The Sansevero Chapel Museum of Napoli participate in the European Heritage Days 2024, scheduled for today and tomorrow, with a special initiative that pays homage to the intercultural tradition and progressive thought of the VII Prince of Sansevero.
The museum will exceptionally exhibit the original edition of the Apologetic Letter, the main literary work of Raimondo di Sangro. For the occasion, the Museo Cappella Sansevero, as has been the case for several editions of the European Heritage Days, is also committed to a cultural solidarity project.
This year, a portion of the proceeds from September 28 (in the amount of 1 euro for each paying visitor) will be donated to the State Archives of Naples to support the restoration of a series of historical drawings from notarial protocols from the XNUMXth, XNUMXth, XNUMXth and XNUMXth centuries.
These are outline or watercolour drawings depicting monuments and views of the city of Naples and which accompanied deeds of sale or contracts for the commission of works. A unique heritage that deserves to be protected for future generations.
This year's edition of the European Heritage Days revolves around the theme Heritage on the move, an invitation to explore the traces of interactions between different cultures that have contributed to the formation of our identity.
The Apologetic Letter of the Academic Exercise of the Crusca containing the defense of the book entitled Letters of a Peruvian Woman in Respect of the Supposition of the Quipu, written to the Duchess of S**** and published by the same, best interprets this theme, attesting to the modernity of the prince's thought and his openness towards non-European civilizations.
Through the Lettera Apologetica, Raimondo di Sangro reveals a cosmopolitan and nonconformist mind, curious to explore the culture and customs of distant peoples, with the aim of promoting an intercultural dialogue already in the eighteenth century.
Published by the prince's private printing house at the beginning of 1751, the Letter presents itself as an apologia for an ancient communication system of the Incas: the quipu, or knots made with colored strings to which he attributes the dignity of writing.
In the book, Prince Raimondo di Sangro, who signs with his name as an academic of the Crusca, “Esercitato”, takes the opportunity to let his unorthodox point of view filter through on various topics, from the miracle of San Gennaro to the origin of the world and of man, earning himself the reputation of an irreverent and libertine thinker, so much so that the work was condemned by the Church as “a cesspool of all heresies” and placed on the Index of Prohibited Books.
The Lettera Apologetica is not only an erudite work on the quipu, but also represents a subtle criticism of the limits of the dominant European culture. Through the study of this Peruvian system, the Prince of Sansevero wants to argue that cultural diversity does not mean backwardness
. Di Sangro rejected the vision of the Incas as “savages”, proposing instead an alternative perspective, in the spirit of the cultural relativism that was then beginning to take its first steps thanks to works like this one.
Article published on 28 September 2024 - 17:46
