Читать книгу The Golden Mask of King Tut The Code - Jesús Ariel Aguirre - Страница 27

Jamil Fahmi with Thomas and Anne and a group of Egyptian security arrive at Roma, through the Leonardo Da Vinci Fuimichino airport.

The procession heads, all in dark German cars with tinted windows, piled high and at high speed, to the city of the Vatican.

In 1984, the Vatican City was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO for its architectural and historical relevance. Although due to its lack of borders and indications and its central location, the Vatican seems just another neighborhood in Rome, but in reality it is a sovereign state. It is the smallest country in Europe, with only 0.44 square kilometers and some 800 people live within its walls, including the Pope and the highest representatives of the Clergy. Here is the Holy See, the highest institution of the Catholic Church. Its official language is Latin although it is only used in liturgies, and even in ATMs you have the choice of language.

It no longer has the splendor that it had when it possessed the Papal States on the Italian peninsula.

In 1860 Vittorio Emanuel II seized them and left the Holy See alone with the possession of Rome and under the sovereignty of the king of unified Italy, it was not until 1929 that the Vatican achieved its independence again, after the Treaty o The Lateran Pact, in the negotiations that Cardinal Pietro Gasparri took, on behalf of Pope Pius XI, and Prime Minister Benito Mussolini.

Even so it is a place that mixes opulence and majesty, the Basilica with its marble floors bear witness to this.

Thomas, Anne and Jamil walk through Via della Concilizione, cross the Sant Angelo Bridge, in front of the Castle of the same name, with a lot of history and thus finally arrive at Piazza di Pietro and St. Peter’s Basilica.

Thousands of tourists visit it every day, simply to enjoy the art it houses or for religious purposes. In the center of the square is its great Egyptian obelisk, the two fountains, the columns and dozens of statues of saints.

In the city of Rome there are eight obelisks brought from Ancient Egypt and five from Ancient Rome and other more modern ones. Thomas comments.

This particular one was brought from Alexandria by order of Octavian (30 -28 BC) to dedicate it to Julius Caesar. The obelisk crossed the Mediterranean in a 80-meter ship carrying a cargo of 1,000 tons of lentils. If long before Napoleon made obelisks fashionable to beautify European cities.

Caligula had him placed in his circus, later known as the Circus of Nero, who tortured the Christians there, the Apostle Saint Peter himself, suffered his martyrdom. It was 40 meters high and weighed 320 tons and is one of the few that does not have hieroglyphic inscriptions. Probably erected in Heliopolis, the ancient capital of Lower Egypt, at the time of Pharaoh Amenemhet II, so it would be 4000 years old, it is made of red granite from the Aswan quarry. On the pedestal you can read a dedication to Augustus and Tiberius. In the year 1585, Pope Sixtus V ordered it to be brought to its current location in the square in front of the facade of St. Peter’s Basilica, designed by Bernini. The chosen place was decided to “see the monuments of the gentility subjected to the cross in those same places where formerly Christians suffered death on the cross.” He also did it to celebrate the triumph of the church against paganism and heresy. For this it was necessary to Christianize it with an inscription; with the pope’s symbols of arms: lions and three mountains and with a bronze cross that since the 18th century preserves the relic of the Holy Cross and a magic formula of Catholic exorcism as protection.

Domenico Fontana created a huge wooden machine to move the obelisk. At the top it had a sphere that was always believed to contain the ashes of Julius Caesar. Pope Sixtus V removed it and stepped on in its place a bronze cross of Christ seated on a star. Later, in 1817, marble disks were placed on the floor of the square, forming the compass rose, and thus the shadow cast by the obelisk turns it into a sundial. The shadow cast by the obelisk symbolizes the movement of the sun that indicates the signs of the zodiac at noon, and the two solstices, the winter and the summer solstices, are observed on the two discs on the sides.

St. Peter’s Basilica is the seat of the Christian world and the most important church in the world for Catholics.

Congregations from all over the Christian world travel to the Vatican, just to see and feel their faith. You will see flags of all countries. And for those of us who are atheists, Thomas says, we see the churches as a museum and a work of architectural art, from the time of Emperor Constantine in the 5th century. The dome of the Basilica is an impressive work of Michelangelo, if.

To understand the maneuver behind this robbery, they arrive at the Vatican, embezzlement to the Ambrosian bank perpetuated by an unscrupulous administrator, Cardinal Botticelli is behind, the plan to steal the death mask and sell it on the black market in Southeast Asia or in the Arab world that would pay fortunes for it. And thus recover the money lost in the stock market and other unprofitable investments.

