21-30 Historical Survey

7/29/2019 21-30 Historical Survey

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Overview of Roman History

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Architect : Francesco de Sanct is (1679 1731)

Date, Locat ion, and Descript ion: Completed in

1725, the Spanish Steps form the widest

staircase in Europe, this monumental scal inata

consists of 138 steps c l imbing the steep s lope

between the Piazza di Spagna and the Trinita

dei Monti church. Funds for the project were

provided by a French diplomat to l ink two

structures at the top of the hi l l specif ica l ly,

the Bourbon Spanish Embassy and the church

beside it which was under the patronage of the

Bourbon kings of France to the Holy See in

Palazzo Monaldeschi below.

With its elegant butterfly plan, the square at

the base of the Spanish Steps has been a

congregat ing spot for tourists s ince

Renaissance t imes. I t contains a fountainattributed to the father of Gian Lorenzo

Bernini. The intersect ing ramps and fans of

the sta ircase create a bri l l iant transit ion to a

viale which in turn ramps up to the Pincio, an

impress ively landscaped hi l ltop.

In late spring, the Spanish Steps are covered with pots of azaleas, buskers , and tourists rest ing in the

sun.

The incomparable Engl ish poet John Keats spent the last months of his l i f e (1821) in this neighborhood,

Tennessee Wil l iams used it as the sett ing for his novel la The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone , and Bob Dylan

mentions it in the song When I Paint My Masterpiece.


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Architect : Nicola Salvi (1697 1751)

Date and Locat ion: Completed in 1762, the Trevi Fountain is the largest Baroque waterwork in Rome

(eighty-three feet high by 161 feet long) and is probably the most famous con struct ion of its k ind in the

world. I t is located at the terminal point of the Virgo Aqueduct in the Quirinal District , which is named

for one of Romes seven hi l ls .

Descript ion: Inspired by the Ancient Roman triumphal arch (see page 11) , the Trevi fountain is

f lamboyant and theatrical . The central f igure is the god Neptune f lanked by two minor aquat ic deit ies

known as Tritons, one of whom restrains a rearing sea horse while the other stands beside a more

doci le creature. This presumably represents the two extreme moods of the sea.

The fountains of Rome were gifts to the Roman public over the c enturies from Popes and noblemen

concerned to provide aerated, potable water superior to what could be drawn from wells . As an urban

development scheme, the prol iferat ion of such monuments, ranging from the ornate to the rust icated,

with water output ranging from cascades to tr ick les , promoted both health and civic pride.

The Trevi Fountain has been used as a backdrop in many f i lms, most memorab ly La Dolce Vita by

Federico Fel l in i (1920 - 1993). Tradit ion holds that i f a tourist tosses a coin into the Trevi , he is

guaranteed a return vis it to Rome.


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Date and Locat ion: Between 1775 and 1 814 / The Florence Museum of Zoology and Natural History

This venerable inst itut ion is better known to locals as La Specola , or The Observatory, based on an

astronomical research center establ ished there by Grand Duke Pietro-Leopoldo of Lorraine (1797 1870)

and a Tribuna di Gali leo added by Giuseppe Martel l i (1792 - 1876)

Art ists and Descript ion: Perhaps the most bizarrely beautiful part ofLa Specola s odd col lect ion consists

of approximately s ix hundred wax anatomical models housed in ten gal ler ies , a l l copied from real

corpses by sculptors working in tandem with physic ians. The most famous works in this unusual

medium, remarkable for their sc ient if ic accuracy and used for teaching medicine, were executed by

Gaetano Zumbo (1656 1701) and Clemente Susini (1796 1814).

Although La Specola has a lways been devoted to highly specia l ized aspects of sc ient if ic inquiry , i t

contains the oldest public gal leries of its k ind and for more than one century was the only public ly-

access ible natural history museum in the world.

I myself look forward to seeing the inst itutes stuffed hippopotamus, a Seventeenth Century Medici

family pet which used to roam freely in the nearby Boboli Gardens.


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Dates: 1528 - 1870

Locat ion: The Capuchin Crypt beneath the

church of Santa Maria del la Concezione dei

Cappuccini on the Via Veneto near the

Piazza Barberini in Rome

Descript ion: In several small chapels the

skeletal remains of approximately 4,000

monks are nai led to the walls in (most ly)

intricate patterns, by and large

disassembled and grouped in wreaths of

vertebrae, etc. There are a lso heaps of

unsorted bones and unexpectedly funct ional

uses of bones (e.g . , as chandeliers) .

Art ists : The monks who establ ished this

church in 1631 brought 300 wagons ful l of

deceased fr iars from their previousmonastery. Pope Urban VI I I (1568 1644)

ordered soi l to be shipped from Jerusalem

for the interment of these skeletons. No

coffins were used. Through the late

Nineteenth Century, each t ime a monk died,

he took the place in the crypts holy soi l of

the oldest buried monk, whose seasoned

bones were then incorporated into the

overal l des ign plan.

Many famous vis itors (as different in temperam ent as the Marquis de Sade and Mark Twain) have left

written impress ions of their v is its to this unique, but n ot intentional ly morbid s ite.

