The First Botanical Garden

The Botanical Garden of Padua is the oldest university botanical garden in the world to have conserved its original location and its structure practically unaltered over the centuries. It was established in 1545, after a decision by the Senate of the Most Serene Republic of Venice, expressly for the cultivation of medicinal plants, which at that time comprised most of the "simples", that is, those plants which provided remedies directly from nature. The Garden was also established in order to allow those who frequented the University of Padua to study and learn how to identify such plants.

UNESCO included the Botanical Garden of Padua on its list of World Heritage sites in 1997, saying:

"The Botanical Garden of Padua is the original of all botanical gardens throughout the world, and represents the birth of science, of scientific exchanges, and understanding the relationship between nature and culture. It has made a profound contribution to the development of many modern scientific disciplines, notably botany, medicine, chemistry, ecology and pharmacy."

Today the Garden contains over 3,500 plant species from all over the world. Particular attention is paid to rare plants from the Veneto Region and north-east Italy, the vegetation of the Euganean Hills near Padua, the Lagoon of Venice, and the whole Alpine arc. The Garden also has a "Germ Plasm Bank" containing seeds of more than 2,000 species, and offers educational, teaching and research facilities. It is still a University institution.

As might be expected, the Garden has also preserved some very old specimens. There's a Magnolia tree from 1786, one of the oldest specimens in Italy and Europe. There's a Gingko tree from 1750, a male specimen onto which a female branch was grafted in the mid 19th century. An Oriental plane tree dating from 1680 has a hollow trunk. A Himalayan cedar dating to 1828 is the first example of this species to be introduced into Italy.

The oldest plant in the Garden is a world-famous palm known as 'Goethe's Palm", dating back to 1585 - it aroused great interest in the German poet.

Info from the Botanical Garden brochure, University of Padua.

Looking at Art

'Sibilla' by Guido Reni (1635)

There was an opinion piece in the NYT the other day - by Deborah Solomon, an art critic and author - which argued that people taking photographs of art works in museums and galleries was, ultimately, a good thing. It elicited the expected outcry in response, but she made what I thought was a good point: that peering at an art work through a lens - even that of a smart phone - can increase visual literacy. As she said:

"First, there is the eye factor. A visitor who photographs van Gogh's "Starry Night" echoes the basic mission of visual art: to celebrate the act of looking. When you gaze through a lens, you are likely to consider the world more deeply. You frame space and take note of composition, the curve of a line, the play of light and shadow. As the photographer Dorothea Lange noted, "The camera is an instrument that teaches people how to see without a camera." As an aid to art education, smartphone cameras are preferable to older devices. For art-history students, iPhone photographs are an earnest reference aid. For everyone else, digital photographs work in much the same way as art postcards did in their heyday a half-century ago..."

When I visited the Bologna Pinoteca (Picture Gallery) - which does freely allow photographs - I spent my time not only seeking out the masterworks, trying to decipher the allegorical and religious references, reading the informative name cards, and taking lots of photos. I also - believe it or not - looked intently at the paintings. Of course, all the aforementioned activities are part and parcel of visiting a gallery and really enjoying the scenery - except perhaps photographing, which is not always permitted.

Mauro Gandolfi, Self-Portrait 1785

As I was snapping away, recording my favourites and the ones I wanted to report about on this blog, I saw a fellow gallery-goer also photographing, with his smartphone. But rather than recording the whole work, he was photographing only details - a face, a hand, a bit of the landscape, some drapery - thereby perhaps proving the NYT column writer's point. I do the same thing too sometimes. The angel is often in the detail.

Lavinia Fontana, 'La Famiglia Gozzadini' (detail) 1583

The Bologna Pinoteca doesn't go in for modern stuff. They have enough to contend with, with all their treasures from the 13th to the 18th centuries. They have an important selection of works by Guido Reni - he who painted the tragic Beatrice Cenci, whom we met in this blog post. This is understandable, since Bologna is Reni's home town. They also have Raphael's 'Estasi di Santa Cecilia' (mentioned in the last post) and some enormous Mannerist canvasses; plus many early religious paintings from the 13th century through to the Renaissance.

Giorgio Vasari 'Christ in the House of Martha and Mary' (detail) 1540

Have you noticed that the Madonna is far and away the most painted figure in Roman Catholic art? Christ less so, and God the Father very rarely. Of course, she's the ultimate intercessionary, followed by that enormous pantheon of saints. Unlike Protestants, who are bold enough to talk to God directly, Catholics approach with more deference, selecting their agent, requesting that they have a word on their behalf.

