On Sunday 23 November the Episcopal Seminary opened its doors to the city and the boys and girls of the “Niccolò Copernico” Scientific High School played the role of exceptional guides in the discovery of the History, Architecture and Art of the ancient Monastery of Theodote and of the Museum of Natural History and the collection of Physics instruments preserved there.
At 9:30 a.m., in the presence of Bishop Corrado Sanguineti, the Rector of the Seminary, Don Giovanni Iacono, the Principal of the Copernico High School, Paola Donatella Penna, and teachers Cinzia Camerino, Gianmarco Ricciardi, and Antonio Rovelli, the day of guided tours began with a brief welcome and presentation of the "Cope Sotto le Stelle" project, a collaboration between the high school and the Seminary. The opening of the spaces to the city was the second "public" event—the previous one having taken place on June 14th and 15th—of an educational-scientific programme that has engaged students and teachers since last February, drawing them into passionate pursuits of science and art. The tour, starting from the atrium of the Seminary, unfolded in a happy mix of History-Art-Science through the cloister, the observation of the astronomical observatory, the Great Hall where the astronomical instruments of the Pavia Cardinal Pietro Maffi and the precious fourteenth-century manuscript were located. Chronicon imaginis mundi by Jacopo d'Acqui, preserved in the Seminary Library, then in the Natural History Museum and the Chapel of the Most Holy Saviour with its splendid 16th-century frescoes. Each tour concluded in the Paul VI Hall, where the students presented the physics instruments purchased by the Seminary in the 18th and 19th centuries for the training of seminarians, but previously unseen by the public. The instruments range from optics to acoustics, from scales to electrostatics, all the way to the first instruments for electrical telecommunications. Among them are a still-functioning nautical sextant, one of the first examples of an electromagnetic induction telephone dating back to 1870, and the Voltaic battery, which the students reproduced with common materials and used throughout the exhibition.
The experience allowed students and visitors to understand the origins of current technologies and rediscover the seminary as a strong supporter of scientific progress, as well as a precious artistic and cultural treasure trove. In collaboration with FAI Giovani, which will curate the artistic component of the guided tours, the event will be repeated by high school students next Saturday, December 13th.
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