Arti­cle by Arūnas Gelūnas, Minister of Culture:

One of the greatest contributions of old Lithuania to European and World science and culture is the work of Kazimieras Semenavičius ‘Artis Magnae Artilleriae’. In his book printed in Amsterdam in 1650, the Lithuanian scientist was the first person in the world to have described and drawn a multi-stage rocket – a prototype of the rocket used in cosmonautics today.

Author: Kazimieras Semenavičius (Siemienowicz Kazimierz)

Title: Artis magnae artilleriae pars prima. Studio et opera Casimiri Siemienowicz equitis Lithuani

Date: 1650, Amsterdam

The first part of ‘Artis Magnae Artilleriae’ was made up of 5 chapters (a total of 305 pages of text and 206 illustrations and drawings). In the first chapter, Semenavičius describes cannon calibers, their designs and applications. In the second chapter he analyses the technologies of gunpowder as well as other materials used in artillery. In the third most interesting and valuable chapter ‘About rockets’ he presents his most important discoveries: the ratio of rocket height to the width of its jet nozzle, a multi-stage rocket, the stabilisation of rockets with the help of wings, a rocket battery (a multi-stage rocket of sequential circuit). The scientist, who called war the biggest scourge of mankind, presents more than 20 examples of rockets loaded with powder, and accurately describes their properties and production . In the fourth and fifth chapters, the scientist summarised the achievements of fireworks used in war and for entertainment. For the first time in history of the world, the work of Kazimieras Semenavičius presented artillery not only as the art of war, but also as a branch of science based on precise mathematical calculations as well as well-understood laws of physics. this work was an unrivaled classic of artillery science right up to the beginning of the nineteenth century.

Semenavičius wrote his book ‘Artis Magnae Artilleriae in Latin. In the same year that it was published it was translated into French, later on – into the German, English, Dutch and Polish languages. The author was awarded various medals by foreign countries.

The military engineering inventions of the scientist of oldLithuania, lying in the pages of the seventeenth century book, are the result of targeted cultural and scientific patronage. It could be said that the insight and erudition of King Vladislovas Vaza provided a promising European scientist with a strong take-off pitch. It is truly amazing when a weighed decision to allow and support, provides an opportunity for unique and innovative research, which, in turn, alters the development direction and speed of a specific scientific and/or cultural area and allows a fresh look to be taken, as well as the available options to be evaluated.

Blog post in Lithuanian:

Vienas didžiausių senosios Lietuvos indėlių į Europos ir Pasaulio mokslą bei kultūrą –Kazimiero Semenavičaus veikalas „Artis Magnae Artilleriae“.1650 m. Amsterdame išspausdintoje knygoje lietuvis mokslininkas pirmasis pasaulyje aprašė ir nubraižė daugiapakopę raketą – šiandien kosmonautikoje naudojamos raketos prototipą.

Pirmąją „Artis Magnae Artilleriae“ dalį sudarė penki skyriai (viso 305 puslapiai teksto ir 206 iliustracijos bei brėžiniai). Pirmąjame skyriuje K. Semenavičius aprašo patrankų kalibrus, jų konstrukcijas ir pritaikymą. Antrąjame — nagrinėja parako ir kitų artilerijoje naudojamų medžiagų technologijas. Trečiąjame, įdomiausiame ir vertingiausiame, skyriuje „Apie raketas“ – pristato svarbiausius savo atradimus: raketos aukščio ir jos reaktyvinės tūtos pločio santykį, daugiapakopę raketą, raketų stabilizavimą sparneliais, raketų bateriją (nuosekliojo jungimo daugiapakopę raketą). Mokslininkas, karą vadinęs didžiausia žmonijos nelaime, pateikia daugiau kaip 20 paraku užtaisomų raketų pavyzdžių, tiksliai aprašo jų gamybą ir savybes. Ketvirtame ir penktame skyriuose mokslininkas apibendrino karui ir pramogai skirtos pirotechnikos laimėjimus. K. Semenavičiaus veikalas pirmą kartą pasalio istorijoje artileriją pristatė ne tik kaip karo meną, bet ir kaip tiksliais matematiniais skaičiavimais bei perprastais fizikos dėsniais grįstą mokslo šaką. Iki pat XIX a. pradžios šis veikalas buvo nepranokstama artilerijos mokslo klasika.

