Resources of the month

"Mikrophotographischer Atlas der technisch wichtigsten Pflanzenfasern" is an impressive piece of work that still serves as a reference for those looking to analyze the technical aspects of plant fibres. The publication is a testament to the expertise and dedication of Alois Herzog, who became an authority on the subject after years of research and study. In our Library, the book is kept in the rare book section.

Once upon a time, there lived a man called Saint George who served as a soldier in the Roman army. Legend has it that he heroically defeated a fire-breathing dragon to save a princess from her castle. This iconography was beautifully illustrated in the 14th century in a fresco within the Venzone Cathedral of Sant’Andrea Apostolo in Friuli – a northeast Italian region bordering Austria, Slovenia and the Adriatic Sea.

My interest was piqued by this 145-year-old book, which someone had decided to part with. I began to leaf through the small volume and read. Yes, there it was: a detailed chapter on ceramics and glazes, as well as chapters on fabrics, dyes, inks and pigments. “Welcome to the ICCROM Library!” I thought to myself and bought the book for only a few euros. It will have a place of honour in our Rare Book Collection, and I hope it will be useful to...

For February’s resource, our destination is Ethiopia, famed for its spectacular natural sites and distinctive cultural heritage extending deep into the past. The country has an abundance of important historic sites, including significant ancient churches.

Last year, more than 20 armed conflicts took place in different parts of the world, costing many lives and causing much suffering and destruction. Cultural heritage is far from being exempt from conflict; sometimes it is specifically targeted. In hoping for a more peaceful year in 2023, this year’s first Resource of the Month is the 1954 Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict. This iconic...

The 13th-century, Gothic-style Church of Eremitani in the northern Italian city of Padua was decorated with mosaics by the greatest Renaissance artists in the region, most notably Andrea Mantegna. The frescoes, painted between 1448-1457 and depicting scenes from the lives of Saints James and Christopher, were Mantegna's first major commission.

This month we would like to showcase an art book we found while searching for books to populate our Heritage Education Library for children and youth, as part of the Europe Challenge 2022 project – L’arte del disegno di Mateusz Urbanowicz : Botteghe di Tokyo [The Art of Drawing by Mateusz Urbanowicz: Shops of Tokyo] (2021). It is not a book for the young but for all ages; I’m sure that everyone who holds the book in their hands will be thrilled...

The Portico of Octavia was built by Augustus in the 1st century BC. Today, the portico’s remains have been annexed to the church of Sant’Angelo in Pescheria. The portico’s colonnaded walks can be found next to the Theatre of Marcellus - an ancient Roman open-air theatre. The Portico of Octavia was damaged by an earthquake in the 5th century, when two of the destroyed columns were replaced with an archway, which still stands and is visible in the...

Welcome to the Resource of the Month for August, dear readers. Once again, I would like to invite as many of you as possible to visit our library, either virtually through our online catalogue or, of course, in person here in Rome. In person in Rome? Some of you might think: I'd better not travel in this heat... We read daily about forest fires and city fires and it hasn't rained in Italy for many months...Climate change and its catastrophic...

If you understand Italian, you may be perplexed by the name of the Church of Sant'Angelo in Pescheria. In pescheria? A fish market? The story of how this church got its name is nearly as strange as you might imagine. It is located near the remains of the Portico of Octavia, which Emperor Augustus dedicated to his sister in ancient times, though it became a fish market (pescheria) during the Middle Ages and remained so until the 19th century. The...

It is a normal morning at the ICCROM Library. I start the day by flipping through the mail piling up on my desk – most of the envelopes contain new journal issues, the latest of our periodical subscriptions… But then, there! The last, hefty envelope. I carefully open it and observe its contents: a matte, deep blue book, adorned with golden dragons enveloped in a mesh of ornamental plant motifs. Almost as an afterthought, I read the title that the...

In a room on the first floor of the Palazzo Farnese, a High Renaissance palace now housing the French embassy in Rome, the ceiling is decorated with a fresco cycle by the painter Annibale Carracci (1560–1609). Known as the Camerino Farnese, it features a scene from Greek mythology in which Hercules carries the weight of Atlas’ globe.