Sean Jones KCWalking round the Duomo I was struck again by something that I used to think about when I was digging Roman sites in Colchester - what really touches us from across the intervening centuries is not the magnificence of the structures, but the hand-scratched graffiti. /1
Of course, Dante’s poetry is sublime, but there is even greater joy in rummaging in the footnotes to understand his score-settling and indulgence in grudges. /2
I love the old photos of my family, but I always find myself looking in the background for a glimpse of the old cars, the vanished shops. Holiday snaps designed to capture a grand building are now more interesting for the fashions on display on those walking past it.
It dawns on me, in horror, that if I were alive 200 years from now, I’d be fascinated by archives of Twitter.
Oliver Mantell@SeanJones I agree with all of this thread except for the bit about Dante… ;o)
I had a similar reflection at a historic cave recently, where my father was (rightly) complaining about people who had carved their names in it (‘JB + KC 2023’ type stuff) - but I contrasted it with the interest of the same types of carving from 1847… (etc)