L’archeologia di Nabucco: l’Oriente antico in scena

The study examines images of the ancient Orient in the lyric opera of the 18th , focusing particularly on the supposed reconstructions and shapes of Babylonian architectures for the stage of the opera Nabucco by Giuseppe Verdi in Italy. The development and change of scene-paintings, particularly in the course of the 19th century, will be analysed: How Near Eastern architecture was thought and represented before the real discovery? And how was it then perceived and represented after the first archaeological discoveries in the Near East? Before the discovery of ancient Near Eastern ruins, stage designers invent the image and shape of ancient oriental cities and architectures; after the discovery and the publications of the results of archaeological explorations of ancient Mesopotamia by French and British archaeologists, stage designers mix between inventing the space and copying the reality derived from archaeology.