Colloquies on the Mines of Cogne
Fondation Grand Paradis presents four meetings with Cogne’s last miners and with experts on the mine.
The cycle of colloquies will be composed of four meetings aiming to delve into the memory of an important part of Cogne’s history and of the industrialization of Aosta Valley. The first colloquy will take place on Sunday 22nd of August 2010, at Alpinart exhibition centre in the miners’ village of Cogne.
The Colloquies on the Mines of Cogne are a way of furthering historical and technical knowledge, and of emphasising the link between the past and the present of the mine. The presence of the last miners is an occasion to collect real testimonies of great human value.
Some of the last miners (Italo Glarey, Leone Gradizzi, Mario Jeantet, Benvenuto Mei, Osvaldo Ruffier e Gesuino Serra) will be present at the colloquies to share their experiences. Various experts on the mine will also attend, such as Giò Gozzi, professor of technology and constructive systems at the Politecnico university of Milan; historian Joseph César Perrin; Giorgio Vassoney and Rosanna Buttier, researchers of the Museums Association of Cogne; and Renato Stevanon, from the Aosta Valley Region Quarry and Mine Service. In each meeting a documentary about the mine will be screened.
The director of Fondation Grand Paradis, Luisa Vuillermoz emphasises “ the mine is a fascinating and attractive world. The colloquies on the mine give people the possibility of talking to the last miners, who will bear witness of a unique experience, and from whom much can be learnt. The mine is an archetype of life, for its capacity of synthesising opposites, of containing life and death, darkness and light, joy and sorrow, wealth and poverty, courage and fear. The point of the seminars and of the exhibition is to further our knowledge of Cogne and Aosta Valley’s past and of their socioeconomic history, to shape the future and give it meaning”.
The Colloquies on the Mines of Cogne are fringe activities to the exhibition La Miniera di Cogne – esposizione temporanea per tenere vivo il ricordo, created by the Environment and Territory Department, the Municipality of Cogne, Fondation Grand Paradis and the Museum Association of Cogne. The exhibition, set up un Alpinart exhibition centre, is open every day (except Wednesday) until the 12th of September, from 2 pm to 7 pm. From the 12th to the 30th of September it will be open from 2 pm to 6 pm.