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082504 The Roman National Museum |
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by saruw / 09.06.2004 |
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Itinerary |
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| Shane Richards |
| The sign at the entrance |
| All of the subsequent photos were taken inside the Roman National Museum where we spent the entire morning. |
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Today started at 8:30, a half hour early, so that we could beat the crowd and arrive early to the Museo Nazionale Romano (the Roman National Museum). After some frantic times waiting for and catching the bus (all 22 of us on one bus), we arrived at the museum and were allowed to view the preserved frescoes and mosaics from the times of the Caesars on a private floor for about thirty minutes. This included a room with a continuous, four walled fresco of a garden scene that has been virtually transplanted from an Augustanian palace in Prima Porta, outside of Rome. Once ushered out of the top floor, we returned to the main level where Matt gave his large presentation on Augustus Caesar and the Golden Age of Rome which fittingly took place in front of the statue of Augustus Caesar. After a long discussion about the end of the Roman republic and the beginning of the empire (the change during the time of Julius and Augustus Caesar), we traversed upstairs to the portion of the museum that contains many marble busts and sculptures from the time of the Caesars (the end of the B.C. era right before the birth of Christ). In this room we were divided into three groups and then prompted to use the knowledge from the day's reading on Roman iconology to interpret the statues. We were then released for the day to do some reading and to get ready for our trip to Pompeii tomorrow.
The evening sociology session included a discussion about the attitudes of people working and living in Italy. The session included a lecture by Debra about the ways that sociologists differentiate social classes, and how the U.S., the E.U., and Italy compare in their feelings towards hard work and connections. We learned that Italians view social mobility as virtually impossible in comparison to Americans, and yet American income distribution is over three times larger between the top 20% and the bottom 20% of citizens. Also, we discussed the numbers that stated over 90% of Americans believe hard work could improve their place in society, but that political connections are of lesser importance. Italians however, were the opposite, viewing connections of greater importance than hard work alone. We also discussed many social issues from why no Wal Marts exist in Rome, to why Italians value political connections over hard work. Professor Hechter concluded the session by discussing the differences between the north and south of Italy. That included learning that the south was much more patrimonial and traditional in lifestyle compared to the north. We discussed the exploitation of the south, and the lack of a solid bureaucracy to promote more modern organizations based upon qualification and competence.
Immediately after class ended, we went upstairs to the first group dinner of the program. All 21 of us packed into the kitchen and watched as Sabrina prepared tomatoes with buffalo mozzarela, olive oil, and basil, a spinach appetizer called Pasticcio di Spinaci, and best of all, her eggplant penne pasta called Pasta alla Norma. We all stuffed ourselves with the amazing food and learned so much through the language/cooking lesson. It was a beautiful evening on the balcony looking down to the Campo that we all sat outside and ate and talked throughout the entire course of the night. It ended rather early with the expectation that we had to be at the Ponte Sisto the next morning at 7:00 to catch the bus to Herculaneum.
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Highlights |
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| Shane Richards |
| Closeup of Liviae's Frescoe |
| Picture taken in the private room upstairs with the walls covered in the restored frescoes. |
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| Shane Richards |
| Smaller room of frescoes |
| Another room dedicated to the frescoes that were taken from ancient Roman cites from outside Rome. |
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| Shane Richards |
| Lisa describing Liviae's room |
| Picture of the entire class listening while Lisa taught about the removed and restored frescoe from a palace basement dining room from outside Rome. |
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| Shane Richards |
| Lisa describing ancient mosaics |
| This museum was full of ancient Roman mosaics taken from floors of various palaces and then restored and displayed throughout the museum. |
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The frescoes and tile designs that we saw at the beginning of the day at the Museo Nazionale Romano were the biggest highlights to the day. Being allowed to visit the private gallery with rooms that contained 2000 year old frescoes and mosaics that had been removed and restored from palaces all over Rome offered a truly unique and stunning experience. The time and effort taken to create the pieces with the cut up stone that were about .5 cm by .5 cm in size was incomprehensible. Also, the frescoes in the private room that were painted for an underground dining room for Augustus Caesars wife, Liviae, contained beautifully vibrant colors that portrayed an amazing Roman garden. Evidence of perspective through the layering of trees and the presence of shadowing with birds flying around the frescoe disproved that belief that all Roman paintings at the time lacked perspective. Aside from these amazing rooms, Matt's presentation included great details about the rise of Augustus with his defeat over Mark Antony, and his creation of the Empire which included disbanding the Republic. To add onto the previous day, we learned of the history behind many of the sights we saw the previous day in the Roman Forun such as the Temples of Jupiter and Saturn, which were greatly improved by the public works of Augustus.
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Images |
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| Shane Richards |
| Group photo during Matt's presentation |
| This shows Matt and Lisa describing in great detail the reign of Augustus Caesar. |
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| Shane Richards |
| Matt and Augustus |
| This shows the amazing full body statue of Augustus where Matt gave his presentation. Matt referred to it often as a piece of propaganda that could be seen throughout his empire. |
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I hope to post some pictures from the dinner, but due to digital camera issues, have not been able to post them yet.
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