Brescia, anniversary of the discovery of the Winged Victory, invitation to public prayer

Brescia, the Brescia Museums Foundation and the Municipality of Brescia are pleased to present Canto alla Vittoria. Public oration for the anniversary of the discovery of the Winged Victory of Brescia, Monday 20 July at 21 pm, in the suggestive setting of the Roman theatre.
On the occasion of the anniversary of the discovery of the extraordinary bronze statue, dated the evening of 20 July 1826, Luca Scarlini's narrative voice accompanied by sound settings will guide the public to discover the symbol of the city.

The president of Brescia Museums Foundation, Francesca Bazoli comments: “The project to valorise the ancient heritage that we have undertaken through contamination with contemporary languages ​​materializes on the occasion of the anniversary of the extraordinary discovery of the Winged Victory in a show in which an epochal historical moment such as the end of paganism becomes inspiration for a prayer on the symbolic values ​​of our most majestic work: the Winged Victory. This representation therefore takes on, in this moment of restart, a synthetic value of the same heritage narration strategy that the Brescia Musei Foundation is carrying out".

Starting from reflection on the critical and emblematic moment of the transition between paganism and Christianity and on the symbolic and social value represented by the statue, capable of reaching us, thanks to the devotion of mysterious witnesses, as Anna Banti suggestively narrates in the story “The Roman villa”.
At the end of classical time, the last faithful of the defeated tradition preserved icons that the new Christian tradition transformed into demons. Along the lines of the last cry of the pagans, uttered by Symmachus to restore the cult of the statue of Victory in Rome, Scarlini proposes a highly evocative journey.

The initiative is part of the program that the Brescia Musei Foundation proposes while awaiting the return to Brescia of the Winged Victory which, after a careful restoration lasting two years at the Opificio delle Pietre Dure in Florence, will most likely return to the city in November 2020 and will be located in the eastern cell of the Capitolium of Brescia, in a new layout designed by architect Juan Navarro Baldeweg.

On the evening of July 20th, 194 years later, the public is welcomed among the ancient remains of the Roman theatre, which will exceptionally lend itself as a stage for the ritual of remembrance of the rediscovery of Victory.
The narrative of the Winged Victory, an ancient symbol in a contemporary key, is at the center of the valorisation program which Brescia Museums Foundation dedicated to one of the most important Roman works in terms of composition and material.

“Luca Scarlini he is first of all an extraordinary connoisseur of classical texts, explains the director of Fondazione Brescia Musei Stefano Karadjov: by classic I mean everything that had a founding value for the community from which it came at the moment it was composed, this is the case of the our Winged Victory. The great pieces among which the artist moves with dexterity, accompanied by the music in the show staged in the original premiere at the Roman theater on Monday 20 July, are the cultured but universal synthesis of the moment of waiting for Victory, on the day of the discovery" .

Girolamo Monti, President of the University at the time of the discovery, stated: “The care and expense of the Brescians... could not have achieved a higher reward than the discovery which occurred on the evening of the 20th. While earth and rubble were being cleared away in one of the ambulatory located to the west of the interior of the building, they found... a female statue two meters high... it seems to represent Victory writing on a shield, and resting her left foot on it a crest."

The Deputy Mayor and Councilor for Culture of Brescia Laura Castelletti observes: “I am thrilled that the Roman theater comes to life thanks to the words dedicated to our Victory: it is the perfect conjugation of a space and a masterpiece, both emblematic for our city and particularly dear to our fellow citizens. We thus take another step on the path towards the great celebration of Brescia Capital of Culture with Bergamo. Because just as will happen on this special summer evening, the whole of 2023 will also be dotted with projects in which symbols of our culture will become, through staging, capable of speaking to a universal and ever-widening audience. This is the best service we can bring to the project of care and valorization of our heritage: making it speak with today's languages, making it speak to everyone."