PERMANENT EXHIBITION IN KRAKOW
John Paul II has always loved Nature and the mountains, in particular.
Inside the John Paul II Center in Krakow, the most important museum-sanctuary dedicated to the memory of his figure and his works, it has been created a permanent section dedicated to the intimate bond between the Polish Pope and the Trentino mountains.
The exhibition traces the visits of Pope Wojtyla in Trentino, five times between August 1979 and April 1995, and mixes old images of the Pope in our mountains with some of my photographs showing the beauty of the landscape.
(Credits: gazetakrakowska.pl)
The photographs have been chosen favoring those moments, often at the edge between earth and sky, where the beauty of Nature reveals itself as a wonder of Creation with great communicative power. In the exhibition, the photographs are displayed on large panels where an image of the Pope and an image of the landscape have been overlapped, two by two, alternating and blending according to the direction of view. The effect is really particular and evocative and in this example John Paul II seems to be skiing on the clouds!
I've been recently in Krakow and I had the privilege of visiting the exhibition - even if it will officially open to the public at the beginning of 2020 - thanks to the great kindness of the staff of the Center who welcomed me with rare courtesy and warmth.
Maybe it's a coincidence - actually, it is not... - that last year, without knowing about this assignment, I ended my book "The Voice of the Dolomites", with exactly this quote:
"These mountains arouse a sense of infinity in your heart,
with the desire to lift your mind towards what it is sublime"
(John Paul II)