Emotions at the Cloister

On these pages we talked about the Borrominian Pamphilj complex – composed of the Mansion, the Sant’Agnese in Agone Church and the Innocenziano College, the building which houses Eitch Borromini. And we talked about the Three Fountains in Navona Square, which have seen at work the genius of Bernini. Now we move to another special place, one minute from your room at Eitch: the Cloister of Bramante. Smaller but equally immense, where to stop and linger.

The Cloister
We are talking about a work designed by Donato Bramante: one of the greates exponents of the Renaissance, favorite architect of Pope Julius II, friend of Leonardo Da Vinci with whom he works in Milan and great rival of Michelangelo. Rivalry that, years later, will cross paths with that between Borromini and Bernini on the construction site of Siant Peter’s Basilica - designed by Bramante, continued by Michelangelo and where the two will discover their profound differences in character and vision. Without forgetting Raffaello, also called for the Basilica project. And who in 1515, for the Santa Maria della Pace Church next to the Cloister of Bramante, executes the extraordinary fresco “The Sibyls” visible also from the first floor of this Renaissance jewel.
A special place right from its architecture, which – two centuries before the revolutionary curves of the Baroque, marks perhaps the most important page in the History of Art: the perspective. So much so that the same shape created for the Santa Maria della Pace Church and for a very famous “Little Temple” on the Janiculum, considered as the site of the crucifixion of Saint Peter, will be an inspiration for the dome of the Vatican Basilica, the Saint Paul’s Cathedral in London and the Capitol in Washington D.C. Without forgetting the Howard Castle Mausoleum in Yorkshire, the Parisian Pantheon and the Cathedral of the Virgin in Saint Petersburg.
Initially a place of prayer and monastic life, the Cloister becomes a museum space in 1996: a true reference for the world of Art - even international – with a calendar of exhibitions and events always of the highest level. Where Time slows down and breathes, admist the spaces and the works of past, present and imagination.

The Emotions
Be amazed, be moved, wishing… As at Eitch, nothing too planned: just a place where – away from the daily life – discover oneself and being oneself. Open until April the 1st, the current exhibition is a journey through twenty emotions. Which go from looking at a three meters tall mushroom, curious like Alice in Wonderland, to walking on the ocean or moving between cathedrals, northern lights and haunted forests. Sights, sounds and colors, that take some contemporary stories to transform them into experiences. In the era of speed, a definitely slow journey which invites us to take our time.
All this, in a space to be experienced equally slowly. Between the Cloister’s matter and geometries, the light in the courtyard, the frescoes or the monks’ chairs, today moments for reading or conversations. A place marked by great men and great stories - from the façade that “pushes forward” to the old exit steps passing through the exhibitions spaces and the ‘coffee between the columns’.

Bramante and Raffaello next to Borromini and Bernini: an immersion in History and Beauty - like at Eitch, two steps from Eitch.