September 30: Babi Yar

On September 30, 1941, 33,721 Jews were shot by invading Nazi troops and buried at Babi Yar ravine (near Kiev) Ukraine--the largest single massacre of World War II. Mass executions of civilians, mostly Jews and Roma people, continued there until 1943. By some estimates, 120,000 people were murdered at Babi Yar.

The Mizel Museum in Denver, Colorado, in partnership with the city and the Babi Yar Park Foundation, is leading the construction of a 27-acre memorial to those who lost their lives in these atrocities. The park is a peaceful place intended to reinforce our collective resolve that such horrors will never be repeated. See the Mizel Museum's website, http://www.mizelmuseum.org/Babi_Yar_Park.html

September 29: Washington National Cathedral

Washington National Cathedral (officially the Cathedral Church of Saint Peter and Saint Paul) was begun on this date in 1907 and completed on this same date in 1990. An Episcopal cathedral, it is the seat of both the presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church and the bishop of the Washington Diocese. British architect George Frederick Bodley designed this enormous structure, but several others also helped bring it to completion over the 83 year span of its construction. Frederick Law Olmsted, Jr., the designer of Central Park in Manhattan, created the cathedral close, or grounds. A complete article about the church may be found on Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Washington_National_Cathedral)

The Cathedral was designated by Congress as the National House of Prayer. President Theodore Roosevelt gave a ceremonial speech on the occasion of the laying of its cornerstone, and the state funerals of four presidents have taken place there.

Despite its many connections to the political scene, however, the separation of church and state is very much in force at the National Cathedral. I discovered this, happily, during a visit to Washington in late 1995 that coincided with the shutdown of the federal government. Most of the museums were closed, but the National Cathedral, easily reached by public transportation, was open as always. A rewarding visit that I encourage other art tourists to make, especially if the museums are closed (heaven forbid) or the Mall becomes overwhelming.

September 28: Caravaggio

Michelan- gelo Merisi da Caravaggio was born on September 28, 1573. Personal confession: it's very difficult to blog about an artist one believes to be one of the best in the world, ever. He had a short, rough life and left relatively few paintings. The best remain in situ in the churches for which they were painted.

This one, The Beheading of John the Baptist, was completed in 1608 for the oratorio of the Co-Cathedral of St. John in Valletta, Malta (image source: http://www.postkiwi.com/images/2009/7/beheading-of-john-the-baptist-caravaggio.jpg). The figures are life-size; the impact of the brutality is immediate and visceral. No chubby baby angels wave palm fronds. It's not your typical Baroque martyrdom; it's a hit.

I studied this picture for many final exams. I knew what it looked like, knew it was in that chapel (it had just returned, with some fanfare, from conservation and an exhibition in Rome in July 1999). When I walked into the space, it affected me as if I did not know what it looked like, did not expect to see it. After 25 years as an art historian, few works of art could make me burst into tears. This one did.

September 27: Lewis Carroll, Photographer

Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, better known as Lewis Carroll, was born on this date in 1832. The author of Alice in Wonderland and other children's books, Dodgson was also an accomplished photographer. Some of his favorite subjects were children. This tiny (3 3/4 in. x 2 3/8 in.) portrait of Xie Kitchin (Xie was short for Alexandra) is in the collection of the University of Michigan Museum of Art, an anonymous gift acquired in 1989. (See http://quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/i/image/image-idx?id=S-MUSART-X-1989-SL-1.67%5D1989_1.67.JPG )

September 15: The Emperor Trajan

Trajan (Marcus Ulpius Nerva Traianus) was born on this day (or close to it) in the year 53. Emperor of Rome from 98 to 117, he was a successful general and civil administrator well known for his architectural projects. In addition to his many imperial portraits, he left to Rome the forum bearing his name, the colossal frieze-encircled column depicting his military exploits in what is now East-Central Europe, and the Markets of Trajan.

An innovative urban mixed-use development in the heart of the city, the Markets made extensive use of brick, an inexpensive but versatile material. The curved facade was the first of its kind in the city and has inspired commercial buildings ever since.

September 14: The True Cross

September 14 is the feast day of the Exultation (or Triumph) of the Cross in the Roman Catholic tradition. According to the ancient story, St. Helen, the mother of the Roman Emperor Constantine, discovered the cross upon which Jesus was crucified on this date in 326 in Jerusalem.

A great fresco cycle by Piero della Francesco (c. 1415-1492) in the Basilica of S. Francesco in Arezzo, Italy depicts the Legend of the True Cross (c. 1452-56), including the saga of the 80-year-old Helen's voyage to the Holy Land and her successful efforts to locate and prove, by miraculous means, the authenticity of the cross of Jesus. One of the most important and beautiful masterpieces of the Italian Renaissance, Piero's visual narrative is based on the story as told in The Golden Legend of Jacopo de Voragine. This popular book about the lives of the saints traces the wood of the tree under which Adam was buried through encounters with Solomon and the Queen of Sheba to the Roman occupiers of Jerusalem who used it to fabricate the cross of Jesus' crucifixion. In this illustration of Piero's fresco, the True Cross proves itself by raising a man from the dead (on the far right).

The church of S. Croce in Gerusalem-me in Rome, built on the site of St. Helen's palace chapel, houses a relic, or fragment, of the True Cross; this particular (and tiny) piece of wood is documented as being on this site since the 5th century. The church was last renovated in the 1740s under the patronage of Pope Benedict XIV, who made the cross of Jesus' crucifixion the focus of the Jubilee of 1750, when pilgrims travelled to the Eternal City from across the Christian world. Architect Domenico Gregorini created a lively, curvilinear facade that creates the illusion of a straight path from the church of S. Giovanni in Laterano, another important site on the Pilgrimage of the Seven Churches. Colossal sculptures across the top of the S. Croce facade depict St. Helen, Constantine, the Apostles, and in the center, two angels adoring the cross who visually announce the goal of the pilgrim's journey.

On a personal note: 26 years ago today I defended my dissertation, "The Eighteenth-Century Rebuilding of S. Croce in Gerusalemme, Rome" at the University of Michigan. The choice of the date had everything to do with the convenience of my professors and nothing with its significance. But it seems like an appropriate moment and subject for the first post in this blog, about which I've been thinking for a long while.