L'elefantino di Bernini a Piazza della Minerva

Visit our website http://www.iviaggidiadriano.it Hi, I'm Cristina, a tour guide for the Rome tour operator "I Viaggi di Adriano." In today's video, we're in Piazza della Minerva to talk about sculpted animals, legends, and stories of Rome. The star of this video, in particular, will be the elephant of Minerva. Piazza della Minerva takes its name from a temple said to have been built almost two thousand years ago by Pompey the Great, a figure we've already covered in a video linked below. According to tradition, the Temple was supposed to be located beneath the Church of Santa in Minerva, but in reality the remains found beneath it appear to belong to other Roman-era structures, and the Temple was likely located in Piazza del Collegio Romano. The small elephant at the center of Piazza della Minerva, nicknamed "Minerva's Elephant," dominates the square and supports an ancient obelisk from Egypt, brought to Rome, perhaps by order of Emperor Domitian in the first century AD, to adorn the Temple of Isis in the Campus Martius. It was Pope Alexander VII who commissioned the obelisk to adorn Piazza della Minerva, and Bernini was entrusted with finding an artistic home for it. Thus, Bernini created this small elephant to support the obelisk. But the iconographic idea of ​​creating a monument featuring the elephant wasn't entirely Bernini's. It seems, in fact, that he was inspired by an image in an allegorical novel written by Francesco Colonna, a Dominican friar. The Dominicans, in fact, appear to have participated in the creation of this work. Indeed, right next to the elephant, we see a building that was once part of a Dominican convent and now houses the Senate Library. Bernini's initial project, aimed at replicating the void present in the structure supporting the obelisk of -------, was frowned upon by the Dominicans, as they argued that no plumb weight could be supported by something where there was a void underneath, as it would be neither solid nor durable. We also find this in the inscription on the base of the Minerva elephant statue: "Whoever sees the designs of Egyptian Wisdom carved on the obelisk supported by the elephant, the strongest of beasts, should take this as proof that a robust mind is needed to sustain solid wisdom." Bernini created this elephant with an elongated saddle and a caparison covering the stone block beneath its belly. Highlighting his unwelcome interference with the Dominican friars, we note the elephant's rear facing the façade of their palace and its trunk raised almost as if to symbolize a "middle finger." It seems that Bernini, in an artistic and elegant manner, has expressed his complete disagreement. Visit our website to learn more and book your guided tours in Rome! See you soon, Ciao! POMPEY'S THEATRE VIDEO LINK    • IL TEATRO DI POMPEO e il Passetto del Bisc...   Visit our website to learn more and book your guided tours in Rome! See you soon, Ciao! #IViaggidiAdriano #TourOperatorRome #ElefantinodellaMinerva =============================================================== Visit our website http://www.iviaggidiadriano.it Follow us on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/iviaggidiadr... Follow us on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/i_viaggi_di... THANKS TO ROY PANEBIANCO for the song "Instafunk" YouTube page    / roypaneb