In the chapel pictured above, a s ign in f ive languages reads, What you are now we used to be; what we

are now you wil l be. Images of death - in-the-midst-of- l i fe st i l l serve members of many rel igious orders

as materia l for meditat ion on the transitory nature of Nature.


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Architect : Giuseppe Sacconi (1854 1905)

Date and Locat ion: 1911 / The Vittorio Emanuele Monument is s ituated between the Piazza Venezia and

the Capitol ine Hi l l .

Descript ion: Also known as the Altar of the Fatherland, or more f amil iarly as I l Vittoriano, this

monument honors Vittorio Emanuele (1820 1878 / K ing of I ta ly from 186 1 and King of a Unified I ta ly

from 1870). As the intrepid leader of three wars for independence, Emanuele became the principal

symbol of the Risorgimento.

The monument is bui lt of white marble from Bottocini , Bre scia , and stands in stark contrast to the

marble of the Forum behind it . Many Ita l ians f ind this contrast vulgar and have nicknamed the structure

The Wedding Cake. The buildings odd proport ions, combined with its many steps and Corinthian

columns account for another derogatory nickname, The Typewriter.

The ground floor contains a Museum of the Risorgimento. An elevator to the top provides access to an

excel lent 360 degree panorama.


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Architect: Armando Brasini (1879 1965)

Date and Location: 1943 / The Convent of the Buon Pastore, Rome

Description: Brasini is one of the least-acknowled ged geniuses of Twentieth Century Italian Design, and the Neo-

Baroque movement within which he worked is also underappreciated. This is an easily-explained historical

phenomenon: the simplicity and sleekness of most Twentieth Century architecture combined with its who

cares? and/or shock value aesthetic -- virtually eclipsed the achievements of those who continued to pursue the

unrealized possibilities of the Classical Tradition.

Brasinis impressive body of work convincingly argues that the ideals of Renaissance and Baroque Art were neither

exhausted by centuries of repetition and variation nor irrelevant to the modern world. His meticulously

symmetrical vision, translated into highly-varied and almost sculptural massings, deserves to be better known.

Brasinis Convent of the Buon Pastore (above) was transformed a short time after it was completed during World

War II to serve first as an orphanage, then as a hospital, and ultimately as a series of military clinics for checkups,

mental health counseling, physical therapy, and a variety of outpatient procedures. This patchwork history of use

seems oddly perfect for an oddly perfect cluster of building s; Baroque Art, after all, is nothing if not busy. At the

present time, three different magnet high schools are housed within the Complex.


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Art ist : Aurel io Mistruzzi (1890 1960)

Date: In 1939, Pope John XXI I I (1881 1963) establ ished the Pius XI Medal as a biennial award by the

Counci l of the Pontif ica l Academy of Sciences to a young scient i st (under the age o f 45) who has

dist inguished him- or herself at the internat ional level. In 1975, for example, Stephen Hawking was the

recipient of the medal and the incenti vizing research st ipend which accompanies it .

Descript ion: Leonardo, Michelangelo, and Alessandro Volta (1745 - 1825) an odd tr io, chronological ly

- - appear on one s ide of the medal.

Ambrogio Damiano Achil le Ratt i (1857 1939) served the Church as Pope Pius XI from 19 22 and was the

first Pope to pres ide over the Vat ican City as an independent state (from 1929). As the Pope who

reigned between the two World Wars, h e wil l be remembered by poster ity as a f ighter against the

ascendant ideologies of Communism and Fascism, f lexing his muscles through the treat ies he negotiated

and rais ing his voice in protest whenever ter ms were violated.

He refounded the Pontif ica l Academy of Sciences in 19 36 with the a im of turning it into the scient if ic

senate of the Church, appoint ing eighty renowned internat ional scholars to the Academy s faculty,

regardless of ethnicity and rel igion (or lack thereof) .

As a former l ibrarian, Pius XI was predictably methodical and eff ic ient in his reorganizat ion of the

Vatican Archives.

An ardent mountain c l imber in his youth, many peaks in the Alps are named for him, because he was the

first to scale them.


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Architect: Angiolo Mazzoni (1894 - 1979)

Date and Location: 1935 / The Power Station and Observation Platform of Florences Santa Maria Novella Train Station

Description: The Main Terminal (to which the above structures were added) was designed in 1932 by the Gruppo Tuscano under

the leadership of Giovanni Michelucci (1891 - 1990) and Italo Gamberini (1907 - 1990). In deference to tradition, the use of pietra

forte for the stations stone frontage was intended both as a response to and a contrast with the nearby Gothic architecture of

the church of Santa Maria Novella. By contrast, the interior of the station features a dramatic metal and glass roof with large

skylights over the main passenger concourse, which is aligned perpendicular to the tracks and acts as a pedestrian street

connecting one side of the city with the other.

Near Platform 08 is a memorial plaque honoring the trainloads of Jews who were deported from Florence to Nazi detention,work, and death camps during World War II.

