Prof. of Political Science, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens Paschalis Kitromilides will give a lecture entitled «Επισκέπτες και Αναγνώστες στη Λαυρεντιανή Βιβλιοθήκη την Εποχή του Διαφωτισμού και του Ρομαντισμού» [Visitors and readers at the Biblioteca Laurenziana in the era of Enlightenment and Romanticism].
The lecture considers evidence from two manuscript registers of the visitors to the Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana in Florence in the years 1771 to 1807 and 1807 to 1864. The two manuscript volumes constitute a valuable record for the place of the library in the world of the Enlightenment and Romanticism, and tell us a great deal about cultural attitudes and the position of the Classics in European culture. The visitors included European royalty, illustrious men of politics and letters as well as many Greeks, some of whom are well known, eponymous individuals, others less so and others completely unknown individuals who happened to pass through Florence in the period in question. An attempt is made to identify these persons and what they might have read or studied during their visit to the Laurenziana.
The lecture will be in Greek and will be broadcasted live. To watch it, click here.