Tour of The Monster Park Italy 1998

白桦林

Tour

Monster

Park

Italy

1998

In 1998, on the way to Rome to meet a client, Roberto , my Italian client and his father brought me to visit the Monster Park in the town of Bomarzo , which is located 68 kilometres north-northwest of Rome.

While visiting, Roberto told me about the story of the park. Unfortunately I forgot most of he told me. After 22 years, when I recall this park, exploring information from the internet, just realized what Roberto introduced , is a so special Park, the only artistic and brutal beautiful site of its kind in the world! The garden was built in 1552 by Prince Orsini, a 16th-century condottiero（captain), and patron of the arts.

The magical garden was constructed by the great architect Pirro Ligorio who is known for finishing St. Peter’s Cathedral after Michelangelo’s death as well as the construction of the Villa d’Este in Tivoli, which is a UNESCO world heritage site.

The garden is a Mannerist monumental complex featuring sculptures, monuments and statues. All these figures are from Greek and Roman mythology . like Hercules, Venus,( Goddess of Beauty) Neptune ( God of Sea) Ariadne (the immortal wife of the wine-God Dionysus ), Orc ( God of the under-grand) Proserpina(Queen of the underworld) Echidn( a monster of half women and half snake), Ceres(Roman goddess of agriculture, Mother of Proserpina )And also many animals like dog, horse, dragon, elephant , tortoise...

Mannerism was flourishing at the end of the Italian Renaissance around 1520.

For many centuries, the garden was abandoned and neglected, . until Salvador Dalí ， the Spanish great artist visited here, rediscovered it in the twentieth century.

In 1938, Salvador Dalí visited the garden. He was inspired by Orsini's huge, moss-covered creatures. Accordingly ,he produced a short film about it in 1948.

　　Late the figures of elephant , horse ... and trees were to inspire his 1946 painting : The Temptation of Saint Anthony.

The land was bought in 1954 by a man named Giovanni Bettini who found the statues and restored them to their former glory. The Bettini family implemented a restoration program which lasted throughout the 1970s.
Today the garden, which remains private property is a major tourist attraction in Italy.

Entering into the garden, we were welcomed first by two Sphinxes

According to the history, the Emperor of Augustus, the

first Roman Emperor , chose this fabulous Sphinxes for his private seal .

Ptoteus-Glaucus

This colossal head with prophetic mouth is a marine monster. It is Proetus, the son and herdsman of Neptune. Proteus is so strong that he carries the earthly globe w a castle on the top. He is also

Glaucus,!the fisherman who became the sea god upon tasting of a magic herb.

It is said that the castle on the top was the Orsihi's castle which meant to demonstrate the power of his branch of the family in the world!

The Combat of the Giants

The fight between giants between good and evil.

Hercules in the act of slaughtering up Cacus.

Hercules , the protector of the weak, and Cacus,

Who robbed the sustenance of life from the

Unprotected.

An act of a hero triumphing over evil.

The Tortoise, Lady and Whale group:

The Louvre wanted to have this group among its collection of masterpieces because of the beauty and art it expresses: the giant Tortoise with a statue of a lady on its back.. The lady represents Winged Victory.

Pegasus:

The winged horse tries to fly

Hannibal's elephant catching a Roman legionary.

In ancient time, the elephant incarnated Eternity.

The elephant represented both the triumphs and defeats of Rome, having played a part in many battles.

The Dragon

The dragon was attacked by three wild beasts:

A dog, a lion and a wolf. Symbols of the Spring,

the Summer and the Winter, of the present, the

future, and the past.

A dragon attacked by lions

Leaning House:

Dedicated to cardinal Cristoforo Madruzzo, who was a friend of Vicino Orsini and his wife.

Venus :

Roman Goddess of Love

Nepture:

God of Sea

Neptune in Roman mythology as same as Poseidon in Greek Mythology

The Sleeping Nymph:

This great reclining nymph seems halfway between sleep and death..

Echidna:

In Greek mythology, Echidna was a monster, half-woman and half-snake, who lived alone in a cave.

Ceres:

Goddess was the supplier of food for Rome.

Ceres appears triumohant and nostalgic : Louching on the bare ground, crowned with a bread basket where aloes replace ears of Corn.

By surrounding Ceres with great vases, Ligorio wished to recreate the magical spot sung by

Sannazar(Italian poet)"the square of thousands upon thousands of urns..."

For me, this and the Sleeping Nymph are the most beautiful sculptures in the park.

Prosperina

Daughter of Zeus and Demeter, the wife of Hades, king of the underworld. The queen of underworld.

Ligorio calls her the most chaste, the purest figure of all Time, the enemy of evil.

The Temple of Eternity that sits at the top of the garden is the memorial to Giulia Farnese.

The Giant Vase

The sculpture evokes the dark journey of Bacchus (God of wine ) who carried this cup down into hell

On the base of Vase there is Medusa who is a daughter of the Empire of the Dead and who caused such fright that warriors hated her.

The Orcus: one of the gods of Underworld.

This sculpture is the entrance to the Underworld

As paraphrasing of Dante on its lips testifies:

"Every thoughts flies" .

Perhaps the most frightening piece in the park is this! An enormous head, mouth opened wide in a scream,  petrifying a cry of horror. This is the most horrible sculpture in the park. It is disturbing statue, and no one knows why? 

This giant mask expresses the desperate

powerlessness of a person who feels himself

In the clutches of destinity very well.

"All Thoughts Flies" is illustrated by the fact that any whisper made inside is clearly heard by any one standing at the base of the steps. 

Orcus mouth appears in the 1964 Italian horrible film Il Castle of the Living Dead.

A fight scene in the 1985 film The Adventures of Hercules takes place here and the Orcus' mouth acts as an entrance to a cave.

Inside the mouth, there is a big table and a bench .The table inside is meant to look like a tongue so when people congregate inside and talk around the table , every thought “flies”.

Like most of visitors, I felt fear, surprised and wondered while visiting this park. It was very quite, all statues and schupatures were covered with Green muss, which is stunning beautiful! We had been captivated by the vivid green and rustic umber colors surrounding us. Yet this kind of monstrous beauty made you Shivering. The face of cry of horror haunted with me for many years after visiting this park. I have to ask what kind of man was Pier Francesco Orsini? And what inner demends haunted him? Why he created this super beautiful Nightmare?

With the great curiosity, I got to know that Pier Francesco Orsini, known as Vicino , duke of Bomarzo, has been described as a brave soldier, a dreamer, a poet, a romantic soul and a competent commander.

It seems that the many horrors of different eventshad a negative effect on Orsini’s melancholy sensetive nature: he had been through a brutal war, had his friend killed, been held for prison for years, and come  home only to find his beloved wife Farnese Giulia died ! Too much bloodshed, too much war, and too much violence for a man with a broken heart! In order to let his heart find an outlet for its sorrow,  Orsini designed this monster park., to express how he felt: peaceful like the garden  at same time being tortured like monsters. 

It is widely believed that Prince Orsini built this Monster Park as a way to cope with his deep grief towards his late wife Farbese Giulia.

Roberto' Father standing at the month of Monster: " Every thought flies"!

Finally , I found myself standing at the mouth of a giant Monster. “All reason Departs!"