May 15th 2016

In 2016, three million and two hundred thousand people visited the archaeological site in Pompeii, where an exhibition of works by Igor Mitoraj, designed and promoted by Fondazione Terzo Pilastro – Italia e Mediterraneo, opened on the 14th May. This achievement was undoubtedly due to the atmosphere of the Vesuvian site - which has recently been restored, secured and enriched with a calendar full of night events and exhibitions – and also to the charm of this exhibition that represents the most spectacular tribute to this great Polish artist who deeply loved Italy to the day he died on in October 2014. This remarkable success persuaded the organizers to extend the event to the 1st of May 2017.

Thirty monumental bronze sculptures placed in a unique setting attest the power of the synergy between ancient and contemporary art and truly fulfil the artist’s last will and testament. By virtue of their intellectual affinity, before he died Mitoraj confided to Professor Emanuele, who funded the exhibition in Agrigento, that he dreamed to exhibit his works in another classical setting. “Professor Emanuele, Chairman of Fondazione Terzo Pilastro – Italia e Mediterraneo and soul of the project stated, “This exhibition is the requested sequel of the display staged in the Valley of the Temples, Agrigento, in 2011. This union of beauty, whereby ancient history converses with contemporary artistic expressions, creating a perfect symbiosis between and ancient and modern art, has already been experimented”