Tuesday, 2 September 2008

Bologna, Emilia-Romagna

September 2nd, 2008
Intriguing Bologna

This morning dressed in black linen pants, a silk blouse, jeweled sandals, soft curls, sparkling lip gloss and a 38litre back pack (thoughtfully packed in with everything I'd need for a solo expedition & to look good in Venice), I grabbed my traditional 'departure breakfast' (Italian pastry and caffelatte) and boarded the first train at santa Maria Novelle, Firenze and traveled to Bologna in Emilia-Romagna.

The main reason I wanted to go to Bologna was to visit the impressive museums which exhibit the natural human skeletons and wax studies by Ercole Lelli and created by Morandi and Manzolini. This wax studies were originally intended to enable medical students to study anatomy, physiology, pathology and obsterics.

I thoroughly enjoyed the galleries and found the studies professionally and artistically inspiring. Whilst in Bologna I also visited: Archeology museum - I felt most patriotic when I saw a sculpture of an Aboriginal man; Biblioteca Communale Archiginnasio which conatins an anatomy theatre (1647) which is carved entirely from wood; Basilica San Domenico to view a small marble sculpture supposedly created by Michelangelo when he was 19years old; The Bologna University; and the Contemporary Art Museum - where I saw some brilliant, insightful and refreshing works of contemporary art. The most memorable was a video footage taken in the 1960's. The black and white video showed a narrow doorway flanked by a two completely naked individuals; a male and female. The doorway was positioned at the entry to an exhibit and the video depicted with raw clarity and commedy the reaction of the guests as their bodies awkwardly and stragetically past by these naked forms. Brilliant!




Architecture details & street scenes in Bologna

Acheology museum, Anatomy museum, Biblioteca dell' Archiginnaso & Basilica San Domenico, Bologna.

No comments: