Hell, Purgatory and Paradise await you at Town Hall

The Asiatic Society will display its coveted treasure, Dante's Divine Comedy, as part of its five-day exhibition of Italian Treasures

The Asiatic Society will display its coveted treasure, Dante's Divine Comedy, as part of its five-day exhibition of Italian Treasures

Written in the first person, Dante's Divine Comedy tells of his journey through the three realms of the dead, lasting from the night before Good Friday to the Wednesday after Easter in the spring of 1300.

The Roman poet Virgil guides him through Hell and Purgatory; and Beatrice, Dante's ideal woman, guides him through Heaven.
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But if you thought you could walk into a bookshop and ask for a copy to read the book, widely considered as the central epic poem of Italian literature and also seen as one of the greatest works of world literature, you are so wrong.

A portrait of Dante

Johann Numeister and Evangelista Angelini on 11 April, 1472 first printed the book, of whose no original manuscript has survived, in Foligno, Italy. Of the 300 copies printed, fourteen still survive.

And thanks to the Literary Club of the Asiatic Society, Mumbai, the Consulate General of Italy, Mumbai, and the Italian Embassy Cultural Centre in New Delhi, you can now take a look at the legendary manuscript, which was donated to the society by Mountstuart Elphinstone, as a part of the exhibition of Italian Treasures, that will also showcase other rare books, including texts by Ovidio and Galileo Galilei.

"Though you can't leaf through the books, as they date back to the 15th century, and hence the paper is brittle, laptops next to the books will have digitised versions of the text for the audience to read," says Sonavi Desai, convener, Literary Club.
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The exhibition will be accompanied by film screenings and a guided walk through the society and also a guided tour through the exhibition by Roberto Bertilaccio, Cultural Attache, Italian Consulate.

"We are showing movies such as Pranab Basu's film on Dante called The Circle of Love and an Italian flick by Fellini as well," says Desai, "the main aim of this five-day exhibition is to create awareness about the society among young people.

There is a great treasure trove of information and knowledge tucked behind the white walls of Town Hall, and it simply has to get out."

The exhibition will be on from October 31 to November 4 at Town Hall, Fort, from 11 am to 6.30 pm.