Exploring Tivoli with Jan Gadeyne: Observation & Imagination

Yesterday, was our first day back with our professor, Jan Gadeyne, in which we spent the morning exploring the ancient and modern warehouses of Forum Boarium in Rome. For those of you who do not know, Professor Gadeyne teaches a fascinating course at the Cornell in Rome program called  “Topography and Urban History of Rome in Antiquity and the Middle Ages” , in which we spend our classes exploring Rome as if it were a textbook, paging through layers of it’s dense urban fabric.Photo by Kylie Corwin
To get more of a sense of what Jan brings to the classroom, the first day he asked,
      “How many architects are here this semester?”
      “21.”
      “And how many artists are here this semester?”
I answered,
      “6.”
With a smirk he asked,
      “Is art dead?”
Photo by Kylie Corwin I laughed, knowing that this was going to be a fruitful experience for not only the young “pseudo” architects but also for myself, the “romantic” artist. With that said I would like to talk about our trip in the beginning of the semester with Professor Gadeyne to Tivoli where we explored the gardens of Villa Adriana and Villa D’Este. The first Villa was that from ancient Rome. It was the villa of Emperor Hadrian, who built it not only as an escape from the city center but also as a display of his power and travels throughout the empire. Walking through the villa complex, I learned to see with my imagination. For example, we walked through the remaining foundation of a portico which we used to imagine the space in antiquity. As we explored the complex I assumed Professor Gadeyne was doing the same thing. Each time he would point out a new piece of archeological remains, he would then close his eyes as he described the ancient existence of the space. This is something critical to taking his course because what we do not see informs us of what we do see in the city of Rome. For example from a glance, the ancient Theater of Pompeii no longer exists in the urban fabric of the city. If you look more closely, the buildings that stand today along with the medieval streets, curve to the fountain of the ancient theater.
Now let’s go back to Tivoli; after exploring Hadrian’s Villa we went to Villa D’Este, which is a renaissance villa that still exists for the most part as it did in the 16th century. We walked through lush gardens and among beautiful fountains, experiencing not only the importance of the expansiPhoto by Kylie Corwin on of space but also the importance of water in Renaissance Roman architecture. This as Professor Gadeyne said was not very different from that of Ancient Rome showing us that we must also think about how what we do see, informs us of what we do not see. The juxtaposition of Hadrian’s Villa and Villa D’Este is a perfect example of this dialogue between the seen and unseen. Therefore informing us how the different layers of modern Rome can fuel our imagination of what the city intended to look like during various moments of its vast history. With that said I look forward to the rest of the semester with Professor Gadeyne. He is a self-assured archaeologist teaching eager architects and one aspiring artist the importance of observation and imagination in a city that can endlessly be explored.
Photo by Kylie Corwin Photo by Kylie Corwin Photo by Kylie Corwin Photo by Kylie Corwin Photo by Kylie Corwin