La Winged Victory it will be officially returned to Brescia in November 2020. The statue will return to the city after almost two years of restoration work, promoted by Municipality of Brescia and from Brescia Museums Foundation, with the Superintendency of Archaeology, Fine Arts and Landscape of the Provinces of Bergamo and Brescia, and conducted byFactory of the Hard Stones of Florence. Below are all the 2020/2021 initiatives for his return.
Thirty are the professionals who in various capacities, each with their own specialization, have been involved in the numerous activities of knowledge and conservation of bronze. The interventions concentrated first on the cleaning of the sculpture, then on the controlled removal of the materials that filled the statue and of the internal structure to which the wings and arms of the Victory were attached, on the design of the internal support to guarantee the statics of the bronze, and on the drafting of a protective material, also chosen on the basis of the characteristics of the exhibition environment. During this time, studies, scientific investigations and examinations were carried out aimed at a deeper knowledge of the construction technology and not only.
The large bronze statue, loved by Giosuè Carducci who celebrated it in the ode To victory, admired by Gabriele d'Annunzio and by Napoleon III who wanted a copy, which for composition, material and conservation is one of the most important works of Roman times, will have a new location in the eastern cell of the The Capitol, in a museum setting curated by the Spanish architect Juan Navarro Baldeweg.
It's right at the The Capitol that in 1826, during the archaeological excavations conducted by the members of the University of Sciences, Letters and Arts of Brescia, was found inside a cavity of the ancient Roman temple, together with six imperial heads and other finds, perhaps for protect it from any destruction.
The sculpture, made of bronze with the lost wax casting technique, can be dated to the XNUMXst century AD, inspired by older models.
From Friday 18 September Brescia will propose, as an anticipation of the arrival of the Winged Victory, some initiatives including the tribute exhibition to the architect Juan Navarro Baldeweg (Santander, 1939), author of the intervention of the rearrangement of the Vittoria Alata in The Capitol.
The review, scheduled until April 5 2021, Entitled Juan Navarro Baldeweg. Architecture, painting, sculpture. In an energy field and process, edited by Pierre Alain Croset, hosted in the Museum of Santa Giulia (Nuns' Choir, Basilica of San Salvatore and crypt), with the sponsorship of the Spanish Embassy in Rome and the Order of Architects, Planners, Landscapers and Conservationists of the Province of Brescia, will present a series of works - models and drawings of his most important projects, large canvases and sculptures – which trace the multifaceted career of Navarro Baldeweg, as an architect, painter and sculptor, and which allow us to grasp the interactions and connections between the various arts.
The wings of Victory extend to the contemporary and were inspired by Francesco Vezoli, born in Brescia, one of the best known and most appreciated Italian authors on the international art scene.
For the return of the statue, Francesco Vezzoli has designed some curatorial interventions, gathered around the title of Archaeological stages, from January 2021, capable of establishing a relationship between his sculptures, the archaeological site of Roman Brescia and the Museum of Santa Giulia.
The works will lead the viewer from the terrace of the The Capitol to the Basilica of San Salvatore, along a chronological journey that from the first century after Christ reaches the eighth century, between Roman and Lombard culture.
In Spring 2021, the Brescia Musei Foundation and the Municipality of Brescia will present, for the first time in Italy, 150 images, some large format, taken from the monumental work ROMAN IMPERIVM di Alfred Seiland, (St. Michael im Lungau, Austria, 1952) of which 30 unpublished and 10 taken in Brescia between August 2019 and March 2020, which capture the ancient heritage of the city in different seasons and situations and document its monumental and social value, accompanied by video lesson project backstage.
The Austrian artist, fascinated by the cinematographic sets of ancient Rome, set up in Cinecittà, traveled in the territories where the Roman Empire extended, from Syria to Scotland, capturing the different nuances of interaction between man and ruins on film.
The exhibition, entitled Alfred Seiland. IMPERIVM ROMANVM. Photographs 2005-2020, curated by Filippo Maggia and Francesca Morandini, organized by the Brescia Museums Foundation in co-production with Skira, will provide for Brescia a totally new path compared to what is proposed in the other European locations, rethought on the basis of different perceptions of the meaning of "heritage" and enriched by unpublished shots. The monuments of the Roman Empire, widespread in Europe and along the Mediterranean basin, constitute a visual habit for the inhabitants, a fetish for the tourists, an obstacle for the infrastructures; Seiland's lens offers an ever-present and often surprising reflection.
The initiative will anticipate the fourth edition of Brescia Photo Festival, Directed by Renato Corsini, which will always be held during the spring and whose title Heritage, underlines the cultural, archaeological, historical and social value of cultural heritage, from Roman antiquity to the present day.
A September 2021, Brescia Musei Foundation in collaboration with Skira promotes the great exhibition Victory. The long journey of a legend at the Museum of Santa Giulia.
The exhibition, curated by Marcello Barbanera, Francesca Morandini and Valerio Terraroli will deepen the theme of the Vittoria, investigating its history, aspects and declinations also in the modern and contemporary age, through a series of ancient works from the Mediterranean area and from the more peripheral areas of the Roman Empire able to outline the iconographic genesis of this extraordinary model, which still does not find specific comparisons.
The sections that make up the route will allow visitors to make a journey through time of 2.500 years on the wings of Victory, through the sight of unpublished and unusual finds, guaranteeing an experience that will radically change the perception that so far has had of this symbol and which will allow us to grasp the meaning of the Winged Victory, symbol of the city, with greater richness of facets.
The visual identity designed for the communication of the great cultural project dedicated to Vittoria Alata and the city of Brescia was created by Tassinari/Vetta, one of the most important graphic studios in Italy.
