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090205 Day of Contrasts |
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written
by ninamil7 / 09.04.2005 |
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Itinerary |
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Our day started on a positive note since we didn’t have to begin class until 10am as opposed to the more usual 9am. We gathered outside the Lamborghini Roma before we started our day of extreme contrasts.
Our first stop was made just outside the Church of the Capuchins where Professor Wong let us loose into the Crypt of the Capuchins. Without knowing what was to come, we casually entered one of the most bizarre scenes in all of Roma.
In the dark crypt, we were bombarded with the skeletal remains of over 4,000 friars and poor Romans filling five different rooms and even the walls and ceiling of the hallway. We saw clavicles and vertebrae arranged as stars and other designs on the ceiling; hundreds of skulls forming little curved niches along the wall where whole skeletons wearing habits stood; winged skulls with wings fashioned out of scapulae; and lamps constructed entirely of tibias, mandibles, radii and more just above our head. I’ll admit, the anatomist in me relished the opportunity to identify all the different bones arranged before us, but I couldn’t entirely escape the perturbed feeling that such a display of human remains imposed.
After experiencing such an unusual scene, each of us was asked to give one word describing what we saw. Some of the words that came up were horrifying, grotesque, creative, invasive, hope, and as Prof. Wong said, medieval.
Our class continued down the Via Veneto where we saw Rome’s Hard Rock Café on one side of the street and the American Embassy on the other. Prof. Wong was sure to point out that if we ran into trouble with the law, that was the place to go – not to him.
We kept walking on our way to the Spanish Steps, making a short detour to visit Angela and Kayanna’s apartment. We descended the Spanish Steps down to Bernini’s fountain at the bottom (Pietro Bernini, that is, father of the more renowned and talented Gian Lorenzo Bernini). The steps remained relatively clear except for the areas covered in shade by a nearby building. Tourists and locals alike took advantage of the shade’s slightly depressed temperature on the hot Friday morning. Our class, however, continued on to Via Condotti, home to some of the most posh shopping in all of Rome. We walked by Prada, Burberry, Christian Dior, Gucci, Armani, and Valentino to name a few.
Also on this street is the famed Caffe Greco, established in 1760, where famous artists, writers, and intellectuals once stopped to sip coffee and visit amongst themselves. Our class stopped in front of the Caffe briefly before continuing on to our final destination. In an act of simple symmetry, our tour ended, similar to where it started, right outside the Roma Ferrari Store.
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Highlights |
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| www.r-l-p.co.uk/ +bones.html |
| Crypt of the Capuchins |
| Here is one of the five rooms displaying countless human bones in a most unusual fashion. |
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The highlight of the day, and in my opinion the whole trip so far, was definitely the Crypt of the Capuchins. In general, we usually have a good idea of what we’re going to see each day, but this was a complete surprise. Seeing the bones of 4,000 people fashioned into some sort of symbolic decoration was entirely unexpected. The blank stares of the thousands of skulls is an image that is likely to remain in my mind for a long time to come, whether I want it to or not.
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Images |
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| Nina Miller |
| Lamborghini Roma |
| Prof. Wong takes a moment to admire the Lamborghini just beyond his reach on the other side of the glass before our day gets started. |
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| Nina Miller |
| American Embassy |
| We had a small dose of America on the Via Vittorio Veneto where the Hard Rock Cafe was to one side and the United States Embassy to the other. |
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| Nina Miller |
| Spanish Steps |
| A few students descend the well known Spanish steps on their way to Via Condotti. |
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| Nina Miller |
| Via Condotti |
| Our day of contrasts ended on the designer-filled Via Condotti. |
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