90 Years of Sapienza Main Campus: a celebration of renewal and solidarity
The Main Campus of Sapienza was designed by Marcello Piacentini and inaugurated in 1935. The square is dominated by the Rectorate Building and Arturo Martini's statue of Minerva. The space, the monumental heart of Sapienza's Main Campus, boasts a compositional balance that evokes the concept of shared knowledge.
The Grand Staircase precedes the Rectorate Building and leads to the Rectorate and its Aula Magna. It is aligned with the monumental Propylaea, which marks the entrance from Piazzale Aldo Moro. Together, they create a spectacular and symbolic visual and physical axis that bridges the exterior and interior and opens up the city to knowledge. It is the most significant evidence of the balance and symmetry that characterize the architecture of the Main Campus.
Appeal for life
The restoration came at the perfect timing, as Sapienza celebrated the 90th anniversary of its Main Campus. Before the scheduled performances, Rector Antonella Polimeni created a moment of collective reflection:
In a global scenario marked by tensions, conflicts and wars involving millions of people, our thoughts go out to the brutal massacre of innocent civilians, children and young people in Palestine, Ukraine and many other parts of the world, who are denied the right to live in the present and to hope for the future. With heavy hearts, given the images that have documented these wars for years, and the recent entry of Israeli tanks into Gaza City, we renew our firm appeal for respect for human dignity and for every life."
Culture and education are instruments of peace and solidarity. And for this reason too, the day was symbolically linked also to an awareness-raising event which promoted the donation of blood and blood products in university communities - a concrete gesture of solidarity and mutual care, as life and human dignity must remain at the centre of every community.
The evening continued with theatrical and musical moments, completed by images and film projections on the large and renovated marble façade of the Rectorate.
The event was only one of the numerous initiatives to celebrate an important milestone in the enhancement and protection of Rome's historical and artistic heritage.
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