Sunday, Oct. 8, is the 2nd European Friends of Museums Day

Scheduled for Sunday, Oct. 8 , is the second edition of the European Friends of Museums Day, promoted by the National Federations of Friends of Museums active in Europe (in Italy it is FIDAM, Italian Federation of Friends of Museums) that adhere to the World Federation of Friends of Museums, under the sign of brotherhood among peoples, culture and cooperation a common project. The day is dedicated to the celebration of cultural volunteerism active in the protection and enhancement of artistic heritage. On this date, European cultural life will come alive with a series of parallel, coordinated and synergistic events. However, each federation and association will be able to decline the proposed activities in peculiar ways, in accordance with specific aspirations and identities. Starting this year, the day also has a logo to identify it: a swirl of stars inspired by the European flag but tinged (in the color version) in shades of green to signify the urgency of considering the environmental issue as a conditio sine qua non for the preservation and transmission of the artistic-cultural heritage as well as for the creation of new art.

With such awareness, Italy, the inspiring and leading country in the promotion of European Day, is also celebrating, on the same day, the 20th edition of the National Day of the Federation of Friends of Museums. Unlike the European Day, which has a free theme, the Italian edition identifies, as is customary, a specific subject, which this year is the “lived landscape-represented landscape”: the day is thus intended to be an opportunity for reflection based on the diachronic comparison between an artistic landscape depiction, chosen by the various associations from among the most identifiable, and its physical correspondent in the current territory considered in its cultural values and ecological fragilities.

The represented landscape can be found painted on a canvas, on a vase, on a parchment, a stage set, drawn in a cabreo or on a cartography, carved in a tarsia or in a mosaic, shaped in gold, described in a text, depicted in a photograph, or in a film or, again, constructed in the musical notation of a score, and so on. Whatever the medium that constitutes the artistic heritage of reference of the Fidam Associations, the Day is configured as an opportunity to start from the museum and, if possible, go out into the territory, walk through the represented landscape, where it is geographically identifiable, compare the historical representation with the present day and deduce the consequent reflections on the state of preservation and the problems that may possibly arise in the future in relation to new sources of renewable energy. Therefore, member associations are invited to accompany a cultural event within the walls of the museums and venues (conference, symposium, panel discussion, etc.) with its projection into the landscape. Walks, peripatetic lectures, en plein air workshops, photographic excursions, tastings in historic rural landscapes, concerts in places, and whatever else is deemed suitable and effective to restore and animate the contemporary perception of the landscape topoi represented in art. Where the represented Landscape is not identifiable and geographically circumscribable, the comparison may be made on one that is analogous and assimilable or completely different and opposed but which, in any case, is identified by a suggestion arising from the contemplation of the work of art. Subject to these suggestions and that of giving central prominence to the ecological and ecosystemic aspects underlying the landscape itself, its aptitude for producing ecosystem services, and raising awareness about its preservation as a cultural and environmental heritage, each association freely interprets the theme with the highest degree of originality.

The poster, significantly set in the Valley of the Temples in Agrigento, Capital of Culture 2025, summarizes the Day’s theme by juxtaposing an 1849 view by Ferdinand Georg Waldmuller with the corresponding current photographic depiction of the same subject: the hill temple of Juno Lacinia. The landscape in question appears virtually unchanged because of the good policies undertaken, but it will also be important to examine the frequent instances where the landscape is, on the contrary, profoundly transformed, disfigured in need of regeneration.

Many events are scheduled throughout Italy. The full program is available on the FIDAM website.

“The initiative,” says Italo Scaietta, FIDAM president and vice president of WFFM (World Federation of Friends of Museums) for Europe, “has received the high patronage of the Council of Europe, the Ministry of Culture and the President of the Italian Republic Sergio Mattarella has awarded it the Medal of Representation. Landscape, defined in Article 1 of the European Convention as ’territory as perceived by people, the character of which derives from the action of natural and/or human factors and their interrelationships’ and protected under Article 9 of our Constitution, together with the Nation’s historical and artistic heritage, environment, biodiversity and ecosystems, contained in the landscape itself ’also in the interest of future generations’ is, in fact, a cross-cutting issue of absolute urgency. Its knowledge and re-recognition, its enhancement and protection, especially ecological to which aesthetic quality generally corresponds, are the objectives of the proposed reflection. In addition to the dozens of associations that have enthusiastically joined in the local area, Fidam thanks those among the Federations of the World Federation of Friends of Museums who wanted to confirm the European dimension to the Day for the second year. Hoping that this will be fruitful and deserving of the other awards achieved we wish everyone a good DAY!”

Sunday, Oct. 8, is the 2nd European Friends of Museums Day

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