Carlitos Lunghi Site

                 The  obelisk  of   square  of   the  Minerva, is  small  of  Rome, just  5.47
                 meters, are of red granite and originally it was in the Egyptian city of Sais,
                 was made in dynasty XXVI, by PSAMETICO II.
                 When arriving at Rome it was placed in front of  the Temple  of  Isis, and
                 was found in 1665 under the  ruins  of  the  temple, in  the gardens of  the
                 monastery next to  Santa  Maria  over the  Minerva, a  Dominican  church
                 whose name comes from the  fact that is  was  built  over  the  ruins  of  a
                 temple dedicated to Minerva, roman goddess of knowledge.
                 In 1667, the Pope Alexander VII (Chigi), decided to erected in from of the
                 same church.
                 One of the plans  for  the  base  was  by  a  priest  belonging  to  the  same
                 Dominican Order, Father Domenico Paglia, who was also an architect:  the
                 obelisk would have rested over six small hills (the same  hills  appearing  in
                 the crest of the  Chigi  family, to whome  Alexander VII belonged), with  a
                 dog on each corner: the  dog  is  the  symbol of Dominican priests, as from
                 the latin Dominicanes they were also nicknamed Domini canes, "the Lord's
                 dogs".
                 But the Pope rejected the plan, as he wanted a symbol of Holy Knowledge.
                 He therefore  asked  the  famous  artist  Gian  Lorenzo Bernini, a napolitan
                 architect and sculptor, to find out some other solution.
                 Of the many drawings he presented the pope with,the elephant was chosen.
                 Bernini had been inspired  by  Hypnerotomachia Poliphili (Poliphil's Dream
                 Of The Love Battle), a  novel  by  Francesco  Colonna  which  was  rather
                 well-known in those times.
                 The first edition of Hypnerotomachia  had been released in Venice in 1499
                 by the famous printer Aldus Manutius.
                 In this book, full of symbolic references, Poliphil  encounters  an  elephant
                 made of stone  who  carries  an  obelisk, and  it  is  easy  to tell how much
                 Bernini's idea was inspired by this work from the book's original engraving.
                 In his original  plan  though, the  obelisk  would  have  fully  rested  on the
                 elephant's legs, without a stand below the animal. But Father  Paglia (quite
                 envious for having been rejected) argued  that  according  to the traditional
                 canons, by which "no weight should rest  vertically  above an empty space,
                 as  it would not  be  steady  nor  long-lasting", a  cube  should  have  been
                 inserted  under  the  elephant's  belly (just  as  in   the   picture   from   the
                 Hypnerotomachia).
                 Ordered to Bernini the design the pedestal of the obelisk in elephant form.
                 The sculpture was executed by Ercole Ferrata.
                 The epigrafo of the base, dictated by the Pope Alexander VII says "   This
                  is the sample  of   a   strong   mind   to   maintain  a  been  accustomed to
                  knowledge ", clarify alegoria of this work.
                 This  obelisk  is  now  by  romans  like  the Chicken of the Minerva, for it
                 small size.

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