From Saint Petersburg to Moskow

Dear Friends
the M.Polo - EurAstro joint lecture of yesterday 21/12/2011 was well attended and successful. I have to thank Jean-Luc for his images and presentation about Saint Petersburg and the public for the attention and the pertinent questions, especially the part of the public which remained up to the end of my presentation about Moscow. The lecture lasted about two hours. Many themes and images concerning the towns and the Russian life where proposed to the public during the lecture, in particular:
- practical information about the visit of the towns and their monuments;
- main museums, churches and monasteries - art of icons;
- role of European architects, especially Italians, in the construction of St. Petersburg and Moscow;
- role of the religion in the actual Russian life.
The attached images, presented at the lecture, give you an idea of the Russia of today.
I take the occasion of this report to whish to you and your families
Merry Christmas and Happy 2012
Giancarlo

The war and the after war in Veronetta

Dear Friends
yesterday I was in Verona (IT) where I had the occasion to visit the exhibition "Ricordi di Veronetta anni 50" presented by the Archivio Cargnel. The exhibition is hosted in the ancient Venetian Bishop's door (Porta del Vescovo) of Veronetta, a neighbourhood of the town. Impressive are the images of the town touched by the events of the war, during the days of the Liberation and the years of the reconstruction. Any remark of your side is wel-
comed.
Salutations
Giancarlo

  

Duisburg

Dear Friends
thanks to the Jean-Luc organisation, yesterday the announced excurtion to Duisburg has
been accomplished. Because taking images was not allowed, our visit of the DKM Museum
(http://www.museum-dkm.de/) cannot be documented. However, the museum is remarkable for its collection of ancient Japanese and Chinese religious statuary - mainly representation of Buddha and the Kandahar (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kandahar) ancient statuary in which buddhistic and ellenistic influences are fused. The small Egyptian collection of the museum present mumified birds and precious stone containers for perfums.
The not far Lehmbruck Museum (http://www.duisburg.de/micro2/lehmbruck/) presents hosts a temporary exhibition dedicated to Whilhelm Lehmbruck (http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilhelm_Lehmbruck) and other artists of his time. Of particular interest in the museum are two works of Amedeo Modigliani
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amedeo_Modigliani). The images and the links provide you with information and an impression about the artistic production of these artists.
Salutations
Giancarlo

Hameln

Dear Friends
thanks to the perfect organisation by Jean-Luc our excursion to Hameln was successful. As you certainly know Hameln is the town of the magic fifer of the tale of brothers Grimm. By means of the melody of his fife the fifer liberated the town of Hameln from mouses, but not payed by the inhabitants, with another fife's melody brougth with him the Hameln's children. The tale appears to reflect the ritual of the Celtic springs in which the jungs of surpopulated region leaved it for colonising new lands. Nobody were allowed to come back. Anyway, Hameln is a quiet and nice town as you can see from the images. Unfortunately, in "The Museum", preserving ancient and modern artifacts of the region, was not allowed to take images. But exciting was the vision of the town from the bell tower of the church of St. Nicolai which hosts a grand organ.
Attached to this report is also a video concerning Hameln kindly sent by our Giovanni Roberto. I have never tried this option of our blog. I hope that it works and you can enjoi the video.
Salutations
Giancarlo

    

Perugino, Maister von Raffaello

Dear Friends
as announced, I visited the exhibition Perugino, Maister von Raffaello at the Alte Pinakothek here in Munich. The main subject of the painting of Perugino presented at the exhibition is religious (Saint Sebastian, Madonna) because the Church, at his epoch, was the principal committent. But three portraits of important persons permit to appreciated the spiritual force of the person he was able to reproduce and transmit to the watcher. Only one painting at the exhibition is of Raffaello and this does not permit to appreciate the influence
that Perugino had on it. Unfortunately, it was not possible taking images of the paintings, so I can only reneuwed to you my invitation to visit the exhibition.
Salutations
Giancarlo

Nepal - Buddhistic Icon

Dear Friends
I was aware of the exhistence of icons from Russia, Egypth, Ethiopia, all dealing with religious orthodox subjects, but I was very surprised, after the visit of the Russian Cultural Centre, to find in a shop in Kathmandu a Buddhistic icon. The icon is metallic, in the middle is the representation of the Buddha in a meditative posture and on the sides are pictures representing scenes of his life. This icon remind the Russian icones of saints, in which the prortrait of a saint is in the middle of the icon and the scenes of his life are inside "xleimi", square pictures, on the sides. I remind you that the icons represent one of the centres of interest of our M.Polo Club.
Salutations
Giancarlo

Nepal - Russian Cultural Centre in Kathmandu

Dear Friends
I was very glad to visit in Kathmandu the Russian Cultural Centre. Supported actively by enthusiasted peoples, it promotes the knowledge of the Russian culture by means of events (conferences, concerts) and exhibitions. During our visit Jean-Luc projected images of the Milky Way and other celestial objects taken in Syanboche at the feet of Everest. At the Centre we visited two photographic exhibition about the Russian technology and Russian icons. I was also glad to have conversations in Russian with some of the presents. The images comes from the two exhibitions.
Salutations
Giancarlo

Nepal - Panauti

Dear Friends
of interest is also the town of Panauti, 32 Km South-East from Kathmandu. Panauti is a Newari holy place located at the confluence of two holy rivers and according to the legend a possible third holy river flows under the town. In the town live the sadus, wise and very religious men, that by conduct an ashetic life and by praying are waiting for their moment for passing away. According to the Nepali religion, a mix of tantrism, hinduism and buddhism, dieing in Panauti brings directly to Nirvana.
Salutations
Giancarlo

Nepal - Bhaktapur

Dear Friends
the town of Bhaktapur, 13 Km East of Kathmandu, is one of the most important cultural and religious Newari sites of Nepal. Its origin dates probably at the 7th cen. A.D. and it permits to have a unique look about the cultural and religious heritage and today reality of Nepal. Salutations
Giancarlo