The Mayor of Ispica Piero Rustico visits the Maison de la Paix

The Mayor of Ispica Piero Rustico visited the Maison de la Paix and the Fondazione Mediterraneo, expressing his admiration for the high value of this institution and confirming the commitment of Ispica in the realization of the Totem of Peace.

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Mediterranean Award "Honour Medal" 2010 to Jozefina Topalli

In a ceremony in the Council Room of the Municipality of Capri, the Fondazione Mediterraneo (FM) together with the Italian Delegation for the Parliamentary Assembly of NATO gave the work of the sculptor Mario Molinari, the Totem of Peace – “Mediterranean Award Honour Medal” to the President of the Albanian Parliament Josefina Topalli for her action to protect the rights of women and children.



The award was given by the FM President Michele Capasso. The deputy-mayor of Capri Ciro Lembo and other authorities attended the ceremony too.

 The FM President Capasso recalled all the actions carried on by FM to promote the democratic process in Albania and for its integration into the European Union. 

President Josefina Topalli thanked for the Award as she considered it as an acknowledgement for the whole Albania and she wished that the work of the Totem of Peace could have been done soon in Albania in the cities of Tirana and Shkodër.

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Mediterranean Award "Institutions" 2008 to Nicolas Sarkozy

On the occasion of the birth of the Union for the Mediterranean, the Fondazione Mediterraneo announced the awarding of the "Mediterranean Institutions Award 2008 - the "Totem of Peace" by sculptor Mario Molinari - to President Nicolas Sarkozy. In the reasons of the Award you can read: “For his idea of a Euro-Mediterranean Union: a political action able to change radically the inter-Mediterranean relationships".

The Awarding Ceremony took place on June the 28th 2010 at the Fondazione Mediterraneo - Maison de la Paix. The French Ambassador Jean-Marc de la Sablière, together with a delegation from the French Republic, came to Naples to retire the award.

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Mediterranean Award "Honour Medal" 2010 to Vincenzo Galgano

The Jury of the Fondazione Mediterraneo decided during the extraordinary session to give to the State Prosecutor in Naples Vincenzo Galgano the Mediterranean Award "Honour Medal" 2010. The presentation occurred during the ceremony of the Mediterranean Award for Institutions given to the President of the French Republic Nicolas Sarkozy.

The reasons say: “For his role as State Prosecutor in Naples played with committment and devotion, getting to the top of the judicial carreer. For having been a real fighter against unauthorized building and environmental spoilage in the diffcult Campania area. For having been an upright example of Justice, showing even a profound humanity”.

Galgano thanked the President of the FM Michele Capasso for this acknowledgment not only because it was given to him but also because its reasons acknowledged that higher interest that is the common good of the society.

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The Totem for Peace in Positano

Michele Capasso, President of the Fondazione Mediterraneo visited Positano after 30 years (he is among the authors of the Hotel San Pietro in Positano) and promoted the project of the Totem for Peace, by the sculptor artist Mario Molinari, to be implemented all over the world.

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The Maison de la Paix – Casa Universale delle Culture is established

From today onwards, peace has its own address: Via Depretis, 130, in Naples, headquarter for the Fondazione Mediterraneo and now for a great action for peace too: the Maison de la Paix.

And the Maison de la Paix could not but have one symbol: the Totem of Peace, the icon for the peace in the world. A red sail, symbol for journey and union, chosen by 187 countries in the world as an image of dialogue and union, created and made by the sculptor of colour, Mario Molinari. The work is displayed on the terrace of the Maison de la Paix, but soon it will be also at the Museo Diocesano in Naples, at the Theatre of San Carlo and in more meaningful places too.

In the ancient building of the former “Grand Hotel de Londres”, gathered around the “Totem of Peace”, ambassadors and representatives from supporting countries, members of International organizations and institutions officially started the activity of the “Maison de la Paix - Casa Universale delle Culture” with an important debate “Middle East: which dialogue for which possible peace”.

Several messages supported the opening of the “Maison de la Paix”: from the Italian President Giorgio Napolitano to Msg. Fouad Twal, Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, from the Advisor of the King of Morocco André Azoulay, to the Ambassador of the Kingdom of Jordan Wijdan Al-Hashemi, from the Secretary General of the Parliamentary Assembly for the Mediterranean to Beatrice of Bourbon Two Sicilies.

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At the Maison de la Paix the Totem of Peace was unveiled

On the occasion of the starting of activities of the "Maison de la Paix - Casa Universale delle Culture" the work by the Turin sculptor Mario Molinari "Totem of Peace", symbol for the peace in the world, was unveiled.

A red sail, symbol for journey and union, chosen by 187 countries in the world as an image of dialogue and union, created and made by the sculptor of colour, Mario Molinari. The work is displayed on the terrace of the Maison de la Paix, but soon it will also be at the Museo Diocesano in Naples, at the Theatre of San Carlo and in more meaningful places too.

Maurizio Poletti, CEO of Akzonobel attended the ceremony and confirmed his company committment as technical sponsor for the "Totem of Peace in the World".

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Press releases | Press

 

Aims

To promote culture as a medium of access to the world, to the knowledge and to the know-how, giving to men and women the means to express their ambitions an to build a necessary dialogue for the future of peoples.

