In the Ancient Courtyard, the dream of Hercules

20.12.2021

There will be no Christmas Tree in the old courtyard of Palazzo Bo during this Holiday Season. Instead, the University of Padua has chosen to engage people through an artwork installation recounting stories of travel, discoveries, truth, limits, and knowledge. Of freedom.

Boundaries of the known world in Antiquity, the Pillars of Hercules belong in the realm of myth.
Evoked by Dante in the journey of Ulysses, imagined by Plato in his search for Atlantis, and ideally overcome by Christopher Columbus as he sailed to the unforeseen Americas. The Pillars of Hercules face men and women with the limits of their knowledge, the possibility to discover something unexpected, the challenge to explore the unknown and deal with uncertainty.

In the Ancient Courtyard, under the stone pillars, a community of students and scholars from all over the world have renovated the search for those boundaries across eight hundred years, tracing new and wider horizons. For the benefit of all.

Since 1222, in the name of freedom in art, science, and culture.

Artwork installation by: Comunication Office, University of Padua

Voices: Vittorio Attene, Bruna Laura Filippini

Openings: December 20 - January 9, Ancient Courtyard at Palazzo Bo, until 11 p.m.