On Saturday, November 22, the exhibition “The Microworld of the Karst: Shapes and colours hidden in the rocks” was inaugurated. Featuring over 50 photographs, it reveals the full beauty of rocks under the microscope and the fossils preserved within them. Scientific research is thus transformed into an unusual and enchanting language, offering visitors an immersion into a kaleidoscope of forms and colors typical of the sedimentary rocks of the Karst region. The exhibition, organized within the Interreg Kras Carso II project and organized by the Department of Geosciences of the University of Padua and the Geological Service of the Autonomous Region of Friuli Venezia Giulia, in collaboration with the Institute of Marine Sciences of the CNR and the Municipality of Trieste, will remain open until 11 January 2026 at sala Sbisà, Magazzino 26, in Trieste.
Massimo Zanetti, director of the Geological Service of the Autonomous Region of Friuli Venezia Giulia, emphasizes the importance of the exhibition as an example of collaboration among different stakeholders involved in land management, research, and the valorization of geological heritage. According to him, the cross-border cooperation project could create activities that can endure in the region.
Bernardo Cesare, professor at the Department of Geosciences of the University of Padua, admits that photographing sedimentary rocks was initially a challenge for him. The idea that they contained no interesting aesthetic motifs was very quickly disproven.
Lorenzo Consorti, from the Institute of Marine Sciences of the CNR, explains that with the exhibition they revealed to the wider public the great diversity and geodiversity of the microworld of the Karst.
Ingrid Urban, researcher at the Department of Geosciences of the University of Padua, says that, with the aim of strengthening cross-border cooperation, artists from Italy and Slovenia were invited to contribute to the creation of the exhibition’s artistic section.
The exhibition space also includes a section dedicated to Nabresina stone, which has been nominated for the international Heritage Stone recognition due to its historical and cultural value.
The video of the exhibition opening is available at the following link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EvvzCeHXzMg
