Leonardo’s ‘Last Supper’ reopens to public with short wait
Milan, Feb 9: COVID-19 restrictions have brought a novelty to art lovers: The possibility of seeing Leonardo da Vinci’s “Last Supper” without waiting in line, and with same-day tickets possible.
Access to the masterpiece housed inside the refectory of the Convent of Santa Maria delle Grazie resumed Tuesday after the second closure of the pandemic, starting in November and the fall virus resurgence. The famed mural was also closed to the public from February 26-June 9, with the double closures resulting in an 80 per cent drop in visitors last year from 2019’s record 445,728 Leonardo admirers.
This year remains uncertain, due both to virus variants and the slower-than-anticipated rollout of vaccinations. Museum officials are anticipating a drop of 60 per cent in visitors, with an accompanying decrease in revenues. Access is restricted in the first week to just eight viewers every 15 minutes, going up to 12 starting next week.
While in the past demand also among foreign visitors meant that reservations were necessary weeks or even months in advance, Emma Daffra, director of Lombardy’s state museums, said reservations are now opening each week with same-day tickets possible at the museum. “The dramatic COVID emergency had the effect of lowering the legendary wait time, and for the public this is a real opportunity,” Daffra said. “For years we have said that we need to make museums a point of reference for the locals and now this has become an unavoidable goal.” (AP)
Mystery metal monolith vanishes from ancient Turkish site
Ankara (Turkey), Feb 9: A metal monolith that mysteriously appeared on a field in southeast Turkey has now disappeared, Turkish media reported Tuesday, four days after it was discovered.
The three-meter-high (about 10-foot-high) metal slab bearing an ancient Turkic script, was found Friday by a farmer in Sanliurfa province. It was discovered near the UNESCO World Heritage site of Gobekli Tepe, which is home to megalithic structures dating to the 10th millennium B.C., thousands of years before Stonehenge.
The shiny structure, however, was reported gone Tuesday morning, days after authorities said they were investigating its appearance by looking through closed circuit television footage and searching for vehicles that may have transported it to the site.
It wasn’t immediately clear if it had been taken down by the authorities. Officials at the Sanliurfa governor’s office weren’t immediately available for comment. The state-run Anadolu Agency quoted the field’s owner as saying he was baffled by both its appearance and disappearance. “We don’t know if it was placed on my field for marketing purposes or as an advertisement,” Anadolu quoted Fuat Demirdil as saying. “We saw that the metal block was no longer at its place. Residents cannot solve the mystery of the metal block either.”
The agency also quoted local resident Hasan Yildiz as saying the block was still at the field Monday evening, but had disappeared by the morning. (AP)
