'Codazzi, cartographies of a global archive'. This is the title of an exhibition at the Leopoldo Rother Architecture Museum of the National University of Colombia, which reveals, through a representative sample, the work and thought of one of the most important Italians in the history of Colombia. Agostino Codazzi (1793, Lugo, province of Ravenna in Emilia-Romagna) led the chorographic expedition of the then Republic of New Granada (1850-1859), which wanted to know the size of its territory, who inhabited it and what its potential was. The Italian military engineer measured, described, detailed and traversed the territory of New Granada for nine years without being able to complete the feat, being struck down by a tropical disease on 7 February 1859. However, the seed sown by Codazzi, considered by many to be the father of local cartography, made it possible to know the dimensions of the territory that corresponds to that of present-day Colombia. Part of his personal archive, preserved at the University of Turin and consisting of 2,500 documents, is now part of the exhibition that has the support of the Italian Embassy and the Italian Cultural Institute in Bogotà, and is part of the commemoration of 160 years of diplomatic relations between the two nations. Curator Stefania Gallini, a lecturer in the Department of History at the National University of Colombia, explained to ANSA that the exhibition is divided into three axes: the first is a manuscript by a missionary who collected the anthropological information central to Codazzi's work. The second is the cartography that Codazzi made during the chorographic expedition and which is seen for the first time in Colombia; while the third axis of the exhibition consists of letters, sketches and notes made by the military engineer.
For Gallini Codazzi, 'he does not belong to the world of nation states, but he belongs to the world in which he lived; he was a much more transatlantic man, who travelled much of the world because of wars and his work'.
Codazzi's exhibition will remain open until 10 August, admission is free, and its display reveals to visitors one of the most influential Italians - together with musician Oreste Sindici, composer of the music of the national anthem - in the history of Colombia.
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