Maison de la Paix || Casa Universale delle Culture (EN)

 

CASA UNIVERSALE DELLE CULTURE

The Maison de la Paix - Casa Universale delle Culture is a place strongly representative, in which will convey the knowledge of the different identities and cultures, structuring permanently initiatives aimed at the spreading of peace, necessary for the shared development.

The Maison de la Paix - Casa Universale delle Culture (MdP) is a project conceived by Michele Capasso, approved by many Countries and international organizations. It is an architecture that keeps the memory of many Peace activities which created history, often more than the wars, but it is – above all – a space "to build” Peace.

The architectonical complex has an important symbolic worth: it represents the Countries of the World engaged in the Peace process and the Countries victim of the conflicts.

Proposed by the Fondazione Mediterraneo with the Maison des Alliances – together with the main adherent organizations, such as the Mediterranean Parliamentary Assembly, the League of Arab States, the "Anna Lindh" Euro-Mediterranean Foundation and others, the MdP represents a referent point for all the ones who dedicate their lives to peace.

The symbol of the MdP is the "Totem for Peace", an artwork by the Italian sculptor Mario Molinari which the Fondazione Mediterraneo is promoting all around the world, creating the network of the "Cities for Peace".

The first seat of the MdP was inaugurated on the 14th of June 2010 (Maison de la Paix - Casa Universale delle Culture) in the historical building of the Grand Hotel de Londres in Naples.

The action of the Maison de la Paix - Casa Universale delle Culture aims at improving the main activities of the "Universal Forum of Cultures" in: Barcelona (2004), Monterrey (2007), Valparaiso (2010) and Naples (2013).

The Maison de la Paix performs most of the initiatives jointly with the Maison de la Méditerranée.

 

President Michele Capasso, Director Pia Balducci Molinari, the Board of Directors, the representatives of the branch offices and the International Scientific Committee express their deepest condolences for the ascension to Heaven of Pope Francis.
In a message sent to Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Secretary of State of the Holy See, President Capasso, among other things, writes:
"Our heart is broken by the news of the ascension to Heaven of our beloved Pope Francis: we wish to express through him our deepest condolences for the passing of the Pope of All Peoples, but at the same time our happiness for having had him as the leader of the universal Church. Personally, I have had the joy of meeting him on several occasions and of sharing with him significant moments of his life and his Pontificate: from the trip to Jakarta last year to our first meeting in Luján in 2008, from his first trip to Lampedusa in July 2013 to the recent trips to Asia and Oceania and the subsequent ones in Luxembourg and Belgium, from the meeting in the Vatican with Shimon Peres, Abu Mazen and Bartholomew I in 2014 to the one in Venice a year ago; unforgettable were our meetings in Manila and Abu Dhabi and others.
In these times we are living in the world an immense famine of Love and sense of the Common Good: a suicidal selfishness - understood as the pure pursuit of personal and corporate interests - has invaded every area of ​​political, institutional and social life, contaminating the whole of humanity. The voice of Pope Francis, although solitary on several occasions, was the only one to fuel the feeling that was closest to his heart: "HOPE". Yesterday in Rome we were in St. Peter's Square for Holy Easter: when we saw and heard the Pope's faint voice, a strong hope overwhelmed us and we would never have imagined what would happen a few hours later. Ideally we gathered around the Pope and we would have liked to offer him the first draft of the program of an event dear to him that we announced to him in the last meeting on October 16, 2024: the creation in Naples of a Shrine dedicated to the innocent victims of wars in the world, SO AS NOT TO FORGET.
The ceremony of deposition of the relics of innocent victims of wars in the Totem of Peace - symbol of the United States of the World - will take place on June 7, 2025, with the celebration of the Eucharist that we will dedicate to Pope Francis”.

Read more: ...

Leaders of the Italian and Campania Socialist Party, led by National Secretary Enzo Maraio, visited the United States of the World and the Museum of Peace: in particular the section dedicated to Raffaele Capasso, Socialist mayor and example for the Common Good.
Welcomed by General-Secretary Michele Capasso and Director Pia Molinari, National Secretary Enzo Maraio with Regional Secretary Michele Tarantino, Provincial Secretary Luigi Di Dato, the Honourable Felice Iossa, Antonio Demitry, Gaetano Amatruda and others expressed their appreciation for the site and for the memory of Raffaele Capasso preserved there.
A day has been planned for 7 May 2025 at the museum to honour Raffaele Capasso: Socialists of yesterday and today will participate, many of whom had the opportunity to meet him.

Read more: ...

The United States of the World with the Fondazione Mediterraneo celebrated the “National Day of the Sea and Maritime Culture” in various Italian cities and, in particular, in Lecce.
"We want to celebrate this unique resource together - said Secretary-General Michele Capasso - because it is essential to our lives: the seas and oceans provide oxygen, absorb carbon dioxide, and regulate the effects of climate change. They are the habitat of numerous animals and plants, and cover seventy per cent of the Earth's surface: the United States of the World's “Earth and Peace” programme puts the preservation and protection of the sea at the top of its agenda".
The celebrations were held in Lecce's Politeama Greco Theatre with 700 students. Prizes were awarded to the winners of the national competition "The Citizenship of the Sea" and "The Coast Guard Mascot" for the 2024/2025 school year. The Minister of Education and Merit, Giuseppe Valditara, and the Commander General - Chief Inspector Admiral of the Coast Guard, Nicola Carlone, attended.

Read more: ...

Today our fraternal friend Vincenzo Galgano rose to heaven: a gentleman who made justice the cornerstone of his existence.
Vincenzo never failed to support us in our dream of the United States of the World: from a cluster of photos showing him at fundamental moments of our institution. I have chosen two, when in September 2010 he gave a memorable speech at the inauguration of the Totem for Peace in San Sebastiano al Vesuvio and the day we awarded him the prestigious “Totem for Peace” by the sculptor Molinari for the “Mediterranean Award for Legality”.
On behalf of us all:
T H A N K  Y O U  V I N C E N Z O !

Read more: ...

A delegation from the Fondazione Mediterraneo and the Museum of Peace participated in Turin in the evening Mass celebrated in the Basilica of Mary Help of Christians, presided over by Cardinal Ángel Fernández Artime, former Rector Major, and concelebrated at the altar by his predecessor, Don Pascual Chávez Villanueva, and his successor, Don Fabio Attard.
The entire central nave of the Valdocco basilica was filled by some 230 Capitulars who for over 50 days crowded the classrooms and courtyards of Valdocco for a faithful and prophetic living of the Salesian vocation.
"The solemnity of the occasion is palpable, said President Michele Capasso, "for a Mass that, on the one hand, probably represented a unicum in the history of the Congregation (with the presence of three Major Rectors concelebrating in the epicentre of world Salesian spirituality) and, on the other, constituted a symbolic and spiritual handover between the tenth Successor of Don Bosco (Cardinal Artime) and the eleventh (don Attard):  all, with the affable presence of the ninth Successor of Don Bosco (don Chávez), who with his frequent interventions in the hall was able to give spiritual readings and make syntheses".
A "very significant celebration", Cardinal. Fernández Artime. who went on to say: "Everything takes us back to the beginning of this precious adventure and reality, where our Father heard what God was asking of him, and from which everything began. All of us, from a vocational and charismatic point of view, were born here. Today is a beautiful moment to thank the Lord, at the end of the Chapter, for such a presence of the Holy Spirit".
President Michele Capasso recalled the importance of the establishment of the Salesian Oratory and the path dedicated to Don Bosco in the Museum of Peace inaugurated on 17 February 2017 with the presence of Don Angel Artime.

Read more: ...