Tuesday, November 5, 2019

Goethe monument

Monument to Goethe by Valentino Casali, Viale Goethe, Villa Borghese gardens, Rome

Monument to Goethe by Valentino Casali
Viale Goethe
Villa Borghese gardens
Rome, May 2019

“On 23 June 1904, in the presence of King Victor Emanuel III, the monument dedicated to the great author and poet Johann Wolfgang von Goethe was inaugurated. Made in Berlin in the studio of the Italian sculptor Valentino Casali, it was donated by the German Emperor Wilhelm II to the Mayor of Rome, Prospero Colonna, as a sign of the friendship between the Italians and Germans and in remembrance of the hospitality the city showed towards the poet. The 3 metre tall statue is flanked by 3 groups of sculptures showing the main fields in which Goethe worked: drama, lyrical and philosophy. Goethe is shown as a young man at the time of arrival in Rome in 1786, with a notebook in his hand to recall the works written at Villa Borghese itself.” (Monument to Goethe, Jubilee Cultural Routes)

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