|
The "Itália Hebraica" Exhibition Opened in the Eretz Israel Museum |
|
|
The exhibition displays works of art that reflects over two thousand years of interactions between the Italian and Israeli cultures The Itália Hebraica exhibition was initiated by the Instituto Italiano di Cultura di Tel Aviv and the Institute's project coordinator, Simonetta Della Seta, sponsored by the Italian government. It displays over 200 items brought to Israel from Italy, the United States, Great Britain, Switzerland and Portugal as well as private collections in France, in the Vatican, in Florence and other places. The exhibition represents the deep roots of the extended coexistence between Jews and Italians as part of their location at the center of the Mediterranean. Amongst the hundreds of works of art displayed in the exhibition is a replica of David's head, made by Michelangelo Buonarroti, brought from the Gallerie dell'Accademia in Florence, as well as a portrait of the painter Celso Lagar painted by Amedeo Modigliani, a painting of Ernesto Nathan, the first Jewish mayor of Rome, painted by the artist Giacomo Balla, the front of a sarcophagus decorated by victory clubs and a Menorah, the seven-branched candelabrum used in the Jewish Temple, made in the 3rd century AD, brought from the National Museum in Rome, a Renaissance painting of a Madonna and a baby surrounded by the portraits of Italian Jews from the church of Saint Andrea in Manitoba, a page from the Babylonian Talmud used to bind a notary document between 1553-1555, a marble memorial plaque with texts in Hebrew, Arabic and Greek, brought over fro Sicily as well as a 12th century astrolabe with a Hebrew inscription. A high ranking delegation from Italy participated in the opening of the exhibition, on December 4th 2007, and words of the Italian Foreign Minister, Massimo D'Alema and Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Culture and Tourism, Francesco Rutelli, who spoke in favor of the mutual influences of the Jewish and Italian cultures and the effect Jewish intellectuals have had on culture in Italy.
December 25, 2007 |
|
