The Uffizi Galleries have chosen a
Caravaggio painting in remembrance of young Aylan - the
three-year-old who died while escaping from the Syrian war and
became a symbol for all migrant victims - for display in the
first exhibition at Lampedusa's Museum of Trust and Dialogue for
the Mediterranean, set to open June 3 in the presence of Italian
President Sergio Mattarella.
The painting is a Sleeping Cupid, an angel in a deep sleep,
which will now become a tribute not only to the young boy on the
Turkish beach, but to all of the children who have died at sea
during their voyages of hope, as well as those who were born and
those who were rescued and managed to survive.
The painting is just one of dozens of works on loan from
major museums across the Mediterranean that will make up the
museum's first exhibition.
On the same day as the Museum of Trust's inauguration, the
doors will also open to the Archaelogical Museum of the Pelagie
Islands, which was made possible through efforts by the Region
of Sicily and the Superintendency for Archaeological and
Cultural Heritage of the Province of Agrigento led by Caterina
Greco.
In addition to Mattarella, Culture Minister Dario
Franceschini will also attend the inauguration, along with Mayor
of Lampedusa and Linosa Giusi Nicolini and directors of the
museums participating in the initiative.
The museum is the result of a project by First Social Life
with the City of Lampedusa and Linosa and the October 3
Committee, under the direction of Giacinto Palladino and
Alessandro de Lisi with Valerio Cataldi; in cooperation with
MiBACT, the Region of Sicily, the Superintendency of Agrigento,
the Tunisian Culture Ministry, the Tunisian National Institute
for Heritage and the Italian Cultural Institute of
Tunisia.
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