Esotericism and scenographic illusion of the Baroque

Esotericism and scenographic illusion of the Baroque

A visionary walk accompanied by the ideas of the Jesuit father Athanasius Kircher. He was an expert in ancient esoteric symbols and his ideas circulated in Rome throughout the 1600s, just when Freemasonry was taking shape. A walk through lines, shapes, colours and moving or fixed figures looking like guardians among the different opulent materials of an imaginative and scenographic grandeur. Purely illusory but rapturous, as imbued with deep, esoteric meanings, for those wandering souls who, between woods of stones and colours, set out in search of their own balance: from the falcons of Palace Falconieri, on via Giulia, to Borromini’s perspective gallery in Palace Spada, again to the lions of Bernini’s Fountain of the four rivers at Piazza Navona, and on up, with nose, eyes and breath in the air following Borromini’s spirals on the church of S. Ivo alla Sapienza, and the theatrical union between painting and sculpture of the Church of Jesus, founded by St. Ignatius of Loyola for the order of Jesuits. We will finish with the church of S. Ignatius of Loyola and its engulfing vault and illusory painted dome. On the way, every building will become a temple, every obelisk a tree of life and the Supreme God will be the architect…for man to proceed towards Wisdom.

The walk lasts of 3 hours, but it can be customized according to tastes and choices of the participants and/or special openings

NOTE:  The same tour can be tailored for kids, teen-agers and people not interested in esotericism

Please, ask for further information and costs

For further information or to book a tour guide uses one of the contacts listed below.