The 6th European Summer School - Itinerary for January 2007

With photos by past participants [Italy etc] and Bob Greaves [Russia]

Rome / The Vatican / Venice / Paris / London / St Petersburg / Moscow

The Itinerary for January, 2007 cuts a swathe across Europe.   Three main countries will be visited :  ITALY,  FRANCE and RUSSIA. However, along the way, we also traverse Switzerland via the Simplon Rail Tunnel, the Rhône Valley and Geneva, where we change trains for the very fast train [TGV] to Paris; in addition, if you take the London day trip, you can add England, and another very lengthy rail tunnel indeed, to the list as well!

To get you started, there are some links to interesting web pages for each of the main cities we visit, and a few more besides ……

ITALY

We arrive in Rome at Fiumicino, the airport, and then take the shuttle train to the city centre

In Rome, there are two particular ideas that we shall explore.  Firstly, the idea of how modern Rome has been literally built around the ruins of the ancient Roman civilisation of two thousand years ago.  We will visit the centre of the Roman Empire, which was the Forum, and take a look at what is left while trying to construct what life was like here at the height of the Empire. 

Among our first ports of call in Rome is the Colloseum

and the neighbouring Roman Forum

A walk around central Rome brings us to the Pantheon,

and one of the main churches, where the great composer, Giovanni da Palestrina, was Director of Music in the 1550s : [.....top]

We walk up the avenue towards St Peter’s Cathedral

before arriving in the mighty square bounded by the Cathedral and the home of the Pope, The Vatican.  The size of the famous square in front of the Cathedral is breath-taking indeed and is surrounded by a wonderful colonnade, which we will spend time admiring!  As it is still the days after Christmas, the life-size crib and huge Christmas tree are still in place.

The second idea is to discover the attempts by the Popes at the turn of the 15^th century to beautify Rome and make it a centre of European civilisation as befits its religious centre.  The artists involved, including Michelangelo, were part of the most important artistic movement in Europe – The Renaissance.  For their inspiration, they took looked back to the ancient Roman Empire, for a model of a civilised society and its arts.  Rome is at once a religious centre with a tremendous history, but also a centre for the spreading of humanist Renaissance ideals, which we will consider in some detail.  Some of the greatest art works are in The Vatican [eg in the Sistine Chapel]. [.....top]

From Rome, we travel by smart Italian train right through the spine of Italy, which comprises the Apennine Mountains; this rail journey takes us through Florence, past Prato, where Monash has its European base [we can wave from the train …!] before descending onto the plain of the huge River Po.  Once we arrive at the sea, the train keeps going across a causeway, which links the mainland to the islands of Venice. 

Venice is always hard to leave … it is not hard to see why it has attracted armies, politicians, and artists of all persuasions over the past thousand years :

palaces of The Grand Canal

The appeal of Venice may well have something to do with the combination of ever-changing effects of the light on the water and buildings.  This classic approach to Venice from the water, pictured below, is part of our experience of this beguiling city.  In the centre of the picture is the pink-coloured stone of the Palace of the Doge, behind which is the incredible basilica of St. Mark’s, whose domes are just visible above.

Inside the thousand year old St. Mark’s, everything is gold.  This basilica, once the ‘private’ chapel of the Doge and his government, has been the scene of many wonderful performances of music over the past 500 years.  Its unique acoustics have literally helped shape the history of western music. [.....top]

inside St Mark’s basilica

Sadly leaving Venice, we will be excited to change countries and to take the train to Paris, via Switzerland [over the Alps and through the century old Simplon Tunnel – an experience in itself!].   The foothills of the Alps include beautiful lakes, as we climb higher and higher.  This will probably be our first real view of snow.

lakes in the foothills of the Alps

FRANCE

In Paris, we shall spend time considering the influence of King Louis XIV on the course of European Arts during the Baroque period. Inevitably, this means our starting place will be the palace of Versailles, which he had modernised and extended in his own artistic style and taste. 

