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So far Donal Hasset has created 71 blog entries.

Dónal Hassett, ‘Marseille’s Porte d’Orient: Commemoration of Conflict and Colonialism on the Mediterranean’s Northern Shore’

By |2024-01-12T15:11:55+00:00January 12th, 2024|Visual Reflections|

Perched on a promontory along the Corniche in Marseille’s salubrious quartiers sud, the Monument aux Héros de l’Armée de l’Orient et des terres lointaines represents an ambiguous lieu de mémoire of conflict and colonialism. Built to commemorate those who died while serving in French forces during the First World War on the Balkan fronts, at the Dardanelles, and in colonial spheres of the conflict, the monument, commonly known as the Porte d’Orient, does de-centre the Western front in commemorative discourse and underline the global nature of the conflict. However, the symbolism embedded in the sculptural form of the monument and the subsequent commemorative interventions on the site elide the centrality of coercive system of colonialism to the histories of violence it claims to memorialise. This selective silence raises broader questions about cosmopolitan modes of commemoration on the Mediterranean’s Northern Shore, both past and present, that elevate limited conceptions of diversity over the harsh realities of domination and discrimination rooted in colonialism and the resistance which they have provoked. Marseille’s status as the principal port of the French empire is embedded [...]

Ilaria Berti, ‘Between Imaginary and Reality: Ethnicity and Cooks in the Colonial Space of Cuba at the Turn of the Twentieth Century’.

By |2023-07-03T15:14:56+00:00July 3rd, 2023|Visual Reflections|

Cover Image: Nuevo manual del cocinero Criollo, book cover, 1903, Courtesy University of Miami Library, Digital Collections   In the cover image, we see a busty young woman with a tiny waist, a characteristic of female fashion illustrations of the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, is depicted in the act of cooking. She is wearing a spotless apron over a fancy striped dress, and is shown in an apparently modern kitchen, stirring her meal at a stove decorated with colourful tiles and surrounded by exotic fruits including pineapples, bananas, papayas and a fish, along with kitchen containers.   Figure 2: How they cook in Cuba, in The American Kitchen Magazine, 1898, Courtesy of the Hathi Trust Digital Library This untitled photo portrays a woman and a man in a seemingly clean, modern kitchen. For hygienic reasons, the wood stove area is tiled. The kitchen has five if not six different wood stoves, all of them occupied by a kettle, two pans, a pot and possibly, on the right side, a fish kettle. The vast quantity of stoves and the [...]

Matteo Calcagni, ‘Keeping up Appearances: The Indian Sedan Chair, or Palanquin, through the Eyes of an Eighteenth-century Livornese Seaman’.

By |2023-07-03T19:00:33+00:00July 3rd, 2023|Visual Reflections|

At the end of the eighteenth century, many Tuscan seamen periodically landed their ships in ports on the Indian coast. At a certain point, the presence of Tuscan interests in India was so massive that the grand ducal government established a Consulate General for the East India ports in these remote regions, protecting both Tuscan and Austrian interests, owing to the kinship ties that bound the two sovereigns. More importantly, between 1779 and 1783, an attempt was made to revitalize the Imperial Company of Ostend. This enterprise, supported by Vienna with the participation of several Livornese trading houses, attempted to open up the route to India and China; however, it was stopped by the wars of the revolutionary era and the blockade of maritime traffic. It is a moment in the history of Tuscan trade that deserves more careful investigation. Indeed, very little is known about these voyages and even less is known about what the seamen who made these crossings saw while sailing, or during their stay in these faraway lands. However, the recent discovery of the Francesco Montemerli [...]

Konstantinos Giakoumis, ‘The Family Tomb of the Pavli Family’

By |2023-07-03T13:11:36+00:00July 3rd, 2023|Research in Progress|

Cover Image: Eternity Cemetery, Iaşi, The Family Tomb of the Pavli Family The family tomb, whose photographic glimpse is provided here, captures some 300 years of history of a single immigrant family from the region of Gjirokastra (now South Albania) to Iaşi, Romania and is a good case of family preservation through integration. On a central plot (Plot 4 / I, row 3) at the western side of the central church of the Eternity Cemetery (Cimitirul Eternitatea) in Iaşi the impressive, fenced tomb of the Pavli (or Pavlou) family captures the eye of the visitor. The tomb is slightly elevated from the ground, covered with slabs of white marble with a grey marble contour. The central part of the family tomb there is a sculpture elevated on an over-two-metres-high basis revetted with slabs of grey-back marble with white spots. The statue portrays Christ’s Resurrection dominates over the surrounding tombs. The statue portrays the Resurrected Christ rising from the Sepulchre. Christ stands upright, lifts his right hand in a gesture of greeting and holds a gilded cross with his left hand. He [...]

Kyriaki Giannouli, ‘Breaking Down the Alphabet: Exploring its Significance in Bernhard von Breydenbach’s Travelogue’.

