Jubilee 2025 - cultural events presented in preparation for the opening of the Holy Door
A press conference was held on October 28, in the Holy See Press Office, at which the Dicastery for Evangelization presented its program of upcoming cultural events in preparation for the opening of the Holy Door of St Peter’s Basilica which will launch the 2025 Holy Year. Speakers included the Pro-Prefect of the Dicastery, Archbishop Rino Fisichella, the Director of the Vatican Museums, Dr Barbara Jatta, and the Curator of the Cultural Season “The Jubilee is Culture,” Dr Davide Mambriani.
The first event will be a concert at the Auditorium in Via della Conciliazione, next Sunday, November 3, at 6pm. The Orchestra of the Accademia di Santa Cecilia will perform the Fifth Symphony by Russian composer Dimitri Shostakovich (1906-1975), conducted by Maestro Jader Bignamini, currently musical director of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra. The Symphony, composed in 1937, is little known to the general public, but its intense drama opens up in listeners a real horizon of hope.
Following on from this, on December 22, at 6pm at the Church of Sant’Ignazio in Rome there will be a concert of music by the Pontifical Sistine Choir which, under its director, Don Marcos Pavan, will perform polyphonic compositions by Palestrina, Perosi and Bartolucci. This concert will help those who attend to live the days immediately preceding the opening of the Jubilee in a spirit of genuine contemplation of the mystery of faith.
Another exciting musical event will be the Bell Chiming Concert which will precede the Mass at 7pm on Christmas Eve, at which the Pope will officially inaugurate the Jubilee of 2025. The bells which will make the joyful announcement of the long-awaited event, were made by the Marinelli Pontifical Bell Foundry.
In addition to the musical events, visual art exhibitions will also be held, including the first ever Italian exhibition of the White Crucifixion by Marc Chagall. The work, which is highly evocative and quite unique, comes on loan from The Art Institute of Chicago and will be hosted, from November 27 to January 27, 2025, in the new Museo del Corso - Museum Center, in Palazzo Cipolla. The exhibition will be open to the public, with free admission, every day from 10am to 8pm.
The second exhibition will be of some rare icons from the Vatican Museums which will be exhibited in the magnificent Borromini sacristy in the Church of Sant’Agnese in Piazza Navona, from December 16 to February 16, 2025. The symbolism of the icon reflects the life of the Church, a tradition that from generation to generation has been able to transmit not only the faith it represents, but also the artistic techniques, colors, and styles. The icon, for this reason, is an instrument of universal evangelization, evoking a sanctity that always refers to the central mystery of faith.