Presentation: December 5, 2025, at 11:30 AM, Romanino Hall, Eremitani Museum<\/b><\/p>\n
In the year of the bicentennial of the founding of the Civic Museum, another bicentennial cannot go unnoticed: the Italian publication of the Narrative, the travel diary in which the Padovan Giovanni Battista Belzoni, an explorer considered by many to be the father of Egyptology, recounted his extraordinary adventure in Egypt between 1815 and 1819.<\/p>\n
The first edition of the Narrative was published in English, in London, in 1820. The book quickly became a bestseller and was published in multiple languages (in addition to English, in French, Flemish, and German). The Italian edition was published posthumously in Milan only in 1825 by Sonzogno and was derived from the French translation printed in 1823.<\/p>\n
It is necessary to emphasize the anniversary and remember the great Padovan and his work by displaying at the Archaeological Museum, in the Egyptian Room, the copy of Travels in Egypt and Nubia published by Sonzogno, now kept by the Civic Library, which also preserves splendid 19th-century lithographs illustrating the accounts of his travels, original sketches, and letters written by the giant Padovan.<\/b><\/p>\n
The copy in the Civic Library, in two volumes, accompanied by an Atlas of colored illustrations, belonged to Carlo Leoni (1812-1874), a Padovan historian, who donated it to the Municipality of Padua for the Civic Library in 1865.<\/p>\n
The exhibition will be presented on Friday, December 5, at 11:30 AM<\/b> in Romanino Hall by the Culture Councillor Andrea Colasio, the Museums Director Francesca Veronese, and the Head of Civic Libraries Vincenza Donvito.<\/p>\n