Europa
Some years ago, visiting the library of the Strahov Monastery in Prague, I saw this image and photographed it. I noted neither its provenance nor date, but think of it often enough. Many of us would have cause to quarrel with details of physiognomy and with the relative provenance of certain named limbs: for one thing, Scandinavia, like Britain and Ireland, is literally disembodied.
Be that as it may. What matters is the fact that one could once imaginatively figure Europe as one body defined by subtle and elegant interdependencies. Time and again our continent has torn itself to pieces, indulging in fratricidal wars. Yet the dream of wholeness remains, sufficiently strong to be realised at privileged times.
Will ours be one such?
