The treasures of Pompeii and the genius of Palladio exceptional guests in Beijing – World – Arte.it

World – The wonders of Pompeii and the genius of Palladio land in Tiananmen Square to tell the great mosaic of Italian cultural identity compared to the world.
“Brilliant confirmation of knowledge sharing and wonderful example of cultural diplomacy, in dialogue with each other as two chapters of one big story” as Culture Minister Alessandro Giuli reiterated, the two exhibitions arriving in Beijing will be organized simultaneously at the National Museum of China.
The two initiatives, inaugurated in the presence of Minister Giuli, Chinese Minister of Culture and Tourism Sun Yeli and National Museum Director Luo Wenli, conclude the celebration of the 55th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Italy and China. The exhibition runs until October 10 “Pompeii. An eternal discovery” traces the history of the excavations of the Vesuvian city from 1748 to the most recent archaeological campaigns. Promoted by the National Archaeological Museum of Naples and the Archaeological Park of Pompeii, organized in collaboration with the Treccani Italian Encyclopedia Institute and the National Museum of China, with the support of the Italian Embassy and the Italian Cultural Institute of Beijing, the exhibition houses about fifty treasures, including statues, frescoes, objects and pottery, also from the Mann deposits.

There is time until May 16 to visit Beijing “Geometry, harmony and life. The architecture of Andrea Palladio from antiquity to classicism”which presents for the first time to the Asian public a unitary project dedicated to the illustrious master of the Republic of Venice, which narrates the spread of Palladian architecture, in dialogue with Chinese architecture. The project, which uses a joint Italian – the Andrea Palladio International Studies Center – and Chinese curatorship, is carried out by the Italian Embassy and the Italian Cultural Institute in Beijing, in collaboration with the National Museum of China, the Palladio Museum of Vicenza and Treccani.

Visitors will discover a Palladio architect of his time and admire drawings and models of works, accompanied by bridges, old maps, sketches, agricultural implements and images of urban and rural life. In addition to the Palladio Museum, the lending institutions include the Civic Museums and the Bertoliana Library of Vicenza, the Civic Museums of Bassano del Grappa, the Pilotta Monumental Complex of Parma – with the famous Capriccio with Palladian buildings by Canaletto – and the National Library of China.

The route weaves a dialogue with the works in the collections of the National Museum of China, revealing important similarities between Eastern and Western architectural thought. In this symbolic encounter I have Yingzao Fashi, a technical treatise on architecture and craftsmanship written by the ancient Chinese author Li Jie, ideally compared to Palladio’s famous treatise The four architecture bookspublished in Venice in 1570. The journey is completed by the photo project of the American artist Lois Conner, who documented Palladian architecture in the Veneto through two photo campaigns carried out in 2024 and 2025. Three video interviews with contemporary Chinese architects, produced by the Polytechnic University of Turin in collaboration with Tsinghua University, will anticipate the contemporary exhibition project Chinese votes for Palladiowhich will be presented in its entirety in 2026 as the second exhibition dedicated to the architect.