ROME

At the beginning of February, we travelled to Rome to get acquainted with its art and experience some adventure. For all of us, this was the first field trip with Ivan Foletti, who decided to take only the lowest years this time. Along with Zuzana Frantová, who accompanied us, there were thirteen brave women from the first year, second year and one blond girl from the third. We set off for the “Eternal City” by train, and arrived a few hours late due to snowdrifts in the Alps. Rome welcomed us with rain and cold, so we appreciated our new Roman home at the Czech papal college Nepomucenum. Our first stop was the oldest preserved basilica in Rome, Santa Pudenziana. There, we began our journey through monuments from the fifth to thirteenth centuries, with Herbert Kessler's proposition: "Unless you can prove otherwise, the Middle Ages are always from the nineteenth century." In the main church of this period, Santa Maria Maggiore, we had a chance to observe its monumental mosaic decoration face to face for the first time. There, we realized that photographic reproductions fail to capture the power of this lavish technique. Especially when the mosaics are illuminated by the sun. This was especially true during our time in the funeral chapel of the church of Santa Prassede. In this basilica, we also acquainted ourselves with a mosaic decoration from the ninth century, created during the pontificate of Pope Pascal. We came across this donor several times during our field trip, for instance, in the basilicas of Santa Maria in Domnica and Santa Cecilia. We also had an unforgettable experience during our visit to the National Roman Museum. In one room, the murals from the house of Livia were installed as an example of high Roman art. As we got closer, the painted birds seemed to start singing, countless trees seemed to grow even more, and the butterflies came down to the blooming flowers. We had the opportunity to compare these ancient paintings with early Christian ones in the catacombs of Priscilla. There, we observed this new religion's motifs, such as the orant and the good shepherd, which became more and more common starting in the third century. Our next stop was Santa Costanza, with its vault's rich decorative mosaics. In this space, there was an obvious tradition of pagan Roman art, which can be interpreted in a Christian sense – as a symbol of the Eucharist. These motifs were also common inside the catacombs. We ended our field trip with the Vatican Museum. I cannot say whether it was our exhaustion, the heavy air in the room or just the artwork itself but, for an hour, we sat with our noses glued to the display case in front of the Cathedra Sancti Petri, the throne of St. Peter. Admiring the unique object's beauty, we were sure that no photo could ever capture its true appearance. We visited many more wonderful places during our successful field trip and gained a comprehensive picture of Roman art from antiquity to the thirteenth century. Thanks to the immense variety of themes we saw, especially with the churches' mosaic decorations, we really began to understand the depth of the narrative ideas included in the scenes during this period.