K. Semenavičius knygą „Artis Magnae Artilleriae“ parašė lotynų kalba. Vos jai pasirodžius, dar tais pačiais metais, ji buvo išversta į prancūzų, vėliau – į vokiečių, anglų, olandų ir lenkų kalbas. Autorius apdovanotas įvairiais užsienio šalių ordinais.

Senosios Lietuvos mokslininko karo inžinerijos išradimai, sugulę XVII a. knygos puslapiuose  – tikslingos kultūros ir mokslo mecenatystės rezultatas. Galima sakyti, kad karaliaus Vladislovo Vazos įžvalgumas ir erudicija suteikė tvirtą pakilimo aikštelę perspektyviam Europos mokslininkui. Ir išties nuostabu, kai pasvertas sprendimas leisti, duoti, paremti sudaro sąlygas unikaliems ir inovatyviems tyrimams, kurie, savo ruožtu, pakeičia konkrečios mokslo ir/ar kultūros srities vystymosi kryptį ir greitį bei leidžia naujai pažvelgti ir įvertinti turimas galimybes.

A unique event in Brussels, 9 May, highlighted how the rich and diverse cultural heritage that you can explore online at Europeana can drive innovation and economic growth and what needs to be done to make that a reality.

More than 350 people including Culture Ministers from across Europe, key figures in the creative industries and leaders of Europe’s GLAMs (Galleries, Libraries, Archives and Museums) got together to debate the hot issues that have to be tackled, and on the top of that list was why we need to open up digital data.

 
Commissioner Kroes exploring Europaena from her iPad

Vice President of the European Commission Neelie Kroes was a key speaker and passionate champion of the digital economy and the role cultural heritage and Europeana can play in supporting innovation and economic growth. Jill Cousins Europeana’s Chief Executive stressed that Europeana was for everyone and that open data was the future if its full potential was to be realised.

Europeana e-cloud presentation

During the event Europeana showcased the latest technology to help bring online cultural heritage alive with the e-cloud. With the help of cutting edge technology, a special 3 metre by 7 metre screen took viewers on an interactive three dimensional journey through some of Europeana’s treasures and the stories behind them. Culture ministers, European Commissioners and key figures in the creative industries were among those who put on their 3D glasses for the interactive, interspatial e-cloud experience. This cutting edge technology could be the future of visitor experience at museums galleries and libraries.

Commissioner Kroes launching Hack4Europe! 2012

Commissioner Kroes also launched Hack4Europe! – a series of ‘hackathons’ in five European countries where Europe’s digital designers, programmers and developers are challenged to come up with innovative applications based on the open data and the treasure trove  of cultural objects in Europeana.

UK’s slide from ‘top treasures’ presentation

And European Culture Ministers revealed their personal ‘top treasures’ of the very best of Europe’s sporting, literary, artistic and cultural heritage from Nokia football boots to Carvaggio. In the coming weeks all their choices will be published together with a personalised blog entry on Europeana.

Arti­cle by Ed Vaizey, Minister for Culture, Communications and Creative Industries in the UK Government, and Fiona Hyslop, Cabinet Secretary for Culture and External Affairs in the Scottish Government:

We are delighted to choose this picture of John Logie Baird as our key Europeana image.

Television – vision from afar – was one of the greatest inventions of the 20^th century.  And we are proud that it was invented not just by a Briton, but by a Scotsman.  The great thing about television, though, is that it brings people across the world together.  From first inventing television in 1925, by 1927 Baird succeeded in transmitting television from London to Glasgow and the following year saw the first transatlantic television transmission.

