Kareem

The Danteum

An allucinazione in

Rome, Italy

The beautiful city of Rome was once entrenched in the fascist regime of Mussolini and I walk

the streets overlooking the ruins. I had intended to visit the Colosseum but before I could even

spot the ruined mass of the once great theater I come across a sight I had not expected before.

A strange imposing brick masonry wall stands before me paired with a foreboding narrow

passage leading into the inner depths of what strikes me to be a labyrinth of sorts.

There are no sign posts anywhere and a plaque carrying the figure head of Dante Alighieri

glowers at something in profile. There is not much of a choice here at such a strange an alluring

threshold. I enter.

I am walking through a dark narrow passage. Suddenly I question myself on whether this was

such a good idea. The walls high above me seem to mock me. It takes a while to get through this

depth, it has prepared me for the next threshold. The forest.

In the beginning of Dantes journey he meets Virgil under the dappled light of a forest. I too find

myself in a forest, not one with trees but columns. These are thick columns that block out most

of the sunlight, which filters through in a perfect grid. It is a strange translation this sunlit grid. It

is the calculated light that may almost be more foreboding than Virgils forest to me. After many

a turn I find a short flight of stairs. Another threshold awaits after these have been ascended
 Kareem

Dante wrote the Divine Comedy to instill the fear of the hereafter into all of those who read

his prose. I am afraid his purpose would have been lost if the Architect of Hell was Giuseppi

Terragini.

Terraginis inferno is dark, but the little illumination it receives from the sky shows his

employment of the golden section in the columns where the square abacus of each varies with

the ratio, forming a spiral of square overhead and below. In short, the feeling here is of awe

rather than foreboding.

The problem is how to get out of here. I face a long wall with many openings. Each opening

encapsulates a stair case. Which one should be ascended? I make a guess towards the 5th one.

After a hefty walk I reach a dead end. This is where I lose all professionalism and panic. I am

now running down the flight of steps. I am back face to face with the wall. Which staircase?

I realize I am not alone and notice a few tourists laughing at the other end of the hall making

their way straight towards the last opening. No special numbers and codes here. I think I am

getting carried away.

Now, I am up the flight of stairs and my eyes are squinting, trying to adjust to this new found

light. I have reached Purgatory and it isnt half as bad. It is much like an inverted version of hell.

The openings in the ceiling are wider. They too follow the golden ratio. The entire thing is

probably based on the golden section. I see a minimal golden section mountain forming through

raised base planes. Oh the posivity. The columns outnumber the people visiting this place, the

colloseum must have been more palatable. The pamphlet I hold tells me the columns may have

been a metaphor for the souls trapped here. At this point Id like to get to Paradiso fast lest I

converse with the tormented soul, I mean column, next to me, despite all Louis Kahnian

connotations accompanying it.

 Kareem

I weave through another labyrinth of a pseudo wall pseudo column like structure only to come

face to face with a relief of an Eagle.

I have found the exit, tucked again into a corner. A blast of sunlight screams through.

The columns are now made of glass. They reflect and refract every ounce of sunlight. It is at

once too bright and too crowded. The exit is now not so hard to find. And I exit through another

high walled passage. Narrow openings give views into the past glory of Rome in snapshots.

I have now exited the building. Senses tired. I slump down to the side walk. The architecture has

gotten to me. Other tourists pour out of the exit. They seem a little less shell shocked than I was.

The poetry has worn off too soon.

Bibliography
Unwin, Simon. Twenty Five Buildings Every Architect should Understand. New York: Routledge , 2015.
 Kareem

Conclusion:

What differentiates the Danteum from sculpture. It is the use of light, subtle geometries,

disclocation, transportation, abstraction,

this has poetic intent

the creation of strange other worlds. Creating an atmosphere or mood. Creating a shrine of some

sort to elicitate some sort of response for those entering this world.

Escape back into ordinary life with a somewhat alternate perception of things.

It turns the architectural (intellectual structure) into a built form.

It tells us that architects may write their own poems.

Tell them in architectural or built forms rather than words.