We shall also discover the painters and musicians of the period of the French Revolution [1789 and after], and try to understand what effect the ideals of that revolution had on music.  In the 19^th century, Paris was the home of Impressionism.  What exactly does this style comprise, especially in terms of music and visual art?  A trip to Paris is incomplete without visiting the Cathedral of Nôtre Dame with its thousand year history.  This was the site of some of the earliest known music written by composers, not just ‘anonymous’! [.....top]

A day trip to London will include a museum visit, a bus-ride, English-style food in the crypt of St Martin’s in the Field, Westminster Abbey, St Paul’s Cathedral by Sir Christopher Wren and much more besides.

St Paul’s and Millenium Bridgefrom the Thames

Tower Bridgefrom the Thames

[.....top]

RUSSIA

From Paris, we will fly to St. Petersburg.  Once the capital of Russia, this amazing city is sometimes called ‘The Venice of the North’.  It is not hard to see why – it is built around a canal system, although, unlike Venice, there are ‘real’ streets as well.  The centre of the city is completely dominated by the former palaces of the aristocracy, all painted in different colours. 

It will be virtually completely dark all the time we are there!  It is doubtful we shall see the sun, even during the couple of hours that it actually makes it into the sky.  More likely, the place will be covered with snow, and the water in the canals and the main River, will be frozen to several meters depth.  What is definite is that we will have a truly Russian experience, which will include a visit to the opera or ballet for which the city is truly famous.   These photos were taken during the summer months of 2005.

views of the canals of St Petersburg

St Petersburg was the home of Dostoevsky, who was one of the great authors who wrote about what it meant to be Russian in the 19^th century. One of the city’s inhabitants during the 1,000 day siege of the city by the Germans through most of World War II, was the composer Dmitri Shostakovitch [1906 – 1976].  He wrote his 9^th symphony, called The Leningrad, while living there at that time, and it is concerned with the experience; the music movingly portrays the difficulties endured by the city’s inhabitants during those dark days.  There is much public sculpture in the city of a patriotic nature, which helps the inhabitants remember those days from which they emerged in glory. [.....top]

to the memory of glorious soldiers

There is so much to see that we shall be dazzled by the experience.  The former palace of the royal family, the Romanovs, last inhabited by Tsar Nicholas II in 1917, is now the famous art gallery of The Hermitage.  This enormous collection in sumptuous palatial setting, will take up some of our time.

inside the Hermitage

approaching The Hermitage/former Royal Palace from the river side

Since the French Revolution, there has been a great deal of French influence in Russia, and French was the court language of the Tsars.  We can look at first hand for these influences, following our time at Versailles near Paris.  In addition, the influence of the Italian Renaissance and early Baroque is to be seen in the architecture of palaces and churches.  This forms a great summary to this aspect of the Study Tour, as can be seen in this picture of an interior of a church in St. Petersburg:

inside the cathedral of St Peter and Paul

From St. Petersburg, we will travel by train to Moscow.  This is one of the shorter train journeys in the country, and, even so, it will take the best part of the day.   What will our view from the train window be able to show us of the Russian countryside in deep winter and the life of the people during these harsh months?

Moscow has also been the capital of Russia and its central, walled city, is called The Kremlin. This area was the goal of Napoleon to take; he set out to conquer this country in 1812 [famous book, piece of music, an opera and several films …!].  Napoleon was beaten by the winter weather, as was eventually Hitler, when he tried the same idea in the 1940s.  The Russian Revolution took place on the city’s streets – so well described and written about in the novel, Dr Zhivago, by one of Russia’s more recent authors.   

In the 20^th century, the Kremlin was the secretive nerve centre of Communist government, but its history dates back much further.  The magnificent churches and cathedrals within its walls have been the site of coronations of the Tsars in previous centuries and have now become again, as in .St Petersburg, the place of Christian worship in the Orthodox tradition.  

Cathedral in St. Petersburg