Statue of Giordano Bruno

The monument to Bruno in the place he was executed, Campo de' Fiori in Rome.

The Statue of Giordano Bruno, created by Ettore Ferrari, was erected at Campo de' Fiori in Rome, Italy, in 1889.

The inscription on the basement recites:

A BRUNO - IL SECOLO DA LUI DIVINATO - QUI DOVE IL ROGO ARSE

(English: To Bruno - From the Age he Predicted - Here Where the Fire Burned)

History

Close-up of the statue.

The sculptor, Ettore Ferrari, was the Grand master of the Grande Oriente d'Italia, the Masonic jurisdiction of Italy, who were strong supporters of the unification of Italy over the previous Papal rule of Rome. His other sculptures include a monument in Rovigo, Italy, to Giuseppe Garibaldi, the international freedom fighter who fought for Italian independence and defended French democracy against Prussian imperialism during the Franco-Prussian War, 1870-1871.

On 20 April 1884, Pope Leo XIII published the encyclical Humanum genus. As a response, the Freemasons decided to create a statue of the pantheist Giordano Bruno. The statue was unveiled on 9 June 1889, at the site where Bruno was burnt at the stake for heresy on 17 February 1600, and the radical politician Giovanni Bovio gave a speech surrounded by about 100 Masonic flags. In October 1890, Pope Leo XIII warned Italy in his encyclical Ab Apostolici about Freemasonry, whose members he called anti-Christian and enemies, and called for its dissolution.[1]

Present day

According to a 2008 article in the New Yorker by Joan Acocella, a noted American journalist, "Every year, on the anniversary of his execution, various groups of freethinkers — Masons, atheists, pantheists — gather at the monument, and a representative of Rome's mayoralty places a wreath at its feet." [2]

A statue of a stretched human figure standing on its head designed by Alexander Polzin depicting Bruno's death at the stake was placed in Potsdamer Platz station in Berlin, Germany on March 2, 2008.[3]

References

  1. ↑ Eugen Lennhoff, Oskar Posner, Dieter A. Binder: Internationales Freimaurer-Lexikon. 5. überarbeitete Auflage. Herbig Verlag. ISBN 978-3-7766-2478-6
  2. ↑ http://arlindo-correia.com/060109.html
  3. ↑ http://bruno-denkmal.de/index.html Bruno-Denkmal website in German

Coordinates: 41°53′44″N 12°28′20″E / 41.89556°N 12.47222°E / 41.89556; 12.47222

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