The Europeana project is a worthy successor to that way of letting people see images from around the world first developed by Baird.   Using the new medium of the internet, Europeana allows people across Europe and, indeed, the world to see fascinating memorabilia and great works of creativity from Europe’s past at the click of a mouse-key: works of art from such world-renowned museums and galleries as the Rijksmuseum and the Louvre on screen in an instant.

In the true John Logie Baird tradition Europeana includes video-recordings (invented by Baird as “Phonovision” in 1928) as well as static images, and as technology develops we are sure that Europeana’s offerings will reflect that development.  In Scotland, for example, Historic Scotland, our executive agency charged with safeguarding the nation’s historic environment and promoting its understanding and enjoyment, has set up the Scottish Ten project, a groundbreaking international 3D scanning project to digitally document Scotland’s five World Heritage Sites and five international ones. http://www.scottishten.org/

So we look forward to the Europeana project continuing to draw the peoples of Europe and the world together in sharing our rich historic and cultural heritage.

Article by Géza Szőcs, Minister of State for Culture:

We have no knowledge of any equestrian statue on public display, or indeed, any statue at all which was completed by Leonardo during his lifetime. The well-known, small scale statuettes, like those proudly displayed in the Metropolitan, or London’s Jeanneret collection, may have served as studies for paintings, or – as they have been called – „modellos”. These probably originated from Leonardo’s workshop, or most probably his inner circle, and gained their current form as bronze statues during the 18th or 19th century.

Similarly, we have no certain knowledge whether the object of art kept in Budapest’s Museum of Fine Arts was commissioned by a Lombard prince or warlord, or whether it was commissioned by King Francis I of France, who may have even been the model for the statue. We can only assume that it was made for  „the Battle of Anghiara” fresco destined for the Palazzo Vecchio. What we do know, is that unlike any other equestrian statues attributed to Leonardo, this one was cast in a type of bronze available in the 16th century with techniques already established at the time.  Should it be a copy, it must have been made shortly after the artist’s death.

But what does this statue reveal about Leonardo?

His passion.

All of Leonardo’s paintings are suffused with an almost aquatic calm. If there is any movement, those are restrained, reduced, almost subliminal. If there are any incidences in his paintings, or indeed, if they can be seen at all, they are either lyric, sometimes epic, but never dramatic. (The drama in The Last Supper is only evident for those familiar with the New Testament). The maestro was wise, composed and calm, as was his view of the world conveyed by his art. This horseman, however, goes aga

inst equilibrium, a static state and stillness: the artist picked up where the creators of the Laocoon Group, the three sculptors from Rhodes, Agesander and his two companions, left off. The passion that radiates from this horseman points forward to the Baroque, or even Romanticism, to some of the works of Shelley, Byron and Ferenc Liszt.

The original fresco „the Battle of Anghiara” has perished. The Last Supper nearly suffered the same fate, in the same way we lost so many masterpieces by countless artists! What a fascinating scenario created by fate! While Italy had to suffer the loss of so many marvellous creations, the province of Pannonia, whose history was far more turbulent over the past century, managed to safeguard and keep a tiny statuette intact, whose gray-haired creator, should he walk among us, would certainly wonder:  how did you get here, next to the Danube?

And he would most certainly dwell upon the fact that not only books have their destinies, but every single statue is like a message in a bottle, cast into the ocean by its creator. This message was washed up on our shores and its pictorial ego, its imprint, has now made its way back into the collection and circulation of great European art treasures.

Leonardo would certainly be most pleased.

Blog post in Hungarian:

Nem ismerjük Leonardo egyetlen köztéri lovasszobrát sem, sőt semmilyen szobrát, amely életében készült volna el. A közismert, kisméretű plasztikák, mint a Metropolitan, vagy a londoni Jeanneret gyűjtemény büszkeségei, talán festményekhez szolgálhattak tanulmányként, azaz modelloként. Valószínűleg Leonardo műhelyéből, mindenesetre szűkebb környezetéből öröklődhettek tovább, és mai formájukban 18–19. századi öntvények lehetnek.