Prospero Fontana 'Adoration of the Magi' (detail) (c1569)

It's interesting to look at the face of the Virgin in these paintings. Most usually she reflects the faces of the day of the painter - she rarely looks like a 1st century BC Palestinian Jewess. Some painters render her differently in their various canvasses; others have a stock "Madonna" face that they (or their workshop) recycle.

I was noticing the face of the Madonna in the Bologna Pinoteca, taking photos here and there to remember. Then I found the Giotto. Whoa. Those eyes from 1330 looking right back at me.

Pietro di Giovanni Lianori (1453)

Francesco Raibolini detto il Francia (1500)

Francesco Raibolini detto il Francia (1498/9)

Giotto (1330)

Saint Cecilia

Raphael's S. Cecilia

Wandered off one of Bologna’s porticoes into the back of a huge church - San Giacomo Maggiore (begun in 1267), as I later discovered. In the back wings I found a little old lady manning a postcard stand and an exquisite little oratory, decorated with a ten-fresco cycle of episodes from the life of Saint Cecilia. Of course, I couldn’t resist a visit.

The fescoes were painted (some of them, anyway) by Lorenzo Costa - he of the lovely ‘Annunciation’ I spotted in the Basilica of San Petronio and loved. They were paid for by the rich and powerful Bentivoglio Family, who were big in Bologna in 1488, the year they were commissioned. The little oratory is, in fact, called ‘The Bentivoglio Chapel’. 

The Bentivoglio Chapel

It is also used these days for musical soireés - Saint Cecilia being the patron saint of musicians. Though there’s nothing in her iconography, or in these frescoes, to explain that.

Raphael's S. Cecilia

This lack of evidence hasn’t stopped many a later painter from depicting St Cecilia festooned in musical instruments. In Bologna’s own Pinoteca there’s a wonderful Raphael that does just that.

And the saint’s story? I thought you’d never ask. You might find this one hard to believe, or even follow. Here’s a short version of the story told in the frescoe cycle (and the accompanying booklet, purchased from the little old lady at the postcard stand).

But a warning: the booklet has a disclaimer: "no documents have reached us which describe her actions as a martyr: no real historical evidence exists which proves the most salient aspects of her existence." But as always, there's plenty of myth and archetype to be going on with...





The story...

It's roughly 222 - 230 AD. Cecilia as a young woman is handed over in matrimony to a young pagan named Valeriano. On the wedding night, Cecilia reveals to her husband that she's taken up vows of chastity [or "vowels of chastity" as my booklet puts it] and has granted her purity to Christ. History does not records what the young husband thought of that revelation. Cecilia also reveals that she is protected by one of God's angels, hovering nearby (implication: don't try anything).

Ss. Valeriano and Tiburzio lose their heads.

However, Cecilia invites Valeriano to convert and purify his soul so that he could see his own angel. Valeriano is convinced by her abundant faith and sets out to find the elderly Holy Pope St Urbano (Urban VI). With the help of the poor, he finds the pope at the third mile on the Appian Way. The Pope instructs Valeriano in the Christian faith and baptises him. Back he goes to Cecilia, and they are accompanied by angels with crowns of roses and lilies. All is well.

Into the sarcophagus.

Valeriano then asks if his brother Tiburzio may be allowed to convert; they visit the Pope for Tiburzio's baptism. The two brothers get to work spreading the Word, but run afoul of the prefect of Rome, Turchio Almachio, who had martyred Christians in the past. The two brothers are themselves sentenced to death and decapitated at the fourth mile of the Apian Way, along with a convert named Massimo.

Almachio orders that Cecilia be buried together with Valeriano and Tiburzio in a new sarcophagus on which a Phoenix, symbol of the resurrection, is engraved. Meanwhile, however, the nasty Almachio orders that Cecilia be brought before him for interrogation - he is after the brothers' possessions. He sentences her to be tortured to death by being immersed in boiling liquid (boiling oil?) but she miraculously remains unharmed by the attempt. Clearly annoyed by this, Almachio decides that she must be decapitated, and acts as execution himself. Three blows don't kill her. She survives this attack for three more days, during which time she gives all her possessions to the poor and her house to Pope Urban for the church. Then she dies and is buried by the Pope as a martyr.

After all that , we could do with a little music.

From Raphael's 'S. Cecilia'

From Raphael's 'S. Cecilia'

S. Cecilia as sculpted by Stefano Maderno
in the Church of S. Cecilia in Trastevere, Rome.

Anonymous painting from 1700 in The Bentivoglio Chapel, Bologna
"This painting portrays the exact position of S. Cecilia after her death
as found in S. Callisto catacombs in Rome. It was inspired by the Maderno
sculptor's statue."

The Oldest University

The Anatomy Lecture Room, University of Bologna, Archiginnasio.

