‘St Blaise in Italy: Places of Veneration, the Cult and Celebrations’ is a name of exhibition produced by the Ethnographic Museum of Dubrovnik Museums and the organisation Etnolaboratorio of Rome.
Across a range of topics, the exhibition presents the cult and the popular liturgical and customary practices in 45 towns in Italy, and can be seen up till July.
The exhibition comprises the following chapters: St Blaise between history and legend; Liturgical aspects of the veneration of the saint in Italy; the Feast of St Blaise in popular piety. There are separate panels with photographs showing: Places of veneration; Visual representations; Figures and statues; Reliquaries; Rituals and liturgical objects; Processions; Festival rituals; Liturgical and festive food; Spadonari [sword dancers] from Venaus; Struzze from Fiuggi.
This international research and exhibition project was prompted by the 1700th anniversary of the martyr’s death of St Blaise and by the St Blaise Year proclaimed by the City of Dubrovnik. However, it is also an integral part of ongoing endeavours to have the figure of the saint, who is so deeply inscribed in the historical and living tissue of the community and the City, shown as an unfailing wellspring of themes, as well as a symbol that links us with other European countries.
Project leader of this praiseworthy event is Ivica Kipre, curator of the Dubrovnik Museums, and exhibition associate curator is Lana Milošević Đerek.
Project associates are Angelo Palma, director, Etnolaboratorio of Rome and cultural anthropologists Paola Elisabetta Simeoni and Emanuela Panajia.
