who never existed in reality and were not twins either. This incorporation was necessary if Christianity was to be accepted by the majority of people.

The event of Christmas day in 730 AD when Charlemagne comes to Rome to formally recognize the Pope as a religious authority and be his right hand man in imposing one religion is Europe is significant because it coincides with the development of a new religion in the Holyland, Islam and in Europe the old Pagan religions were still alive and thriving. With all this competition Christianity had a difficult time to impose itself.

(Temple of the Divine Emperor Antonin Pius and his wife Faustina)

This visit gave me a fresh look on Rome and how the city was shaped and built. It also gave me a new look on religion and how in ancient Rome political development, daily life, myth and superstition played an important role in the lives of people. This visit was certainly not the approved version of the Vatican.

Privilège, Privilegiato

It has been a busy time in Rome of late. We have been to the Rome ICE bar on Via della Madonna dei Monti near the Roman Forum. Then last weekend we walked along the Via Appia Antica a wonderful road, known as the Queen of Roads (Regina Viarum) built by Appius Claudius in 312 BC making the road 2322 yrs old with its original paving stones intact.

Today was the highlight a private visit made possible only because we knew someone who could ask for special access to the Casina of Pope Pius IIII in the Gardens of the Vatican. This Casina built in 1553 as a pleasure retreat for the Pope is never open to the public and no one is allowed to visit period, the only people allowed in are the staff and special guests invited by the Pope. It houses today the Pontifical Scientific Academy, along the lines of the Academy of Athens in antiquity and is headed by an Archbishop. You can imagine our delight at being allowed to enter and visit the building. We could only enter by one door in the new wing and exit via the garden, we could not sit, nor touch anything, any pictures we took cannot be published. I wish I could show you the inside it is marvelous, the colored marbles alone on the floors are unique. Our guide was Nancy de C. who is extremely knowledgeable and makes any visit truly interesting.

We entered the Vatican State by the Porta Santa Anna on Via Di Porta Angelica, this is the official entrance to the Vatican State and is used by people who come on business to the Vatican, meeting an official, etc... but it is not a gate for the public. We walked along the drive between buildings, on our left above us the Palace where the Papal apartments are located, and then through a large courtyard with a fountain with the coat of arms of the Borghese Pope and then under a large archway and up a coffered brick ramp which led us just outside the walls of the Sistine Chapel, the effect of brightness inside the chapel is created by high powered lights aimed at the outside windows, (see picture). Then a sharp turn right and we are behind the basilica of St-Peter and in the Vatican gardens. Even in cold weather and heavy rain the gardeners were busy. There it was the Casina.

Set amid the Vatican Gardens, the Casina was begun in 1553 by Pirro Ligorio and Sallustio Perruzzi, and completed between 1560 and 1562. This villa consists of four separate sections, with two pavilions and two arched gateways or Propylaea, connected by an oval inner court like an ancient nymphaeum, decorated with statues in the round, high reliefs, bas-reliefs, festoons, friezes, escutcheons and frames in stucco, where putti ride on waterspewing dolphins. It was here that Pius IV used to enjoy moments of peace and solitude. Also his nephew, St. Charles Borromeo, then Cardinal Secretary of State, held his famous literary dinners in the evenings. All this came to an abrupt end in 1565 when the new Pope Pius V closed down the Casina and it remained in a decaying state until 1920.

Since 1926, it has been used as the seat of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, which encompases both the Academy of the Sciences and Social Sciences. The Pontifical Academy of Sciences consists of eighty scientists (Sciences and Social Sciences) selected from around the world who are appointed for life by a sovereign act of the Pope.

The aim of the Academy is to promote the progress of the mathematical, physical and natural sciences and to advance the understanding of the history and philosophy of Science.

A very good day despite the cold and rain.

Italian, Italy Modern history

I am currently reading a book on Italy which is very interesting, the writer is Paul Ginsborg a fellow who is a scholar on Italy and who lived in Italy and was a fellow teaching at the University of Turin. The book is an account of contemporary Italian history from 1943 to 1980. It is fascinating, all that we assume about a country or think we know and in the end see that we know in fact little except for the clichés. The story starts on July 1943 when Benito Mussolini fell from power after a vote of no confidence by his own party, dismissed by the King of Italy and arrested after 20 years of absolute power. Hitler is furious orders his troops to invade Italy, the King makes a deal with the allies for Peace before he flees Rome, the allies are marching up from the South, there is no government and civil war starts.

Ginsborg then goes on to tell the tale of the different factions who will fight for power and then go on to rule a very poor country of mostly illiterate people, many forced to immigrate to Argentina, Canada and the USA and also internally within Italy seeking jobs in the North and tales of discrimination and hardships. A passage in the book about southeners arriving in Turin in winter wearing summer clothing and being bewildered by what they see in a big industrial city, all they knew was the poverty of small villages or towns south of Rome. The Vatican is also very present in all this, trying to influence events and doing all it can to regain its political hold on the country and the people which it had lost in 1870.

The USA also has a very large role pumping millions of dollars into Italy, so much so that Italy becomes the no. 1 friend and ally of the USA in Europe. In Rome the Palace of Queen Margherita is given to the US Government and becomes the new US Embassy on Via Veneto, Naval bases sprout all over the coasts. Most of the Fascist administration in government is retained so great is the fear of a communist takeover. The pope tries and succeeds in part in influencing elections in the late 1940's and 1950's. In 1955 only 7% of all households in Italy had electricity, running water and indoor plumbing. Most Italians did not speak Italian but dialects from the region they came from, living in isolation in small villages, no highways, few cars and poor communications generally. The Central government in Rome had to institute rules in education which made Italian mandatory for all. This explains why so many people I know in Canada whose parents and grand parents immigrated prior to 1960 speak regional or city dialects but no Italian.

I am currently reading about the economic miracle in the period 1955 to 1970 when the country transformed itself into a modern State. This book is fascinating, with a wealth of details and anecdotes on people and their struggles, it gives me a far better understanding of Italy today and why things are the way they are.