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PARTISAN REVIEW
ter playing the role of a cornerstone in history-I received in
Padua. Throughout all the vicissitudes of fate it retains the
image and spirit of a bastion, although its walls guard only the
portraits of professors who once taught here and perfected them–
selves in their sciences. At first this is a bit comical. So many wise
people, their wizened faces, coats of arms, names imprinted in
rows. Only gradually does the seriousness of the work undertaken
here and continued for centuries enter one's consciousness.
Padua University accepted and invited scholars of various nation–
alities. It was famous and proud that Hungarians and French
and Germans and Poles worked and studied there even as they do
now. We even stumbled upon the portrait of one Russian in the
gallery, Petr Vasilyevich Postnikov. They say that he was sent to
Padua by Peter the Great, and here he defended his diploma in
medicine and philosophy. Padua creates the image of a univer–
sity, apart from anything else, because it conceives of itself in the
form of a universality-of the whole world, without respect to
political and historical boundaries. Padua rejoices, sending its
scholars and students to all corners of the earth. The idea of world
domination that attracts dictators is replaced here by the idea of
the unity of sciences, and sciences are a unity of reason, built upon
the harmony of nature or the cosmos. What is a botanist, a philol–
ogist, a historian, or a chemist? They all serve one God, science
making up God's pedestal in a broader metaphysical and relig–
ious sense. I guessed at the religious consciousness of a Paduan
scholar at the sight of a glass cabinet, which contained-respect–
fully-together with his works and portraits, his last property: his
skull. It's terrifying at first. But a woman enthusiast, an archeol–
ogist by profession, acting as a guide beneath these high arches,
calmly explained, "We also have left our skulls to Padua Univer–
sity. " Shuddering at these words and glancing at the yellowed
craniums of old instructors grimacing from inside the cabinet, I
suddenly understood that the yellowed frontal skull bones con–
tained here were similar to wings carrying reason to the Earth
from Padua University. "And here is the department of Galileo,"
the young girl who was our guide through the Paduan halls said.
And we saw a platform of coarsely put together, unplaned boards,
similar to a scaffold, from which Galileo spoke before gathered
crowds. From the walls hung banners and standards of all the
departments, various colors and coats of arms but with a general
code for all: Universality and Freedom.