Intelligence discovers the unusual interest of a Catholic Cardinal in Arab soil, only united by the country’s very strong Orthodox cult, the Coptic churches.

The cardinal had reached the suburbs of the Coptic neighborhood of Cairo and had met with a representative of the local cult.

That is the information that intelligence has on migration data regarding the unusual entrances to the country of Botticelli Carlos, a man in his 60s, with a thin build, blond hair and blue eyes.

But they do not know where to find Cardinal Botticelli, after passing through the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore, Saint John of Letran and Saint Paul Outside the Walls, and in that of Saint Peter, a bishop tells them that they can find him in the Vatican Museum.

Lein is anxious because he is fascinated by the Sistine Chapel, without making the long queues to enter that tourists do, Bishop Rafael Marchesati enters him without problems through the Vatican Gardens, which are very beautiful and while he walks he tells them that they have been of use exclusive to the Popes, for their rest and meditation, and which can now only be visited with a guide. During the visits you can see various medieval fortifications, buildings and monuments dating back to the 9th century, fountains, sculptures and artificial grottoes, delighting the eye with more than 2000 years old.

The bishop mentions to him that the Museum of the Treasure of the Basilica San Pedro is acceded from the interior of the same. And the Grottoes and Tombs of the Popes where several of them are buried, are found Under the basement of the Basilica, to enter them there is a staircase near the main altar or a side entrance near the statue of Saint Andrew.

Anne asks about the Necropolis, to which Bishop Raphael tells her that it is one of the most difficult places to visit in Rome, although it can be done with a very small group and with a reservation well in advance. When Nero burned Rome in 64, he executed many Christians, they died and Saint Peter was among them, and they were buried in Via Cornelia and in 319 the Emperor Constantine ordered the building of the basilica in this place. That basilica was the base of the present Basilica of San Pedro. The Tomb of San Pedro is one level below and descends to 11 meters. In the Necropolis there are 22 mausoleums and just below the current papal altar, is the tomb of the Apostle Saint Peter, in a small square, marked with the letter P.

In the Vatican Museums there are a lot of treasures, says Thomas and making a selection of the most important works of art is not an easy task. Since they are the sum of thousands of works of art collected by the Roman Catholic Church for more than five centuries.

The base of the Vatican Museums is produced in the year 1503, when Pope Julius II donated his collection of classical statues to adorn the Courtyard of the Belvedere Palace that later joined the Palace of the Popes, wealthy Italian families were increasing the collection during other papacies and in 1774 Pope Clement XIV and later Pope Pius IV, created the Museo Pio- Clementino, to house the collection of classical sculpture, when the Vatican Museum proper was born.

In the Vatican Museums there are collections of ancient art (Egyptian, Greek, Roman ...), collections of great artists such as Michelangelo or Raphael. Historical documents and objects, contemporary art collections, pontifical buildings and gardens.

We can divide the Vatican Museums into museums and into pontifical chapels or apartments, in which the Sistine Chapel stands out.

Finally Bishop Rafael Marchesati arrives at the door of the Museum, gives them a map and leaves. They all look at each other and begin the search for Cardinal Botticelli, who he told them would be in the Gregorian Egyptian Museum.

After going up the access ramp to the Museum they go to the Egyptian Gregorian.

Jamil grabs the map and easily finds himself on the spot.

Upon arrival, the Gregorian Egyptian Museum is at the beginning of the route and consists of 9 rooms (the last 3 are dedicated to the Middle East) and the Exit to the Patio de la Piña. It is dedicated to the monuments that came from Egypt to Rome, to decorate palaces, sanctuaries and buildings.

They stand out:

- The statue of Osiris-Antinous.

- Among the granite statues Queen Tuia, mother of Ramses II.

- The sarcophagus of Queen Heteferes.

- Mask of a mummy.

- Torso of Pharaoh Nectanebo I (380 to 362 BC)

- The Patio de la Piña, with the huge 4-meter bronze pineapple, from the 1st century that was found in the Baths of Agrippa, and the central sphere that represents the planet earth.

Everyone is stunned by the facades of this part of the three-story museum.

There is the Cardinal, whom they politely greet and introduce themselves, the Cardinal responds the greeting although a little distrust in his eyes, he does not understand why they are there. Or if and with suspicion in his eyes he stares at them.

Jamil Fahmi informs him that he knows of his interest in Egyptian art and his recent visits to Cairo. To which the Cardinal, dressed in his characteristic costume, tells of his relationship with the Coptic churches in Egypt.