The University of Bologna is generally recognised as the oldest in the world. Although it's a bit hazy - there are no documents confirming the foundation of the institution - it's generally accepted that it was founded in 1088, and by 1125 was the most important European centre for law studies (eat your heart out, Oxbridge).

The Old

It's possible to visit a building where classes were held from about 1563 until 1803, called the Archiginnasio - it was erected especially as a university building. It was severely bombed during WWII, but has been pieced back together. The students over the centuries left their coats of arms all over the walls of the corridors, stairs, porticoes and vaults, making a colourful panoply.

Archiginnasio, Courtyard

Archiginnasio, Bologna. Tourists, not students, these days.

Colourful hallways of the old University.

Student Coats-of-Arms.

The drawcard of the Archiginnasio is the Anatomy Theatre, lined in wood with a marble-slabbed dissecting table in the centre, where corpses were dissected. The Anatomy Theatre was built in 1637 by Antonio Levanti. It contains statues of famous ancient and Bolognese physicians and a figure of Apollo surrounded by heavenly constellations on the ceiling. The hall has largely been reconstructed after very serious war damage. The Lecturer's Chair consists of a canopy supported by two famous "skinless" wooden statues, signed and dated by Ercole Lelli in 1734 but actually made, at least in large part, by Silvestro Giannotti.

Strangely appropriate figures in the Anatomy Lecture Room.

Remains, bombed in 1944. Before reconstruction, obviously.

Outside the Archiginnasio is Piazza Galvini, presided over by a statue of a famous ex-student, the physicist Luigi Galvini. He discovered electric currents in animals, giving the English language the word "galvanize".

Galvini.

In the tenth and eleventh centuries Bologna helped to sort out argument between the pope and the Holy Roman Emperor, and the city earned the title 'La Dotta' ('The Learned') and a prominent reputation for its law faculties. Outside the church of San Domenico are two curious canopied tombs holding the remains of law professors, one of which is decorated with a carved relief showing a medieval law lecture in session.

But perhaps the most famous alumni of Bologna University? It's hard to choose: Dante, Petrarch, Dürer, Goldoni...or one Nicolò Copernico. Read more of the history here.

Medieval tomb with carved relief of a law class. Some things never change...

The New

Porticoes plastered with flapping papers advertising rooms for rent, English tutoring, political demos, books for sale; young people in grubby but lively bars and cafes, or sitting on the dirty flagstones (what's with that?) in Piazza Verdi. Bookshops everywhere. Yep, a modern university.

Università di Bologna is still going strong.

Sitting on the ground, Piazza Verdi. 

Students News.

The modern University of Bologna.

Student life.

Cristo Morto

Not happy...Mary of Cleophas and Mary Magdalene.

In 1463, Niccoló Dell'Arca made a beautiful life-sized terracotta tableau of the dead Christ surrounded by grieving friends and relatives. It's known as the Compianto Sul Cristo Morto and is in the church of Santa Maria della Vita in Bologna, and the Rough Guide waxes lyrical over it, describing it as "among the most dramatic examples of Renaissance sculpture you'll see."

St John the Evangelist.

The friends and relatives include Joseph of Arimathea, Mary Salome, the Virgin Mary, St John the Evangelist, Mary of Cleophas and Mary Magdalene (who is particularly upset). They're reputed to have been modelled on the agonised faces of the patients in a nearby hospital run by the church.

Joseph of Arimathea and Mary Salome

The tableau became a cult icon and attracted pilgrims in their droves, their offerings helping to keep the hospital funded.

At the moment the group is enclosed by protective scaffolding. A notice says that it's necessary because of the 'the recent earthquake' and will remain until things can be fixed up. Time to leave another offering, I think.

Detail. Painted terracotta.

The tableau, presently surrounded by scaffolding 'due to the recent earthquake'.

The members of the mourning group? Joseph of Arimathea was a rich man and follower of Jesus who donated his own prepared tomb for Christ's body. John the Evangelist was a disciple of Jesus and the author (presumed) of the Gospel of St John. The Virgin Mary, Christ's mother, needs no Wiki link, and her grief is understandable. The other women are sometimes referred to as "the three Marys", all of whom are mention in one or other of the Gospels as being present at the crucifixion. Mary Magdalene has featured before on this blog. Mary Salome and Mary of Clopas (or Cleophas) were possibly aunts of Jesus (one the sister of Mary, mother of Christ; and the other married to a brother of Joseph. Possibly.)


The theme of the lamentation over the dead Christ is of course common in Christian iconography, one of the most famous images called 'Cristo Morto' being that of Mantegna (from about 1480), which is in the Pinacoteca di Brera in Milan, the odd perspective making it strangely affecting.