By |2023-07-03T13:11:47+00:00July 3rd, 2023|Research in Progress|

Cover Image: Arabic Alphabet. https://eng.travelogues.gr/item.php?view=54934   Travel literature has always been a fascinating genre for readers seeking adventure and exotic experiences. The travelogue of Bernhard von Breydenbach is certainly one of the most captivating accounts produced during the late medieval period (15th century). Among the diverse elements found within this travelogue, the inclusion of various alphabets holds significant historical and cultural value. However, few have explored in-depth the significance of his use of the alphabet in this text. This critical essay aims to fill this gap by analyzing how Breydenbach employed letters as a tool to enhance his descriptions and provide accuracy to his observations. Additionally, we will examine how he incorporated diverse alphabets from different regions into his work, showcasing his meticulous attention to detail when documenting unfamiliar places and cultures. Therefore, our discussion will focus on three essential points: first, the inclusion of the alphabet demonstrates Breydenbach's dedication to precision; secondly, it highlights regional language differences; lastly, it offers unique insights into manuscript production during that era. The alphabet in Breydenbach's travelogue serves as a linguistic tool for [...]

Newsletter June 2023

By |2023-06-16T12:27:19+00:00June 16th, 2023|PIMo Newsletters|

PIMo Newsletter June 2023 Fresh off the back of a hugely successful Summer School, Conference and MC Meeting in Rabat, Morocco, the PIMo Core Group would like to share the latest updates about the ongoing work of our Cost Action in its final phase. In this Newsletter, we are honoured to share a short text dedicated to the late Stefan Donecker, a committeed and enthusiastic member of the PIMo Management Committee from Austria, who sadly passed away on September 1 2022. We also include details of a forthcoming event that will be dedicated to his memory. PIMo has maintained a rich and varied schedule of activities throughout the first half of 2023, the details of which we are delighted to share with you here. Even as we approach the end date of our COST Action, we still have a busy schedule of forthcoming events, new publications to promote and a potential follow up project to expand on and further develop the valuable work PIMo has achieved. You can read about all of this below. We thank you for your continued support [...]

Ignacio Chuecas Saldías, “A Lamp in the Holy City”: Sephardic Exile, Family Ties and the Messianic Jerusalem. The Ladino Version of the Passover Haggadah, Venice (1624)

By |2023-06-01T14:58:28+00:00June 1st, 2023|Visual Reflections|

On Wednesday 11 November 1665, Venetian public notary Angelo Maria Piccino received the last will of “Signora Ester Senior consort of Signore Josef Senior, Hebrewess,” penned by herself in the form of a sealed testament and handed to him, in person, in the house of her usual residence in the Ghetto Vecchio of Venice. In this document, which begins with the declaration of faith, “In the name of Adonay, Lord of Hosts, in whom I firmly believe”, Ester alludes to the material losses and childlessness that had affected her marriage; the existence of an absent sister, for whom she professed great love; and a nephew, identified as Manuel Aboab, son of her deceased brother. Among the pious dispositions, she makes bequests to her sister, her nephew, a child she had raised whom she names as “Abranelo”, and some relatives residing in Livorno and Aleppo. She also asks her executor to pay for a lamp which, in her intention, was to burn for a whole year in the holy city of Jerusalem (Fig. 1). The text of the will reflects the [...]

Loredana Lorizzo, Perceiving Others. Representing the Different in Baroque Europe

By |2023-06-02T15:25:43+00:00May 31st, 2023|Visual Reflections|

The production of pictorial, sculptural and engraved portraits greatly fostered knowledge of the Other. Effigies of African natives, Moors, slaves, Turks and ambassadors from distant lands helped to entrench or change certain opinions, while reshaping the image of Europe itself, which has always been multicultural and host to a constant struggle between its self-perception as an uncorrupted unicum and the reality of vital and inevitable exchange with other cultures. Images of the Other also penetrated Baroque Europe due to the widespread diffusion of engravings: a phenomenon that can be analysed through a selection of case studies. One of the best known is the representation of Antonio Manuel, Marquis Ne Vunda, ambassador of King Alvaro II of the Congo. He arrived in Rome in 1608 and after his death was celebrated with engravings and a magnificent funeral monument with an outstanding polychrome marble portrait in Santa Maria Maggiore. Another example which has not entered the critical debate to such an extent is provided by Moulay Al-Rashid ibn Sharif, sultan of Morocco from 1666 to 1672. Known as the Great Tafiletta, his [...]

Emanuele Giusti, Johann Fischer von Erlach, the Mediterranean and Persepolis

By |2023-05-31T17:14:53+00:00May 31st, 2023|Visual Reflections|

Johann Bernard Fischer von Erlach (1656-1723) is known as one of the most prominent representatives of European Baroque. His architectural work had a significant impact on the identity of imperial Vienna. However, Fischer von Erlach is also well-known for the Entwurff einer historischen Architectur. First published in 1721, the Entwurff consists of five books containing plates and descriptions in German and French. The scholarly literature on the Entwurff offers two major interpretations. The first sees the Entwurff as a repertoire of architectural examples to be perused by amateurs, while the second sees it as a history of architecture, more appealing to antiquarians, and the first of its kind in its universal reach. Arguably, Fischer himself intended the Entwurff to be seen as the former, stating in the preface that he wanted to: provide specimens of any sort of architecture to art amateurs, and new sources of inventions to those who are devoted to this activity, rather than instruct the savants. […] This is but a sketch; a show of different specimens of architecture. Nothing more should be seen in it. [...]