To realize activities which emphasize the contribution of the different cultures to the shared heritage and knowledge, bringing to light the potential, not yet expressed, of the exchange of experiences and diffusing knowledge of the reciprocal influences that fuelled traditions, habits and costumes of the project of a new Humanism as foundation of comprehension among Peoples.

To facilitate the cooperation among Institutions, Research Centres, Universities and organizations for the updating of knowledge and the realization of joint initiatives to contrast prejudice and to diffuse the innovations of thought and science as well as the examples of good practice connected to the new technologies applied to the sustainability of the development.

To promote studies and the activation of experiences aimed to facilitate cohabitation and interaction of people and groups with different cultural backgrounds.

To promote, systematically, information and communications about the different initiatives undertaken for the cooperation between Europe and Arab World to avoid duplications and waste of resources.

Functions

Among the main functions of the MAISON DE LA PAIX are cited:

International Peace Workshops
Every year, in collaboration with partner Institutions – above all the "Anna Lindh" Euro-Mediterranean Foundation – the Maison de la Paix organizes the International Peace Workshops in order to analyze best practices and to build common paths to affirm non-violence as main element for Dialogue and Peace.

Living the Greater Mediterranean
It is an interactive museum space which make use of modern three-dimensional technologies to narrate the history of the Mediterranean and to let “live” the cultural, archaeological and environmental resources of this region, one of the most beautiful places in the world. Doors of about ten meters high introduce in the respective main cities (Barcelona, Marseille, Marrakech, Athens, Alexandria, Algiers, Istanbul, Napoli, Valletta, Tripoli, etc. ) through a virtual trip which astonish the observer.
A trip through history, geography, traditions, religions, art crafts, mysteries, destiny...

Conference Center
Conference rooms (from 50 to 1000 seats) will be created on the first floors of the MdP allowing the carrying out of more work sessions at the same time. The rooms will be equipped with the most modern technologies and with sophisticated videoconference systems which will consent a simultaneous connection with up to 30 Countries in the world.

Multimedia
The Multimedia space will have an apposite building. Here will be created the Audiovisual Library of Peace, where the pictures about peace processes and initiatives will be collected. It also will be possible, through interactive systems on the internet, to dialogue with the Countries in conflict to promote the knowledge and the perception of peace.

Library of Peace
The Library of Peace will collect documents, books and multimedia tools concerning peace, peace processes, peace negotiation. A database which will help scholars, diplomats, men and women of the world interested in “building” peace.

School of High Education
It is a school for diplomats conceived with a new strategy established on peace and not war. Diplomats were trained on mediation concepts and on interventions aimed at the promotion of peace where there was a conflict. Now we have to invert the problem and make the diplomats “expert maintenance operators of peace”: peace is not an abstract concept, it is a dynamic and fluid process which needs daily cares, assistance and maintenance through the promotion of dialogue, exchanges and a real interaction of shared values and interests.

Exhibitions
In the MdP will be created many spaces for exhibitions. Among the permanent exhibition will be planned “A for P – Artists for Peace” which will collect artworks of artists form all 6 over the world, “Photo-Exhibitions of Peace”: pictures can change history, but today they are used in an aberrant way; it is necessary to learn “how to see” pictures. The problem is that pictures control our lives, showing only one side of the reality. We need to ask how to do new, real pictures encouraging photographers – with exhibitions and publications – to think, and then to produce, the “pictures of peace” and not only those of the war.

The Path of Peace
The Path of Peace passes through the architectonical spaces of the MdP narrating the peace processes assuring a methodology to diffuse the examples of good practice with the analysis of the results obtained along history.

The Common History
The Common History is one of the main actions of the MdP. One of the cause of conflicts is just the lack of a common history. Every People write his own history, with his winners and losers. To propose a common history of the Greater Mediterranean, an history that is not only the history of a single Country (for example Italy, Spain, Egypt, etc.), means that a “common future” established on Peace and mutual respect is possible. An example of this method has been realized in the Countries of former Yugoslavia where a team of historians wrote the common history of the Countries in conflict: Serbia, Croatia and Bosnia with absolutely positive results.

The Casket of Silence
To nourrish the inner silence as a condition for Peace will be created in the MdP a space where it will be possible to reflect, meditate and read the most important writings about peace and peace processes written through the centuries.

Bookshop
In the MdP will be created many spaces that will host bookshops of the different Countries which will distribute mainly books, multimedia products and videos having as main theme peace, dialogue and mutual respect.

Residences of Peace
In the MdP will be created residences for young men and women for young men and women born in conflict areas, to build Peace experiences.

Countries that offered to host the MdP

Among the Countries that offered to host the Maison de la Paix there are:

The Sultanate of Oman
Today, the Sultanate of Oman is one of the Countries that mainly can fuel a real dialogue and a profitable cooperation between the Arab-Islamic World and the Occident.

The Republic of Portugal
which represents the door of Europe to the Occident and to the Arab World.

The Kingdom of Morocco
with its ancient culture and traditions is one of the Country mainly able to promote Peace through intercultural and interreligious dialogue.