And over in the big Basilica of San Petronio in Bologna is a similar carved-wood group that echoes that in Santa Maria della Vita, made in 1916. The same people surround Christ in similar attitudes. Mary Magdalene (right) remains very upset.

The REALLY old churches of Bologna

Chapel of the Holy Sepulcher - old, really old.

When I say old, I’m thinking 1st century AD, a pagan temple to Isis built over a spring (which is still there); followed by an extraordinary construction, around the 5th century AD, that was built to resemble the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem. I’ve seen the current version of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem - for those who don’t know and are interested, it’s billed as the ‘actual tomb’ in which Jesus Christ was placed after his crucifixion. There’s a small marble compartment with a bench where His body was supposed to have been laid and all...one queues with other pilgrims and files by this bench. Of course, according to the Gospels, Christ was placed in a cave-like tomb: this compartment or 'aedicule' is supposed to be on the site of the cave. The original aedicule was built around the time of Constantine (c. 326 AD) but the entire Church of the Holy Sepulchre was razed to the ground in 1009 by the "mad Caliph", the Fatimid Al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah, ending 300 years of easy access to Jerusalem by Christian pilgrims and inspiring the Crusades. 

Replica of the crypt in Jerusalem. Eerie.

But be all that as it may, in Bologna there is a replica - the only known replica - of the Holy Sepulchre. It is situated in a very atmospheric circular brick oratory, dim and evocative, which certainly does its best to carry you back to the fifth century, the time when it was built -- probably at the instigation of San Petronio, the patron saint and bishop of Bologna, who is thought to have travelled to the Holy Lands and to have been inspired to instigate the building of this replica. If San Petronio did visit Jerusalem in the 5th century, the replica he built would have been of the Holy Sepulchre standing at that time, before the "mad Caliph" razed it and before his son, the much milder Ali az-Zahir, allowed rebuilding to commence.  

Legend has it that Petronius brought back a certain column from the Holy Land - composed of two carved stones with no capitals, which is still in the Sepulchre chapel - in order to show the height of Christ to the faithful.

Dome of the Chapel of the Holy Sepulchre.

San Petronio’s remains were discovered buried in this Chapel in the 12th century, and remained there - viewable through a hole in the floor - until very recently, when they were removed to the huge Basilica that bears is name. 

Old, but changed many times.

This extraordinary place is embedded in a complex of ancient old churches know collectively as ‘San Stefano’, or the ‘Seven Churches’. I walked into the first one - ‘The Church of the Crucifix’ - and assumed, because of its austere and bare demeanor, that it was very, very old. Then the volunteer lady at the cash desk sold me a history of the complex, written by a monk who lived there, and I discovered - through his rather disgusted comments - that this place has been altered very, very significantly over the years, up until the 20th century, though his most acerbic comments related to the destruction at the time of Napoleon. In this strange, bare church there is a wooden Pieta, and (recent) steps leading to a light-filled altar. 

Below this church (which is already about a metre lower than the piazza in front of it) is a crypt. Even before reading the monk’s guidebook, I could tell this was old. It was built to - and still does - protect the remains of the first Bolognese martyrs, Saints Vitale and Agricola, who died for professing early Christianity. The crypt was originally secret and secluded, as protection - apparently remains of early martyrs were subject to pilfering in the 11th century.

'The Church of the Crucifix'

The crypt - Saints Vitale and Agricola.

But I must admit that the Basilica of the Holy Sepulcher is the real draw-card of this complex. As the whole place is a palimpsest of many centuries of alterations, one has to use one’s imagination. As the small guidebook sold to me says:

‘In order to have an accurate picture of the small chapel in the centre that is a copy of the one in Jerusalem, it is necessary to disregard the ambone on the left. It has changed places many times during the centuries, having been moved between the different churches including the Holy Sepulcher Church. Furthermore, the staircase, the altar at the top with its balustrade and everything else that can be clearly seen to be a later addition must be disregarded. The small chapel which remains is the only reproduction left in the world of the Sepulcher of Christ...’ 

The evolution of San Stefano through the centuries is fascinating. Touring it today, you can only get a taste -- parts are closed, parts under renovation. When I was there workmen were - fascinatingly in their own right - pounding new pebbles into the surface of ‘Pilate’s Courtyard’, one by one with rubber mallets. But throughout the complex there are many ancient and evocative reminders of many centuries of Roman Catholic devotion and legend.

Yes, I wondered too...the tomb of a tailor. 

'St Peter's Window' - a reminder of the cock crowing three times...

Evocative old cloisters....

A wooden group depicting the Magi's worship in the Martyrium Church
by Bolognese artist Crocifissi - 14th C
(It would have been a better photo except that
I didn't have 20 euro cents to light it up.)

Decorations on the exterior of the Sepulcher -
Romanesque style, typical of the medieval world.