Dante through the world

On the 700th anniversary of Dante Aligieri's death, the Foreign Literature Library received a bust of the great Italian poet as a gift

The celebration of the 700th anniversary of the Great Dante is a large-scale cultural event around the world. The idea of ​​holding it in a library of foreign literature was born during a meeting with the General Secretary of the Society of Dante Aligieri Alessandro Masi in September 2021.

On the opening day of the monument in the air, the atmosphere of sunny Italy hung - the sounds of harp, wine, photographs of Florence and everywhere there are many books of the founder of Italian literature. The holiday partially took place in Zoom, so that the honorary Italian guests who could not come, also took part in the celebration. The ceremony was accompanied by reading excerpts from the poet’s works in the original and translated into Russian. Sometimes the Russians read it in Italian, and the Italians in Russian, which brought two different cultures closer with even more force.

The Ambassador of Italy Giorgio Druzhe read an excerpt from the Divine Comedy. He noted that even after 700 years, Dante's path continues among generations, peoples and cultures. And today's ceremony is confirmation of this, since everyone came here from various points to glorify the great poet.

Dante's monument was made by the Italian sculptor Dino de Ranieri from Carrara marble - one of the most valuable and expensive marble varieties in the world. The donor of the bust was the Romualdo Del Bianko Foundation with the support of the Ministry of Culture of Italy.

President of the Foundation Romualdo del Bianko - Carlotta del Bianko:

The 700th anniversary of the death of the great Italian poet Dante Aligieri coincided from the century from the day of the founding of a foreigner, so there was simply no better time to pass this bust. We are pleased that this gift was included in the official list of initiatives sponsored by the Italy Ministry of Culture, and we are proud that our embassy with its Excellency Ambassador Georgio Druce also divided this joy with us.

The path of a bust to Russia was heavy: it weighs 350 kilograms and rode to Moscow by car for a month. Now the monument will take its place in the atrium. This is a foreigner’s courtyard, where a gallery of monuments of outstanding writers and public figures is located, now there are 33 sculptures. But Dante will be indoors so that expensive material does not suffer from bad weather.

I must say that this is not the only gift of the Fund for a Foreigner. The first marble bust with the image of Leonardo da Vinci was transferred to the library in 2008. Since the beginning of the program, the Fund has been transferred to 12 marble busts of twelve countries. Among them Michelangelo, Leonardo, Galileo.

Of course, it is impossible to celebrate the year of Dante without an exhibition dedicated to Florence - his native city, the atmosphere of which is permeated by all his works. Even today she keeps the memories of the poet despite the fact that he was expelled from there and was buried away from the house - in Ravenna. But Dante Aligieri still lives here in Florence.

General Director of the Library of Foreign Literature - Kuzmin Pavel Leonidovich

Not all languages ​​are preserved in its original form, but the Italian language is unchanged, and Dante Aligieri put the basis for him. In addition to the opening of the bust, today we are presenting the exhibition “Florence in the world”, which embodies the miracles of architecture, culture and spirit of Italy. It is mobile and will travel throughout the country. And in response, our regions will prepare the same presentations that, in turn, will go to Italy. This is a project to restore intercultural dialogue.

The exhibition "Florence in the world" is the first important initiative of the fund after a long and painful period of isolation. Turning to Dante's Divine Comedy, we can say that the exhibition personifies the “way out of hell”, out of imprisonment. The exhibition is 14 photographs created by Corinne del Bianko. Each poster is equipped with NFC technology, which allows access to an online content on the smartphone screen when hovering a poster. A mini-guide opens according to the location depicted on a poster, from which it becomes clear where you can drink and have a bite to eat, and where it is simply enjoyed by beauty.

The exhibition was exhibited in many countries from Kyrgyzstan to Ecuador, and now I got to Moscow. The exhibition has two main goals. The first is to show Florence from a less familiar point of view and this is a unique opportunity for himself, albeit temporarily, to become a resident of Florence - a new way of traveling in modern reality. An equally important goal is to invite all institutions that understand this exhibition to do the same. The fund also offers other countries to create similar projects .

In Russia, the initiative responded in Novosibirsk. The exhibition has already taken place in Florence, it is aimed at showing the whole world that Siberia is not so far and not so scary. On the day of the ceremony, a memorandum was signed on the joint cooperation of the Novosibirsk State Regional Scientific Library and the Foundation Romualdo Del Bianko. And this is another step towards the intercultural dialogue.

The representative of the Society of Dante Aligieri - Alessandro Salacon noted that Russia is one of those countries where Dante's anniversary was most of interest at all levels: from schools and universities to museums and libraries. And indeed - there are many initiatives.

So, a foreigner, together with the head of the Center for a rare book and collections, Karina Dmitrieva is preparing the Dantei project. His idea is to create a modern electronic resource, which will include the publications of Dante Aligeri and books on the study of his work from the Fund of Foreign Literature Fund.

Also, within the framework of the project, a virtual exhibition of illustrations was created based on the works of Dante's works - “ Dante's images ” . It is already available on the website of the library of foreign literature and continues to replenish the illustrations of Russian authors. All materials will be supplemented by texts related to the history of the creation of an image or an artist. And this is natural. As the Secretary General of the Society of Dante Aligieri Alessandro ointment said:

"Dante is inevitable and endless, he will excite the imagination."

Katya Tararak , especially for "New"