After exchanging words he invites them to continue touring the other parts of the museum and offers himself as a guide while they talk.

He tells him that the name of the Gregorian Egyptian Museum is due precisely to Pope Gregory XVI, who in 1839 decided to convert into rooms a series of rooms in the retirement apartment of Pius IV, located in the Palace of the Belvedere of Innocent VIII.

And that Father Luiggi Maria Ungarelli (1779-1845), who was an eminent Egyptologist, a disciple of Rossellini and a pioneer of Egyptology, Italian Egyptology, who used different decorative and architectural elements with exotic inspiration that were reminiscent of the Nile, and drew on many Egyptian antiquities that were already in Rome.

These give the collection a peculiar character and are possibly the most emblematic works it houses, drawing attention for its aesthetic fusion between Roman and Egyptian traditions. They are in fact pieces that decorated the city of the emperors and the Villa Adriana in Tripoli.

Also noteworthy are a collection of ushabti (something that interests Thomas and almost for the only reason that I agree to come to the Vatican), reliefs and stelae.

The cardinal walks them through the different rooms:

- Room I. Reperti epigrafici (Epigraphic Remains arranged from left to right in chronological order from the Old Kingdom, highlights the Stele of Queen Hatshepsut and the Vatican Naoforo).

- Room II. Costumi funerari dell´antico Egitto (Ancient Egyptian Funeral Costumes is a truly unique room, which exhibits protected funeral costumes with their respective mummies that occupy the center of the room, in a representation of the venerated “house of eternity”).

- Room III. Ricostrumizione del Serapeo del Canopo di Villa Adriana a Tripoli (Reconstruction of the Serapeum del Canopus de Villa Adriana in Tripoli, contains frescoes with exotic motifs, the statues of Osiris-Apis and Osiris-Antinoo stand out).

- Room IV. L’Egitto e Roma (in this room you can see a collection of statues from the 1st, 2nd and 3rd centuries of Roman production but with great Egyptian influence, such as the statue of the God Anubis).

- Room V. Statuario (it is the well-known Chamber of the Hemicycle that contains a wide estuary from the excavations carried out in Rome and its surroundings, the most outstanding being the Colossus of Ptolemy II and Arsione II).

- Room VI. The Collezione Carlo Grassi (Carlo Grassi Collection is a set of bronze statues from the 4th to the 10th centuries BC, as well as the famous Book of the Dead).

- Room VII. Alesandria e Palmira (Alejandria and Palmira is a room that, as its name indicates, brings together remains from the Hellenistic and Roman times of these two cities).

- Room VIII. Antichita del Vicino Oriente Antico (Antiquities of the Ancient Near East here the protagonists are the combat weapons and other defense utensils from Syria and Mesopotamia).

- Room IX. Rilieve e iscrizioni dei palazzi assiri (Reliefs and inscriptions of the Assyrian palaces is divided into four sections each dedicated to an Assyrian sovereign, who at one time also ruled Egypt).

He comments that the interest of the popes in the works of Egypt was related to the fundamental role attributed to this country with the Holy Scriptures in the history of salvation.

(Ranging from the time when Joseph and his brothers, sons of Jacob, arrived in Egypt, the rebellion of Moses and his disputes with Pharaoh, to the stay of Jesus after his birth in Egypt and finally the exile of the disciples of Jesus after the Roman persecution, which caused them to inhabit the entire vast territory of the Nile to Aswan, witness to this are the Coptic or Gnostic manuscripts, found in Nag Hammadi, Egypt and as a consequence all the Coptic churches that are still in Egypt today) .

The rooms are divided by a semicircle open to the terrace that has numerous sculptures as you may have seen, says the cardinal.

Gregorian Etruscan Museum, tells you that the museum is in the old Palace of the Belvedere of Pope Innocent VIII and is adorned with frescoes by Barocci and Zuccari.

The gold jewel (pectoral) and the bronze throne, bed and chariot attached to the tomb of Regolini-Galassi in Cerveteri (650 BC) stand out.

Museo Pio-Clementino was the first Vatican Museum and continues to be one of the most important in the Museum.

The sculpture of Laocoon and his son’s stands out, a Roman copy of the 1st century of a Greek original. She says it is one of her favorites, for its expressiveness and sense of movement.

Apollo of Belvedere, Also Roman copy of the 2nd century. Belvedere Torso one of the best known works in the Vatican Museums and the sarcophagus of Helena from Constantinople, 4th century.

