From 12 June to 31 July, the Courtyard of the Palazzo La Sapienza hosts the documentary exhibition "Bewitched by the Tower - Pisa in the collection of D.I Malkov, the Muscovite Campanilist".

David Ilič Malkov (28 April 1913 - 17 May 2010) was a Russian engineer. On his way to work one morning in March 1964, he met, from Pravda, the problems of stability of the Tower of Pisa and the appeal to experts from all over the world to save it. It was the beginning of a great passion, almost an obsession, that led him to document himself and devise a project that was talked about in the main Soviet newspapers and that even reached Italy. Although other solutions were preferred, Malkov did not stop thinking about the Tower, indeed he began to collect all sorts of material on the bell tower and the city that houses it.
Over time he collected about 6000 documents, including travel books, books of literature, poetry, science and art, and even magazines, postcards of Pisa, clippings, photocopies, as well as objects, some of which are definitely curious. Most of the texts are in Russian and Slavic languages, but there are as many as 50 languages.

The collection, donated to the University of Pisa in 1994 and now part of the heritage of its library, was the subject of an exhibition in 1996.
Almost twenty years after the donation, a new exhibition pays tribute to this bizarre character, bewitched by one of the most famous towers in the world. Tower that we can see through his eyes of imaginary traveller - having been in Pisa only at the time of donation - and through the unusual look of those who undertook the eastern equivalent of the Grand Tour.

The exhibition is curated by Antonella Magliocchi (University of Pisa), Gabriella Garzella (Società Storica Pisana), Chiara Bodei (University of Pisa) and Paolo Maria Mancarella (University of Pisa)

It was organized, on the occasion of the celebrations of the 850th anniversary of the laying of the first stone of the bell tower, by the University of Pisa and the Historical Society of Pisa, with the support of the University Library System and ACME04.

Info and Contacts:

Chiara Bodei
chiara.bodei@unipi.it
https://malkov.sba.unipi.it/