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HISTORY OF BIG SUR COAST

  A new dawn:              Locals had long called for a road along the coast to aid shipwreck victims and improve access to isolated communities.  Construction started in 1919, and 18 years, 32 tonnes of dynamite and 33 bridges later, the Big Sur stretch of California Highway One was complete.               The implausible route, with its myriad twists and turns and dramatic drop-offs, became an instant classic.  The author and painter Henry Miller fled to Big Sur in 1944 and stayed for nearly two decades.  Photographer Edward Weston and Beat Generation bard Jack Kerouac fell under its spell.  By the late 1960’s San Francisco’s counterculture revolution had swept down to Big Sur, and the likes of Joan Baez and Joni Mitchell performed on the cliff tops.              ...
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Arena Chapel FRESCOES

 Jewel-like interior:

Arena Chapel FRESCOES


                 Giotto covered every inch of wall space around the chapel’s nave with scenes from the lives of the Virgin Mary and of Jesus, all executed in glorious, glowing colours.  Adjacent scenes were separated with bands painted to imitate inlaid marble and precious stones.  On the west wall is a vast Last Judgement where, among the throngs of the saved, Giotto included his patron, Enrico, presenting a model of his chapel to the Virgin Mary.  The barrel-vaulted ceiling above is a brilliant blue studded with glittering golden stars, and Giotto repeated the blue in the background of several scenes.

Lasting influence:

                 Consecrated in 1305, the chapel was an instant success with visitors, to the consternation of the Augustinian monks living nearby.  The monks appealed to Pope Benedict XI to close the chapel on the grounds that it was too big, its decorations too opulent and – to cap it all – its bells too loud.  But the Pope disagreed: he had already granted indulgences to all visitors, reducing their time in Purgatory by a year and 40 days.  Visitors in later centuries included Masaccio, Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo and Raphael, all of whom built on Giotto’s artistic innovations.

The Lamentation:

                    Giotto’s ability to convey drama and depth was groundbreaking.  Universal sorrow reaches out from every element of the scene: the limp body of Christ, the thrown-back arms of John (in the centre), and Mary’s gaze at her beloved son.
Location: Piazza Eremitani, 8, 35121 Padova PD, Italy

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