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| A cat in the Colosseum |
My friend was so nice she brought me two postcards from her Rome trip. The first one is an iconic scene from the Colosseum which has many of the feline inhabitants.
We also had a calendar of the topic: Gatti di Roma which translates: Cats of Rome - cats captured at all important monuments of the city.
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| The Ganges from the Fontana dei Quattro Fiumi with the Sant' Agnese in Agone in the background |
The fountain was designed by the artist Gian Lorenzo Bernini. The figures of the fountain bear symbolic meaning that is really interesting: the figures are river-gods representing the longest rivers known at the time when the fountain was built in 1651. Those rivers are the Danube, the Ganges, the Nile and the Río de la Plata. Each river, at the same time, represents a continent.
The Danube touches the pope's coat of arms, since it's the river closest to the Vatican. It has flowers at the base reflecting the fertility of the Danubian plains. The Ganges carries a long oar referring the river's navigability. The Nile, accompanied by a palm tree, can be seen with his head covered, a metaphor that at that time, no one knew exactly where its source was. The Río de la Plata has a pile of coins at the base, referring the sources of precious metal of South America, therefore the richness that it can offer to Europe ('Plata' in Spanish means silver). The Río de la Plata is scared by a snake, an allegory of rich people's fear that their money can be stolen. An Egyptian obelisk is placed in the center, it was reused from the ancient Roman Circus of Maxentius.
The Danube touches the pope's coat of arms, since it's the river closest to the Vatican. It has flowers at the base reflecting the fertility of the Danubian plains. The Ganges carries a long oar referring the river's navigability. The Nile, accompanied by a palm tree, can be seen with his head covered, a metaphor that at that time, no one knew exactly where its source was. The Río de la Plata has a pile of coins at the base, referring the sources of precious metal of South America, therefore the richness that it can offer to Europe ('Plata' in Spanish means silver). The Río de la Plata is scared by a snake, an allegory of rich people's fear that their money can be stolen. An Egyptian obelisk is placed in the center, it was reused from the ancient Roman Circus of Maxentius.
From: K. L.
Date: November 2010
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