Borges' labyrinth hides on a Venetian island
From the labyrinth understood as a challenge in Greek mythology, we passed to the one that incorporated the game concept . The English landscape painters of the Middle Ages developed these spaces as outdoor hideouts where to give free rein to amorous outbursts, safe from prying eyes. Now it was about knowingly losing oneself to meet the other. For the French and Italians, it was a fundamental playful element in their gardens in the 18th century.
Already in the 20th century, Borges gave it a metaphysical meaning . The labyrinth was for the Argentine writer the meeting area with oneself , an intimate and mystical space.
"There will never be a door. you're in
and the quarterdeck encompasses the universe
and has neither front nor back
neither external wall nor secret center.
do not expect the rigor of your path
that stubbornly forks into another,
that stubbornly forks into another,
will have an end
…”
Poem in Praise of the Shadow by Jorge Luis Borges
a labyrinth like contradictory place to explore , in which to enter and discover ourselves. From Borges's mind we can travel to the reality of his complex imagination. In two Italian cities, Parma and Venice -located 250 kilometers away and well connected by train- Two mysterious Borgian labyrinths have been built that are well worth a trip.
Borges and Franco Maria Ricci
PARMA
This past spring it opened in Fontanella, Parma , the Mason's Labyrinth , the largest in the world, linked to the Franco María Ricci Foundation, and to Borges.
Franco Maria Ricci -designer, editor, collector and bibliophile- designed it together with the architects Pier Carlo Bontempi and Davide Dutto, thus fulfilling the promise he made to his friend Borges in 1977.
Two hundred thousand bamboos of various species Y five meters high They delimit a three kilometer route designed for visitors to walk and face his personal Minotaur.
The foundation also offers the possibility of visiting its wonderful art collection . It features 500 works of painting, sculpture, furniture, and everyday objects from the 16th to 20th centuries, and a 1,100-volume library dedicated to the most illustrious examples of typography and graphics, including the complete works of Giambattista Bodoni and Alberto Tallone. A magnificent restaurant with a menu focused on local products Y several suites in a tiny hotel with a lot of charm, they complete the offer of art, gastronomy and rest.
Mason's Labyrinth
VENICE
on the island of San Giorgio Maggiore , in front of San Marco Square in Venice, rises the lavish Cini Foundation , former home of the Benedictine monks where silence and peace were law. A peace that still inhabits the cloisters of the monastery, converted today into a prestigious center for culture and research on the history of art, music, theater and opera . However, since June 11, 2011, the 25th anniversary of the death of Jorge Luis Borges , outside the walls, in the gardens, there is also a claim. It is a labyrinth built with thousands of plants and the work of the British designer and architect Randoll Coate, also a friend of Borges.
The writer's widow, María Kodama, actively collaborated in the development of the project, and at its inauguration she commented: “This labyrinth is a magical gift. Venice was one of the cities loved by Jorge Luis because it is a labyrinth city, of a strange complexity and subtle delicacy.”
To this analogy between the labyrinth and the intricate geography of the city of Venice, the idea of the process of human existence in the story is added. "The Garden of Forking Paths" , there the author creates a labyrinth as the ultimate meaning of the encounter with the jealously guarded secret of life.
A book by Borges, Parma, Venice, art collections, cultural centers and two Borgesian labyrinths to walk through, they draw a perfect map to get lost on a getaway to Italy.
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