A budapesti Szépművészeti kincséről sem tudjuk, valamelyik lombard fejedelem, zsoldosvezér, netalán I. Ferenc francia király volt-e a megrendelője, esetleg modellje, és nem tudjuk, csak feltételezzük, hogy az Anghiarai csata című freskóhoz készült a Palazzo Vecchióba. Amit tudunk: szemben a Leonardónak tulajdonított egyéb lovas variánsokkal, ezt a szobrot olyan bronzból és olyan technikával öntötték, amelyek a 16. században voltak használatosak. Ha másolat, nem sokkal a mester halála után készült másolat lehet.

De mit árul el e szobor magáról Leonardóról?

A szenvedélyességet.

Leonardo minden egyes festményét vízmélyi nyugalom jellemzi, a mozdulatok, ha vannak: visszafogottak, lefokozottak, rezdülésnyiek. A történések, ha vannak, vagy ha láthatóak, inkább líraiak, esetleg epikaiak, de semmiképp nem drámaiak. (Az Utolsó Vacsora is csak annak drámai, aki olvasta az Újszövetséget.) A mester bölcs volt, higgadt és nyugodt és ilyennek láttatta a világot is.
Ez a lovas azonban az egyensúlynak, a statikának, a nyugalomnak a tagadása: alkotója ott folytatta, ahol a Laokoón szoborcsoport mesterei, a három rhodoszi, Hagészandrosz és két társa abbahagyta. A szenvedélyesség, amely ebből a lóból sugárzik, a barokkig, sőt a romantikáig mutat előre, Shelley, Byron és Liszt Ferenc néhány művéig.

A firenzei freskó, az Anghiarai csata elpusztult, az Utolsó Vacsorának kevés híján ugyanez lett a sorsa, és hány meg hány alkotás tűnt el nyomtalanul, hány meg hány mester remekműve! A sors milyen izgalmas, milyen fantasztikus dramaturgiája érhető itt tetten! Míg Itáliában annyi csodás értéknek kellett elpusztulnia, Pannóniában, amelynek történelme pedig sokkal viharosabb volt az elmúlt évszázadban, megmaradt, sőt épen megmaradt egy szobrocska, amelyhez így szólna az ősz mester, ha feltámadna és erre járna: Te meg hogy kerülsz ide a Duna mellé?

És elmerengene azon, hogy nemcsak a könyveknek van meg a maguk sorsa, hanem minden egyes szobor is olyan, mint a palackba zárt üzenet, amelyet alkotómestere az óceánba vet. Ezt a palackot itt sodorták partra a hullámok és képi egója, illetve annak lenyomata innen kerül vissza most az értékek európai gyűjteményébe és körforgásába.

És Leonardo módfelett örülne ennek.

Renowned historian and WW1 author Peter Englund endorses the exhibition. He said: “This important and imaginative project tells the other side of the story, from the point of view of a young soldier who signed up seeking adventure, to the family devastated by news that he was one of millions who would never return. No matter which side of the conflict they were on, the poignancy of these human experiences is the same.”

Peter Englund (Photograph: Mikael Gustavsen) 

The exhibition is available in English, French, German and Slovenian.

For more information about the project, collection days or how to contribute your own items: Europeana1914-1918.

Arti­cle by Joakim Stymne, State Secretary at the Ministry of Culture:

This is a view of the Old Town in Stockholm, taken one winter day in 1900 by Swedish physician Carl Curman.

I have chosen this image to represent the Swedish content in Europeana because it shows how user interest and demand can, and should, control prioritisation of what aspects of cultural heritage should be digitised and made digitally available.

You can find this simple snapshot of Stockholm on a winter day 100 years ago in Europeana. It is also posted on FlickrCommons where it is the most commented Swedish image. Thousands of people around the world have admired its beauty on the site. The photo is no intentional masterpiece, but it conveys something that manages to touch many people so many years later. What is it? Is the image composition fascinating or is it the beautiful blue color that appeals or is it just the breathtaking historical perspective in the fact that the picture shows something that really existed over 100 years ago? It is difficult to answer. It may be enough to note that in its simplicity, it is an everyday masterpiece.

