Great attendance at the first "Colloquies on the Mines"
On Sunday the 22nd and Monday the 23rd of August 2010 the first two Colloquies on the Mines of Cogne took place at the Miners’ Village. The seminars were supported by the Department of the Environment and Territory, the municipality of Cogne, the museum association of Cogne and Fondation Grand Paradis.
On both occasions there was a viewing of documentaries about the mines of Cogne, granted by Aosta Valley RAI Programmes headquarters. There was also the participation of the last miners.
At the first colloquy the future of the mine and its valorisation were discussed, with the participation of Giò Gozzi, professor of Technology and Constructive Systems at the Polytechnic University of Milan. At the second seminar historian Joseph César Perrin illustrated the multifaceted and innovative figure of Doctor Grappein.
The sound recording of both lectures will be available shortly at www.grand-paradis.it, Fondation Grand Paradis’ website. Due to the great attendance and to the interest of the public, several Colloquies with the miners will be programmed for the autumn. The colloquies will be aimed at schools in Aosta Valley, to make students aware of the social and cultural value of the mines, to introduce them to the life in the mines and to the production cycle of the material.
Luisa Vuillermoz, director of Fondation Grand Paradis, points out that “We normally think of the mines as tunnels, pits, the miners’ village and the transportation infrastructures. With the exhibition The Mines of Cogne and the Colloquies on the Mines of Cogne we want to underline the exceptional immaterial heritage linked to the mine. A living heritage that belongs to the community of Cogne and is represented by the historical memory of the last miners who, by talking about the end of an era, have managed to move the public. Part of the mine’s immaterial heritage is also the history of the extraordinary figure of Doctor Grappein. “Le roi du fer”, doctor and mayor of Cogne who, with his experimental community management of the mine, marked the history of the village. A humanist, innovator, philanthropist and utopian, a figure whose political and philosophical thinking were ahead of his times. His work, his thoughts and his personality deserve to be known beyond Aosta Valley borders”.
The last Colloquies on the Mines of Cogne will take place on Friday the 27th of August at 5pm and on Friday the 3rd of September at 9pm, at the Alpinart exhibition centre, at the Miners’ Village in Cogne. There will be the participation of Giorgio Vassoney and Rosanna Buttier, researchers at the museum association of Cogne, and Renato Stevanon from the Aosta Valley Region Quarry and Mine Service.