Tuesday, June 2, 2009

A Photo Essay for Rome

Here is a photo essay that takes tracks the group from May 20 forward.

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The essay starts with the Vatican Museums which we visited on Wednesday the 20th of May. The Vatican Museums are very prestigious and hold some of the greatest works of art of all time. The Museums are composed of many building dating from the middle ages to contemporary times such as the one pictured below.



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The Popes collected ancient art over time and in this particular gallery is housed a collection of Roman and Greek statues. The purpose of this gallery is to be able to contrast the differences between the two styles of representing the human form. On the left side of the gallery are the Roman works and the right side the Greek works.


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After the museums, we went to the Nervi Auditorium. This building is a beautiful structure of reinforced concrete which was coated in crushed Carrara Marble from outside Florence. The building is of particular elegance as all of the stresses inside the beams supporting the roof where designed to be on principle directions. In other words, the building was designed to have minimal shear and only compression acting in the members. The beautiful bronze sculpture of Jesus that serves as the centerpiece for the auditorium is by Pericle Fazzini and is called the Resurrezione.



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Here is a discovery report being given in St. Peter’s Basilica with some amazing lighting in the background. This building was designed by a number of different Architects over the years most notably perhaps was Michelangelo. Later we climbed hundreds of stairs to the Cupola of the dome.



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The next day the group went to the Apian Way and visited the Catacombs. Below is a picture of the interior of the catacombs and next to it is a picture of the group on the Apian way.



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Next, we went to see the Palazzetto dello Sport Arena. This was built originally for the 1960 Olympics in Rome and was designed by the same Architect, Pier Luigi Nervi that designed the Nervi Auditorium.



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The next day we visited the ancient roman sites; the Coliseum, the Forum and the Palatine Hill. Below is our guide giving us an explanation of some christian paintings in the Coliseum.


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