Carl Curman, born in 1833, was a typical amateur photographer of his era. He was well educated and interested in science. He used photography as part of his profession as a doctor and documented many of his patients. He also experimented with photographs, using different exposure and development techniques. But Curman also had artistic ambitions and held a degree in sculpture from an art school in Stockholm. Many early 19^th century photographers referenced the classic artists, as can be seen in the pictorial composition of Curman’s photos. Landscapes dominate his images, which also depict the stillness required for the long exposures that the photosensitive material and technology needed.

The photograph  is part of the collection of Carl Curman pictures owned by the National Heritage Board. Parts of the collection can be found in Europeana and have been posted on the National Heritage Board’s photostream on Flickr Commons. The collection has more than 600 digitised images.

Blog post in Swedish:

Det här är en vy över Gamla Stan i Stockholm tagen en vinterdag år 1900 av den svenske läkaren Carl Curman.

Jag har valt den här bilden som en representant för det svenska innehållet i Europeana för att den visar hur användarnas efterfrågan och intresse kan och bör styra prioriteringarna av vad som ska digitaliseras och digitalt tillgänggöras av kulturarvet.

Denna enkla ögonblicksbild av Stockholm, en vinterdag för 100 år sedan, kan ni hitta Europeana. Den finns också i FlickrCommons och där den är den svenska bild som är mest kommenterad av användare. På sajten har tusentals människor runt om i världen har lovordat dess skönhet. Fotot är inget avsiktligt mästerverk, men den förmedlar något som lyckas beröra många människor så många år senare. Är det bildkompositionen som fascinerar eller den vackra blå färgen som tilltalar eller är det bara det hisnande historiska perspektivet att den visar något som verkligen fanns för över 100 år sedan? Det är svårt att svara på, det räcker kanske med att konstatera att den i sin enkelhet är ett vardagligt mästerverk.

Carl Curman som föddes 1833, var en typisk amatörfotograf från sin tid. Han var välutbildad och vetenskapligt intresserad. Han använde fotograferingen som en del av sitt yrkesutövande som läkare och han dokumenterade många av sina patienter. Han experimenterade även med själva fotografiet genom olika exponerings– och framkallningstekniker. Men Curman hade också konstnärliga ambitioner och hade en examen i skulptur från en konstskola i Stockholm. Många av det tidiga artonhundratalets fotografer hade de klassiska konstnärerna som referensram, vilket blir tydligt genom Curmans bildmässiga sammansättning. Landskapen dominerar Curmans bilder, och i dem skildras även en stillhet som krävs för de långa exponeringar som dåtidens ljuskänsliga material och tekniken behövde.

Bilden ingår i Riksantikvarieämbetets samling av Carl Curmans bilder som finns i Europeana och vilka också är utlagda på Riksantikvarieämbetets photostream på FlickrCommons. Av samlingen finns drygt 600 bilder digitaliserade.

Arti­cle by Mario de Marco, Minister for Tourism, Environment and Culture:

Les Gavroches is undeniably one of Antonio Sciortino’s most famous sculptures. It was originally located in the iconic Upper Barrakka Gardens in Valletta from where one can enjoy spectacular views of Malta’s Grand Harbour. The statue was placed there in 1907 shortly after its acquisition by the Malta Society of Arts Manufacture and Commerce and subsequently presented as a gift to the nation.

Antonio Sciortino is Malta’s most important twentieth-century sculptor. Of humble origins, Sciortino studied at Rome’s most important art institutions and was later to become director of the British Academy in Rome. His studio in Via Margutta (Rome) attracted clients from all over Europe and beyond. Sciortino worked for royalty and nobility, politicians and great men; capturing their likenesses, immortalising their quests and representing historic identity and significance through public monuments. As a sculptor he stands for Malta’s creatives and their quest to achieve excellence in their endeavours on the international stage. As a Maltese citizen his success makes us proud, his achievements beckon positive acknowledgement and his determination charts a guiding example for us to emulate.

