Tag Archive: UNESCO


The 3D magic of The Wizard Of Oz

Filed under: Movies, Music — 1 Comment
December 16, 2016

THE WIZARD OF OZ directed by Victor Fleming (USA, 1939)

the-wizard-of-oz-posterI first saw The Wizard Of Oz in a fleapit cinema in my home town in the English Midlands when I was around 10 years old. The contrast between the rundown movie house and the glimmering images on-screen were striking.

Seeing it now for the umpteenth time in a lovingly restored 3D version brought back all the magic.

As a pre-teen in the 1960s, Disney was the dominant force for young adult films. The Love Bug, Jungle Book and Blackbeard’s Ghost were among my favorites at that time. I expected Oz to be a cartoon so it was a big shock to be confronted by a live action musical. And how was I supposed to categorize this movie?

On one hand it’s in the classic fairy tale tradition but the good versus evil themes were presented in a manner I hadn’t seen before and have rarely encountered since. Continue reading →

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MALATESTIANA LIBRARY

Filed under: Italy — Leave a comment
July 21, 2008

I’ve been living in Cesena, Italy for over ten years now but to my shame it took the visit of my good friend Pauline from Ireland to prompt a visit to one of the town’s jewels – the Biblioteca Malatestiana .

In 2005 the collection was added the prestigious ‘Memory of the world register’ by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). This honour is given every two years to individuals or institutions that have “made significant contributions to the preservation and accessibility of documentary heritage”. To date, this is the only entry for Italy.

The full register includes a wide variety of ‘documents’ from around the world from the Bayeux Tapestry to The Wizard of Oz (the original 1939 movie negatives and soundtrack).

The building in Cesena takes its name from Malatesta Novello – “the last lord of Cesena” . It is a perfectly preserved 15th century monastic humanist library; a unique space housing 343 original books (codices) which are attached to the 58 desks by wrought iron chains. These keep the texts in order (and also stop anyone sneaking away with the precious tomes!).

The space is a marvel of harmonious design. Rows of windows on either side are designed to provide just the right amount of natural light for the scholars. On the one side are books on ‘difficult’ topics like science and mathematics. The morning light – up to midday – falls on these while ,in the afternoon, light in shed on ‘lighter’ topics like the arts and humanities. There’s a real sense of meditative calm within the library.

Well worth a day trip to any vsitors to Emilia Romagna.

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