Written By: Daniel Lim
Photos by the USP students
Together with Prof Nanetti, six other USP scholars and I jetted off to the beautiful city of Venice for the second portion of the SP0040 Maritime Silk Roads module on September 24th.
The purpose of the trip was to allow us to study examples of knowledge aggregation used during the Venetian Empire, and to harness their methods in creating a contemporary system of knowledge aggregation for use in education and research.
While we were there, we were extremely privileged to have been received by esteemed scholars, who took interest in explaining to us their research pursuits and the artefacts we were studying. Although the language barrier was sometimes an obstacle to communication, some of us were inspired by their expertise and passion in what they were studying. I would make myself proud if I could, one day, achieve a similar depth of knowledge in what I am doing.
My favourite part of the visit was when we were brought into the state archives of Venice. In this former monastery thatspans 70km of shelves, and it contained an eclectic mix of books and government records dating back centuries. I still recall spinning around in awe at the sheer amount of knowledge contained within these halls. A funny moment occurred – when Yi Heen accidentally let off the flash on his phone camera leaving all of us in shock – and our inner geeks were wide awake. It was amazing that all this was handwritten, as the printing press had not been invented at that time. We also got our hands on this fantastic book on cryptography, with intricate moving parts that you could interact with, and Galileo’s original letter informing the duke of his recently made telescope.
One of the main reasons for signing up for this module was the opportunity to be able to experience Venice, a place with an immense depth of history, from the eyes of a local academic. I had previously – when I was young and foolish – been to Venice, but having Prof Nanetti share his knowledge and insights behind everything we were seeing was enlightening and enriching. We were able to “uncover” a new layer of the city and it helped us to understand the scale of the empire that was once based here. We also got to ride on a Gondola across the Grand Canal for EUR2,00 – those who have been to Venice will be shocked at this. Of course, this also meant great meal experiences – squid ink pasta, great local and regional food, seafood, cheese and the legendary Prosecco.
We also got to experience many things that money cannot buy. The State Archives, for example, is only open to researchers and academics. We had the opportunity to have a scholar explain the giant Fra Mauro map to us in detail. We also had a private tour of St Mark’s Basilica after opening hours, when all the other tourists and visitors had left. It was a surreal experience to have the lights switched back on, illuminating the immense gold Mosaics covering the inner ceiling of the basilica.
Now that we are back in Singapore, we are striving to integrate what we have learnt into our projects. Looking back, we are thankful to have been granted the opportunity by the University Scholars Programme so that we could immerse ourselves in this experience. Given the chance, I would definitely do it over again.
