A statue of the earth mother (usually referred to as the “Fat Lady” from the Third Millennium before Christ from Malta will form part of a special exhibition to be opened on Friday by the Italian President, Giorgio Napolitano, to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the signing of the Treaty of Rome.

It was on 25 March 1957 in the ‘Orazi e Curiazi’ hall in Rome’s Capitol that six European nations (Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg and The Netherlands) came together to sign the treaties setting up the European Economic Community and Euratom. The treaties were thenceforth called the Treaties of Rome.

To commemorate the 50th anniversary of the signing, the Italian presidency together with the European Parliament is holding a special exhibition in the magnificent Salone dei Corazzieri in the Quirinal Palace with the participation of all 27 countries in the EU.

Each country has chosen what it feels tells best its history and its idea of Europe. These are being exhibited together with a find dating back to the third century before Christ of ‘The Rape of Europa’ which is being exhibited next to the original copy of the treaties.

As stated earlier, the exhibition will range from Malta’s earth mother to a 1976 painting by Kirkeby, Prophecy on Venice, which is being lent by Denmark. All the great cultures of Europe, from classic to medieval to the Renaissance, modern and contemporary are represented. Luca Ronconi and Margherita Palli have curated the exhibition.

At the end of a voyage among the 28 masterpieces and the cultures that fostered them in some 5,000 years, Europe appears as the privileged space that has found how to accept the civilising influences of other continents and where man, with his intellectual abilities and his dignity, has become the arbiter of the universe, where the concepts of democracy and tolerance were born.

Looking at these masterpieces should help the citizens of the Old Continent feel they are the children of a mix of traditions, ideals and aspirations that are many times intermingled and at the same time in tension between themselves.

The exhibition will be solemnly inaugurated on Friday by Italian President Giorgio Napolitano together with Commission President José Manuel Barroso, the Presidents of all the parliaments of the 27 member States and the respective ministers of culture.