Valletta is both a theatre and a museum. Its walls enclose an impressive collection of art and buildings, most of which are accessible to the public. It is also a theatre in which people interact sometimes as actors and sometimes as spectators. In this scenario, the works of art become props which bring out emotions, not unlike the way we normally react during a performance.

Les Gavroches features three life-size figures inspired by characters from Victor Hugo’s Les Miserables. Gavroches, the elder boy at the centre drags forward a toddler to his right and a little girl to his left. The three are dressed in simple clothing and stand united to form a cohesive image of a defiant and resistant childhood in the face of adverse social conditions. The sculpture stands for both hope and innocence, representative of a young generation aspiring to freedom and progress.

As Minister responsible for Culture I highlight it as a masterpiece. As a father of two young boys, I can appreciate fully the message that Sciortino wanted to convey.

Valletta has for a while now enjoyed the status of a UNESCO World Heritage City. With 2018 to look forward to when Valletta will shine as the European Capital for Culture, it is no wonder then that Les Gavroches acts as a visual representation to this forward-looking image of Malta where hopefully Valletta and its Grand Harbour will brilliantly perform, bringing emotions just as Les Gavroches still does.

“I’d like to pretend that I’ve never seen anything, never read anything, never heard anything… and then make something…“
–Keith Haring

Renowned American artist and prominent social activist  Keith Haring was born on this day in 1958.

Son of a cartoonist, he was interested in visual art from an early age. He moved to New York City at the age of 19 and first drew public attention with chalk drawings in the subways of the city. His bold lines, vivid colours, and active figures soon became his signature style.

After being diagnosed with AIDS in 1988,  he established the Keith Haring Foundation, its mandate being to provide funding and imagery to AIDS organisations and to expand the audience for his work through exhibitions, publications and the licensing of his images. Haring enlisted his imagery during the last years of his life to speak about his own illness and generate activism and awareness about AIDS. Haring died on February 16, 1990.

Arti­cle by Lorenzo Ornaghi, Minister for Cultural Heritage and Activities:

The Holy Family (Tondo Doni) Uffizi Gallery

Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475–1564)
Panel painting, diam. cm. 120 (with the frame, cm. 172)

Traditionally it is believed that this masterpiece was  commissioned by Agnolo Doni to commemorate his marriage with Maddalena Strozzi in January 1504, and then  painted between 1506 and 1508:  such circumstance is confirmed by the presence of the arms of  Strozzi family within the beautiful original frame, carved with 5 protruding heads. The work– universally known as “Tondo Doni” – is certainly one of the most emblematic among Italian paintings in the 16^thcentury and also in the whole history of art in the Western world.  Paradigmatic icon of  maturity of the Renaissance, it offers a perfect synthesis between the classical and Christian tradition. The style, in an old fashioned way, blends beautifully with the sacred content inspired by  the birth of Christ, the fundamental break between the Old and New testament.

In the panel  some very exact hints are borrowed from Hellenistic culture. They are particularly evident in the inclusion of nudes in the background :the pose of the nude behind the image of  St. Joseph, for example,  seems to refer directly to the famous sculptural group of  the Laocoon, found in Rome in January  1516, and later excavated, in the presence of Michelangelo himself, according to the chronicles.

The restoration, carried out between 1984 and 1985, mainly consisted in a painstaking,  measured cleaning  and gives back a masterpiece full of extraordinary drawing, composing, as well as chromatic values. It is the only panel painting universally accepted as been drawned by  Michelangelo, it testifies  the  Michelangelo’s theory of picture: “I assert that the more Picture  is to be considered good the more  it resembles  to bas-relief”.

In the “Tondo Doni” you can contemplate a sublime expression of artistic production of the Italian cultural heritage. It is a wonder that we share with many visitors  who daily  crowd  the Uffizi Gallery, in Florence.  Like them, we are enchanted by its rare beauty and  inexhaustible,  unchanged  charm that still, after five centuries, emanates.

