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

Nepal - Sundial

Dear Friends
I have to thank our Nepali guide Suhresh Battarai for having shown us one of the few sundials in Kathmandu. The sundial is located near the Gantha Ghar (Clock Tower), in the court of the first occidental school built by the English in Kathmandu at the beginning of the last century. On the basis of the sundial is a dedication terminating with a Latin citation reciting that it is a good action to sacrifice oneself for the native land. The following images show you the details of the sundial.
Salutations
Giancarlo

Nepal - Temples in Kathmandu

Dear Friends
in walking in Kathmandu I observed many temples. Sometime the deity worshipped in a temple was difficult to identify also for our guide. This was caused by the lot of deities coming from Hinduism mixed with religious or moral elements coming from Tantrism, Hinduism and Buddism. The Buddistic temples are normally dominated by a big Stupa - a white semi-spheric dome surmonted by a square construction on the walls of which are represented the visage of Buddha and by a pinnacle. The induistic temples are normally not open to the non-hinduistic people and taking images of them is not allowed. Then, there are many other temples in the town dedicated to deities like Shiva (identifiable also by the presence of monkeys), Visnu and other. Here is some images of temples in Kathmandu. Any comment from your side is welcomed.
Salutations
Giancarlo

Nepal - President

Dear Friends
an unexpected honour was reserved to our group visiting Nepal. Due to the efforts of
our correspondents we were received in audience by the President of Nepal Ram Baran Yadav at the Presidential Palace in Kathmandu. The President given us some information about the efforts of the country for consolidating democracy and developing friendly relations with other countries. From our side, a star party was organised in behalf of the President, in which Jean-Luc projected images of the Milky Way and other celestial objects made at Syanboche, at the feet of Mount Everest and invited the President to observe the Moon through a small telescope. At the end of the audience the President invited us to a tee reception. These two images document our audience with the President.
Salutations
Giancarlo

Nepal - Himalaya

Dear Friends
the EurAstro/M-Polo Mission to Nepal has been accomplished with success. During the Mission astronomical observations and star parties were organised together with visits
of historical and religious sites. Our group was also received in audience by the President of Nepal. To give you a comprehensive cultural and etnographic impression of what Nepal represents is obviously not possible. However, I hope that the images in this report devoted to the Himalaya (Mount Everest in the fourth image left side together with the Lotzes in the middle and the Amadablan on the right side) and other images in other following reports will give you impressions about various aspects of the reality of Nepal.
Salutations
Giancarlo