The Discovery of Piranesi's Final Project
Stephen Lauf



5 December 312
Miltiades was elected to the papacy on July 2, 311, and remained pope until his death January 10, 314. He was of North African descent. Was Miltiades black? In all honesty, we simply don't know what his race was, however, it seems just as easy to assume he was black as it is to assume he was white. Perhaps he was both, or, more likely, something in-between. In any case, Miltiades is now, at least, more interesting.


5 December 1778   Saturday

A Vuë des 18 Colonnes de cðté dessinées du cðté opposé à celles qui sont indiquées dans la premier planche par la lettre B. Vuë de la mer B, qui baigne les rivages de la campagne de Pesto. C Sima, ou Couronne sculptée sur une autre pierre, que nous appellons Tuf. D Angle du Temple Dorique tracé dans la premiere planche, et indiqué par la lettre E.     Cav Piranesi F.
A View of the 18 Side Columns drawn from the opposite side to those indicated in the first plate by the letter B. View of the sea B, which washes the shores of the Pesto countryside. C Sima, or Crown carved on another stone, which we call Tufa. D Angle of the Doric Temple traced in the first plate, and indicated by the letter E.


5 December 1795
"On December 5 he [Francesco] wrote again [to Reuterholm], enclosing a post-mortem report from a local doctor (Pietro Lupi) and the description [of the funeral], written (in Italian) by his brother Pietro Piranesi."
Christina Heumer, "An Eighteenth=Century Artist's Funeral at the Protestant Cemetery in Rome" (2004).


5 December 1812   Saturday

A very heavy shower about 3 or 4 this morning, at day light cloudy, wind fresh from SSW drawing westward, a clear Bull's Eye in NW. The two temperatures about 58 and 59 degrees, nearly 1 degree difference. About 10 the wind got to NW and blows fresh, the usual clouds rising in the train. The temperatures remained stationary, the sum above the horizon tempering, the fresh wind from the N, but PM the air becomes cooler and temperatures fall to 44 degrees and continue descending. S. Sagen and company finished the stone wall in the garden for the hotbed, before evening at 9 PM the ground has not begun to freeze.


5 December 2001
virtual Gerusalemme
Images derived from a 3d computer model of the Basilica Hierusalem, the original Santa Croce in Gerusalemme are now available at Quondam.
The model is based on a plan of the basilica as featured in the Corpus basilicarum Christianarum Romae, and on a schematic reconstruction featured in Krautheimer's Early Christian and Byzantine Architecture.
Recently, architectural historian Joseph Rykwert made (at least) one factual error within The Seduction of Place (2000). On page 150, Rykwert states:
"The attempt to provide a mimetic "condensation" of another place and time is not new. Centuries ago pilgrimages to remote and sacred places were replicated for those who could not afford to leave home. The fourteen [S]tations of the [C]ross, which you may find in any Roman Catholic church, are a miniaturized and atrophied version of the pilgrimage around holy places in Jerusalem."
The above is complete misinformation. The Stations of the Cross do not represent a "pilgrimage around holy places in Jerusalem." The Stations of the Cross are a ritual reenactment of what Christ experienced on the day of His crucifixion.
Ironically, the example that Rykwert should have put forth is that of Santa Croce in Gerusalemme, the church in Rome built within the Sessorian Palace, the imperial home of Helena Augusta, which today houses Christianity's most valuable relics (of the "Stations of the Cross"). Additionally, Santa Croce (which means Holy Cross) is built upon ground brought back by Helena from Golgotha, site of Christ's crucifixion. Santa Croce is indeed Rome's primal pilgrimage church.
Seeing how Santa Croce is indeed a "mimetic 'condensation' of another place and time," I am now curious if there are other earlier examples of such "reenactionary" buildings/places. Or does the Basilica Hierusalem actually set the precedent for this type of building in Western civilizations? Any clarifications or suggestions would be most appreciated.
ps
You will note that I have dated the Basilica Hierusalem as circa late 326. This indicates my contention that the basilica came into being after Helena's death (circa 1 August 326), and that the basilica was constructed (perhaps under the guidance of Eutropia) to both honor Helena as well as the relics she (Helena) had just brought to Rome. This thinking coincides with what happened at the "the house of Crispus" in Trier after his murder/death. The Imperial house at Trier was demolished, and an enormous double basilica was erected in its place (and there are still today two churches at Trier on the double basilica site).









5 December 2009
where's the avant garde?
Get a notion or idea
that most will resist,
and chances are
that it's avant garde.


5 December 2022   Monday
Were Miers Fisher Jr. and his wife Hélène Gregoroffsky in line to inherit Ury?

Audubon, Latrobe, and Gregoroffsky Fisher all wound up going west.

Do some Piranesi/Audubon collages.

Funny how I virtually never have the time to contemplate what Miers Fisher and I are doing on the same day and at the same place 210 years apart, yet we are both doing the exact same thing whenever we write.

Francesco is the reason The Discovery of Piranesi's Final Project continues beyond 9 November, because he is the one that intermittently published the eight clues throughout most of his 32 year career.




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