They follow the Chiaramonti Museum with more than 1000 pieces, Roman sculptures and one of the most important collections of Roman portraits, sculptures of gods and funerary pieces.

The Lapidary Gallery, with 3000 pieces.

Braccio New Museum, a very illuminated gallery in which the sculpture of Nilo stands out.

Following the Roman sculptures, we cross a long corridor that begins in the Sala de la Biga, where a monumental marble figure of a chariot drawn by two horses stands out, made in the 1st century AD.

Continue through the Gallery of the Chandeliers, its name is because it contains huge marble chandeliers that combined with huge columns defining this elegant room.

We continue through the Gallery of Tapestries (Galleria degli Arazzi), where you can see flamingos woven by Raphael’s disciples in 1523.

The Gallery of Cartographic Maps, where 40 frescoes of maps of the possessions of the church from the time of Pope Gregory XIII in 1580, its very beautiful ceiling recall the Opera Garnier in France or the Palace of Versailles itself.

The Raphael Rooms were the rooms chosen by Pope Julius II, masterfully decorated. It contains several rooms:

- Room of Constantine, in honor of the Emperor, his baptism and battles.

- Sala de Heliodoro, a political representation of historical moments from the Old Testament to medieval times, such as the Bolsena mass or the liberation of Saint Peter.

- Hall of Seal or Signatura, here are the most important frescoes by Rafael. They intend to present the maximum categories of the human spirit: Truth, Good and Beauty. The supernatural Truth is embodied in the Dispute of the Blessed Sacrament and the rational Truth in the School of Athens. The Good is expressed in The Cardinal and Theological Virtues and the Law. For its part, Beauty is seen in Parnassus with Apollo and the Muses.

Among all the works, The School of Athens stands out, for many his masterpiece.

You can see the most famous philosophers of antiquity. In the center, finger pointing up, is Plato and next to him Aristotle. We see Pythagoras, Diogenes on the steps Heraclitus writing, Zoroaster with a celestial globe and Ptolemy with the earth. The most curious thing Thomas says is some philosophers have the face of Michelangelo, Leonardo and Bracamonte and Raphael takes a self-portrait on the right with the cap.

They all gaze at the painting very carefully.

- The Borgo Fire Room, painted in the times of Pope Leo X, the jars illustrate experiences of the papacy such as the Coronation of Charlemagne, Justification of Leo III, Burning of the Borgo and Battles of Ostia.

Capilla Nicolina owes its name to Pope Nicolas V, with paintings by Fran Angelico, probably his best work and the pinnacle of “Christian humanism”.

Borgia Apartments, these are the rooms that Pope Alexander VI Borgia used and that were decorated by Pintericchio.

In the chambers and other 55 rooms that go to the Sistine Chapel, with a large Collection of Contemporary Art inaugurated in 1973 by Pope Paul VI.

More than 800 works such as:

- The Annunciation of Dali

- The Pieta of Vangh

- The Viergen and the Elephant by Matisse

- Christ and the painter Chagall.

Cardinal Botticelli plays distracted and retires after being called by an aide. Anne enters the Sistine Chapel.

The Sistine Chapel is a spectacular room, with included frescoes by Michelangelo difficult to explain in words. It was Pope Julius II who hired the great artist Michelangelo Bounarrotti to paint The Last Judgment on the High Altar.

What stands out most from the paintings across the ceiling are the nine stories from Genesis, Old Testament Salvation scenes, prophets and ancestors of Jesus.

Wonderful, unique, perfect, this is how Anne describes the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel.

And with a sketch he begins to detail what they see to others.

The 9 scenes from Genesis occupy the central part of the altar up to the entrance to the door of the Chapel.

1. God separates the light from the darkness

2. Creation of the sun and the moon

3. Separation of land and water

4. Creation of Adam (the most famous scene)

5. Creation of Eve

6. Original sin

7. The Sacrifice of Noah

8. The universal flood

9. Drunkenness of noah

The representation of the Sibyls (prophets) and prophets alternates in the perimeter rectangles:

Prophets:

18. Jonas

19. Jeremias

20. Daniel

21. Ezekiel

22. Isaias

23. Joel

24. Zacharias

Sibyls:

25. Persian Sibyl

26. Persian Sibyl

27. Sibyl of Cuma

28. Sibyl Eritrea

29. Delphic Sibyl

In the 4 side corners are the scenes of the Salvation of the Old Testament:

30. Punishment of Amun

31. Moses and the Serpent

32. David and Goliath

33. Judith and Holofermes

And in the Triangles the Ancestors of Jesus are represented.