Highlights from the cultural world of Rome
The medieval historian Dr Pierantonio Piatti (* 1977 in Fermo), a member of the RIGG, has been the new Secretary of the Pontifical Committee for Historical Sciences since 20 April. Piatti had been a research associate of the Committee since 2005 and succeeds Secretary Mons. Luigi Michele de Palma (Bari), who teaches church history at the Lateran University.
On Tuesday 16 May at 5 pm Philippe Pergola, Professor of Topography of the Orbis Christianus at the Pontifical Institute of Christian Archaeology and member of the RIGG, will give his farewell lecture after 40 years of service. On this occasion, a publication of the Institute in his honour will be presented to him.
The 49th Patristics Meeting with over 50 lectures will take place at the Augustinianum in Rome from 11 to 13 May. The theme is "I volti di Dio nel cristianesimo antico". Individual Latin, Greek and Oriental church fathers will be discussed.
Deadline: 20 June
On 30-31 October, the Pontifical Institute for Christian Archaeology in Rome will host a conference on the Augustinian friar Onofrio Panvinio (1530-1568), who came from Verona. Panvinio is of great importance for Christian archaeology because of his antiquarian studies, among others on the Roman churches. Due to his early death, numerous materials are unpublished (largely in the Vatican Library).
The third Doctoral Colloquium or Young Researchers' Meeting for Christian Archaeology (RACTA) will take place in Rome from 5-7 February 2024.
Inzwischen sind die Akten von RACTA II publiziert.
Prof. Dr. Christian Hannick (Würzburg) will give a lecture on 23 March at 4 pm at the Oriental Institut in Rome on the topic of “L’innografia bizantina come componente della liturgia. Problemi della ricerca filologica e musicologica”.
A montage of four historical film clips from the Italian film studio Luce about Rome and the opening of the Second Vatican Council shows impressive testimonies of a world event as if from another star. Important personalities of the persecuted church such as Karol Wojtyla and Stefan Wyszynski stand up in the flesh. Unfortunately, the camera pans just miss Campo Santo Teutonico several times. It is astonishing that when thousands of bishops marched in to open the Council on 11 October 1962, St Peter's Square was not even half full.
The oldest German research institution in Rome, the German Archaeological Institute, is about to move back into the Via Sardegna, where it will move into its familiar but thoroughly renovated rooms. Ortwin Dally and Ines Balzer have published a vivid booklet on "current research - history - perspectives" (2022, 2nd edition). It contains articles on the Institute's changing buildings, the archive and photo library, research projects (including Norbert Zimmermann on Christian archaeology) and the promotion of young researchers.
Silvio Galizia (1925-1989) from the Swiss canton of Aargau carried out the new construction of the Campo Santo Teutonico from 1962 to 1966, but beyond that he built numerous churches and priests' colleges in Rome since the 1950s. 2025 marks the 100th anniversary of his birth, and to mark the occasion, the family is dedicating itself to an appreciation and reappraisal of the estate of the great architect. From my own experience, I can say that Galizia had the impressive ability to think not only in modern terms but also in practical terms, and to conceive the interior generously even under the tightest of constraints, designing it, as it were, into the surrounding landscape..
Prof. Dr. Jörg Bölling (Hildesheim) will speak on 16 March at the German Embassy to the Holy See in conjunction with the Hanns Seidel Foundation on the topic "Imperial and Episcopal Power 1000 Years Ago: Rethinking the Policies of Otoo the Great. Henry II, Ulrich of Augsburg and Godehard of Hildesheim". This is an event with invited guests. Bölling has already given several lectures at the RIGG (for ex. at the conference about the liturgical reform).
Römisches Institut der Görres-Gesellschaft