Mazzoni, a leading figure in Italys Futurist movement, completed the station with the annex illustrated above. His work, in

general, relies on straightforward geometric forms yet exhibits a dynamism which is absent from the designs of the Tuscan Group

(who had consciously imitated international Medieval and Modern trends). The rationalism and originality ofMazzonis

contribution to this important public commission marks the beginning of an original and distinctively Italian style.

The greatest commission of Mazzonis career, Romes Termini Station, came to a halt during World War II, and as soon as the

Fascist Party was dissolved, the job was given to another architect. Even though he voluntarily exiled himself to South America,

Mazzonis early, enthusiastic advocacy of Mussolini made him apersona non grata in his newly democratized homeland.


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Architect : Zaha Hadid (b.1950 to I r aqi parents / studied in Beirut and London / now a Brit ish c it izen)

Date and Locat ion: MAXXI, I ta lys Nat ional Museum of Twenty -F irst Century Art , opened in 2010.

Descript ion: Hadid is the most famous female architect in the world. In 2004, she became the f irst

Musl im and the f irst woman to be honored with the Pritzker , architectu res equivalent to a Nobel Prize .

She a lso received the prest igious Sterl ing Prize in two consecutive years (2010 2011), the f irst win

because of the bui lding above. Having recently branched out into numerous consumer -targeted design

ventures with init ia l success , she consistent ly appears on l ists of the most inf luentia l women al ive ( e.g. ,

Forbes, The New State sman, and Time.)

In order to avoid a contrast between this gleaming white edif ice and the yel l owing ruins of Ancient

Rome (see page 05), c ity planners created a spacious Music Park north of the Centro Storico to serve

Hadid as a sett ing for her temple to Contemporary Muses. Appropriately en ough, within MAXXIs

interdependent heavy and l ight features is a concentrat ion on architecture itself. Large scale,

bleeding -edge exhibits in other media attract record -breaking numbers of art lovers to this unique

venue.


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A r t i s t s : U n k n o wn

D at e an d L o c at i o n : T h e gr af f i t o at l e f t ( e n h an c e d wi t h an

o v e r l ay f o r v i s u a l l e g i b i l i t y ) i s k n o wn as t h e A l e xo m e n o s

G r af f i t o , o r t h e Gra f f i t o B l a s f e mo . I n i t i a l l y s c r at c h e d o n

a p l as t e r wal l c i rc a A D 2 0 0 , i t was d i s c o v e r e d d u r i n g

e xc av at i o n s o n t h e P a l at i n e H i l l i n 1 8 6 7 a n d i s n o w

h o u s e d i n t h e P a l at i n e A n t i q u ar i u m .

T h e u r b an s t r e e t ar t b e l o w was p h o t o gr ap h e d i n an a l l e y

o f t h e J an i c u l u m l as t ye ar ( 2 0 1 2 ) b y o n e o f m y f o r m e r

s t u d e n t s , S t e p h an i e L au e , o n e m o r n i n g wh i l e s h e was

s k i p p i n g s e s s i o n s at a b u s i n e s s c o n f e r e n c e i n R o m e .

D e s c r i p t i o n : A d m i t t e d l y , g r af f i t i i s an ar t c r i m e . T h an k

G - d f o r i t , t h o u gh . H o w wo u l d we e v e r f o r m v a l i d

h i s t o r i c a l p e r s p e c t i v e s wi t h o u t i t ? I n t h e S e c o n d

C e n t u r y A D , f o r e xam p l e , C h r i s t i an i t y was c l e ar l y m u c h

m i s u n d e r s t o o d an d m u c h m o c k e d i n A n c i e n t R o m e . T h e

i n s c r i p t i o n A l e xo m e n o s wo r s h i p s h i s go d s u gge s t s t h at

a c e r t a i n G r e e k i m m i gr an t wh o h ad p r o b ab l y c o n v e r t e d

t o C h r i s t i an i t y i n A s i a M i n o r s t r u c k h i s P a l at i n e

n e i gh b o r s as an o n o l at e r , o r t h e d e v o t e e o f an as s .

No s o o n e r , h o we v e r , h ad C h r i s t i an i t y e s t ab l i s h e d i t s e l f i n

R o m e af t e r t h e l as t f u t i l e p e r s e c u t i o n s o f D i o c l e t i an ( s e e

p age 1 3 ) , t h an i t b e c am e f o r e v e r i n s e p ar ab l e f r o m m o s t

R o m an s l i f e s t y l e s an d p r i o r i t i e s . T h e c o n t e mp o r ar y

r e n d i t i o n i n s p r ay p a i n t o f J e s u s as t h e M an o f S o r r o ws

t e s t i f i e s i n a p o we r f u l way t o t h e c o n t i n u i n g s i gn i f i c an c e

o f t h e S u f f e r i n g S av i o r s i m age an d t h e i m p o r t an c e o f H i s

R e d e m p t i v e M i s s i o n t o c o n t e m p o r ar y R o m an yo u t h wh o

ar e b o t h ae s t h e t i c a l l y an d s o c i o - p o l i t i c a l l y at c r o s s e n d s

wi t h t h e i r c u l t u r a l p as t .

21-30 Historical Survey

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