(in Polish) Miasta wielkiej Grecji (objazd Kampania) 3101-DKKAM

The antique monuments of Campania belong to the most interesting in the world. Between the eighth and fifth centuries B.C. numerous towns and cities were founded in this region by the Greeks; among them Cumae, Velia, Neapolis and Paestum. The latter town is famous for its well-preserved walls and Doric temples - the so-called Basilica, the "Temple of Neptune", the "Temple of Ceres" and the "Temple of Athena"; their discovery in the mid-18th century had a great impact on European architecture until the mid-19th century. Of particular importance are the ruins of Cumae with its cave of the Sibylla and, first of all, the so-called Cities of Vesuvius in the Bay of Naples - Herculaneum, Pompeii and Stabiae. All of them were buried in sand, stones, liquid tufa and ashes on 24 August 79 A.D. The archaeological excavations which started between 1738 and 1748 brought important finds consisting of large-scale wall paintings and huge amount of artistic objects. The Herculaneum Academy founded in 1755 published, in the years 1757-1792, the most interesting paintings in 9 large volumes, thus making them available to the artists and connoisseurs all over the world. Apart from the Cities of Vesuvius there are beautiful ancient ruins to be found at Baiae (the temple of Mercury, the so-called temples of Venus and Diana), Pozzuoli (the temple of Serapis, the amphitheater), at Castellamare di Stabiae, and at Capri (Villa Jovis).
The 18th century exploration of the monuments of Campania, such as the temples of Paestum and the archaeological excavations at Herculaneum and Pompeii in particular resulted in the stylistic change in the visual arts and architecture. In this rediscovery of Antiquity and the birth of Neo-classicism several Poles also took part, and among them Stanisław Kostka Potocki, August F. Moszyński and Piotr Bieliński. Both the Pompeian paintings and the Doric temples of Paestum were an inspiration for the numerous masterpieces in Poland either built or painted at the turn of the 18th and 19th centuries.
The 10-day seminar in the early Spring of 2008 in the open air at the cities and towns of Campania (Naples, Baiae, Cumae, Pompeii, Herculaneum, Stabiae, Misenum and Paestum) will be preceded by ten lectures delivered in the Fall of this year. Their scope is to provide all the participants with the literature of the vast subject and first of all to prepare them for the meetings with both monuments and scholars dealing with them in situ. One more goal of this series of lectures is to outline the problem of the impact of the 18th century archaeological discoveries on the visual arts in Poland. This topic has not been systematically researched as yet.