World History: Multimedia photography exhibition “I see the Earth” kicks off in Rome

A multimedia photography exhibition “I see the Earth”, which marks 50th anniversary of the first manned flight into space, opened April 20, 2011 at La Sapienza University of Rome.

The exhibition, which has been jointly organized by RIA Novosti and Italian Space Agency, unveils 35 unique photos from the richest photo archive possessed by RIA Novosti. Some of these photos, by the way, have been put on display in the West for the first time. Two gigantic photos launch the exhibition, one of them features the launch of “Vostok”, while another one displays a world-known portrait of Gagarin holding a white dove.

The centerpiece of the exhibition commemorates events of April 12, 1961, which dramatically changed the destiny of mankind by opening a way to space. Series of photos make it possible to visualize last hours and minutes before the launch of “Vostok”: one of the photos shows Gagarin saying goodbye to the Chief Designer Sergei Korolev, in another photo the lift carries him aboard the spacecraft, the third one shows him a few seconds before the takeoff.

The exhibition also puts on show photos, taken in no time after the historic flight, which lasted 108 minutes, in particular, one of the first Gagarin’s photos after landing.

Another section of the exposition casts the light on life, work and pubic activities of the first cosmonaut of the Earth after the historic flight. The Italians were offered a rare opportunity to see some truly unique photos which depict Gagarin among his friends, with his family, or hunting.

At the opening of the photo exhibition visitors were shown a documentary short film “Gagarin’s start”, prepared specially for the anniversary by the Russian Federal Space Agency. This video will be displayed within the framework of the exposition on specially installed LCD screens.

The exhibition “I see the Earth”, called to become the climax of anniversary events being held in the Apennines in celebration of 50th anniversary of Gagarin’s takeoff, will run at La Sapienza University of Rome until May 5. However its organizers have been already asked to launch it in Milan, Turin and some other cities of Italy.