Tag: underground
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The menhirs of Sardinia and the cult of the ancestors
What reason was there in raising the stone, in elevating the sacred beyond the ground and, between the physical and the metaphysical, in creating paths that led towards desires for eternity? The menhirs of Sardinia traced obscure routes, enigmatic to the eyes of us, human beings of today. Stone is essential, and in its hardness […]
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The sanctuary of Monte d’Accoddi, sacred centre of Sardinia
At the beginning of the third millennium B.C., at Monte d’Accoddi, someone raised his eyes to the sky. And, in the light of the night, he saw in the firmament the divine image of the mother, the Great Goddess, generator and nurturer of the Universe. Like the beings on earth, the stars had their own […]
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The transcendent silence of Fossanova Abbey
Except for the soft echo of footsteps walking among the pews and kneelers, nothing else can be heard between the aisles of Fossanova Abbey. There is a powerful, mystical atmosphere in this place. It permeates every essence, a transcendent hierophany that is beyond the limits of human comprehension. There is no word, no gesture that […]
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The city of Spoleto and the sense of beauty over the centuries
It is not easy to find a place that takes on the value of a monumental complex [1] as in the city of Spoleto. It is a site of historical, artistic, ethno-anthropological importance that preserves buildings from different eras, admirably integrated with each other. Often, however, the opposite happens: archaeology shows how easy it is […]
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The Lombard Monasteries way
In the Middle Ages, pilgrimage had a fundamental importance for social life. It was not just a journey, a slow walk along the road, but it represented a true missio, a special frame of meaning for the existence. The pilgrimage, through a concrete sacrifice, made it possible to experience the vicissitudes of Christ and to […]
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The domus de janas and the Sardinian hypogeic tombs
In Sardinia, a primitive spiritual feeling that aims at self-knowledge and understanding of the world is expressed through stone since the Palaeolithic age. Stone is thus moulded as an image of one’s own being, anthropomorphic features become increasingly explicit in art, and architecture is the full expression of the sacredness. The ancient Sardinians trace thresholds […]
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The basilica of Saint Euphemia in Grado and the Schism
I like to think that in Grado, once upon a time, the bells tolled slowly, like mystical emanations to the rhythm of the lagoon sea. From the thuribles of the basilica of Saint Euphemia the incense wafted to the square, while the delicate smell of saltiness faded for a moment. The motifs of the Byzantine […]
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The pre-Nuragic mother goddess of Sardinia
The development of cultures in pre-Nuragic Sardinia reveals an inner search,through rituals and beliefs new metaphysical frames of meaning, new interpretations of existence are delineated. The primitive feeling of an order beyond nature, which transcends into the sphere of the sacred, is realised in the archetypal image of a female deity related to fertility. That […]
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Nuragic – Behind the Giants
It was the time of heroes, of immortal warriors along the quartz shores of Sinis, on one side roaring and on the other as placid as the stars. It was the age of the giants, erected like vigilant sentinels of the centuries, on the threshold of worlds through life and death, flesh and stone. Hypnotic […]