Blog post in Italian:

Sacra famiglia  (Tondo Doni) – Galleria degli Uffizi, Firenze

Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475–1564)
Dipinto su tavola, diam. Cm 120 (con la cornice cm 172)

Tradizionalmente si ritiene che questo splendido dipinto sia stato commissionato da Agnolo Doni in occasione del suo matrimonio con Maddalena Strozzi nel gennaio 1504, e poi effettivamente realizzato fra il 1506 e il 1508: la circostanza risulta confermata dalla presenza delle armi della famiglia Strozzi nella bellissima cornice originale, intagliata con cinque teste a rilievo. L’opera – universalmente nota come “Tondo Doni” – è certamente fra le più emblematiche della pittura italiana del Cinquecento e, dunque, dell’intera storia dell’arte occidentale. Icona paradigmatica della piena maturità del Rinascimento, offre una sintesi perfetta fra la tradizione classica e quella cristiana. Lo stile, all’antica maniera, si fonde mirabilmente con il contenuto sacro ispirato alla nascita di Cristo, cesura fondamentale fra Antico e Nuovo Testamento.

Nella tavola si colgono suggestioni provenienti dalla scultura ellenistica. Appaiono particolarmente evidenti nelle misteriose figure degli ignudi collocati sullo sfondo: la posa del nudo dietro l’immagine di San Giuseppe, ad esempio, sembra direttamente riferirsi al noto gruppo scultoreo del Laocoonte, ritrovato a Roma nel gennaio 1506 e successivamente dissotterrato, secondo le cronache dell’epoca, alla presenza, fra altri, dello stesso Michelangelo.

Il restauro del 1984–1985, consistito essenzialmente in un accurato ed equilibrato intervento di pulitura, ci ha restituito un manufatto dallo straordinario valore nel disegno, nella composizione e, finalmente, anche nelle tonalità e nei colori. Unico dipinto su tavola unanimemente riconosciuto come opera di Michelangelo, esso testimonia in modo compiuto la teoria michelangiolesca sulla pittura: «Io dico che la pittura mi pare più tenuta buona, quanto più va verso il rilievo».

Nel “Tondo Doni” si può così contemplare un’espressione altissima della produzione artistica propria del patrimonio culturale italiano. È una meraviglia che condividiamo con i numerosi visitatori che ogni giorno affollano la Galleria degli Uffizi, a Firenze. Come loro, restiamo incantati dalla sua rara bellezza e dall’inesauribile, inalterato fascino che ancora, dopo cinque secoli, emana.

Next week we are launching our latest virtual exhibition; Untold stories: Photos, letters and memorabilia of the First World War. This exhibition has a wonderful selection of images, diaries and audio interviews. Want a sneak preview? Below we have made small selection of what you can expect from the exhibition.

The crowd-sourced content in the new virtual exhibition was collected through Europeana 1914–1918. This project is collecting memorabilia and stories from the period of the Great War (1914–1918). Letters, postcards, photographs and stories were collected from Denmark, Germany, Luxembourg, Ireland, Slovenia and the UK.

Series of 10 postcards that together make an image of a French soldier. The postcards include songs and were sent to Ireland from France. They were sent Michael Hannon Pte. to his mother, Mrs. M. Hannon, in Dublin. He was a member of the Leinster Regiment British Expeditionary Force.  http://www.europeana1914-1918.eu/en/contributions/3407

Hand drawn colour map of the route of SM Berlin through enemy waters: the North Sea and the Northern Atlantic. Map is part of Rudolf Kämmerer’s war diary which can be viewed here: http://www.europeana1914-1918.eu/en/contributions/1495

Set of miniature farm animals contained in a metal box. The items were sent by Charles Grauss to his daughter Ghislaine  http://www.europeana1914-1918.eu/en/contributions/2921

Sieglerschmidt was a reserve lieutenant with the 7th Battery of the 2nd Guard Reserve Foot Artillery Regiment serving on the Eastern Front near Dünaburg (Daugavpils,Latvia). Throughout the war he wrote in a diary to Helene, who was born inVilna,Lithuania, of Jewish origin. http://www.europeana1914-1918.eu/en/contributions/211