2002-05-27 12:02 MSK - NATO-Russia signing summit has history
ROME - The
seaside site of the upcoming NATO-Russia summit has an "East meets West" history
worthy of the landmark agreement being signed: it's the site where the ancestors
of Rome's mythological founders Romulus and Remus settled more than 3,000 years
ago. But it's a pretty ugly military base, so architects have been working
around the clock trying to build an appropriate stage for Russia and NATO to
sign an agreement Tuesday making Moscow a partner in NATO's decision-making
structure. The sprawling Pratica di Mare compound, the second-largest military
base in Europe after Germany's Ramstein, has no summit facilities and is fairly
run down, dotted by squat green buildings and hemmed in by barbed wire. In the
past three weeks, construction crews have built a signing pavilion, meeting hall
and press center on the grounds that will be knocked down as soon as the summit
is over. Amid the spare surroundings, architect Mario Catalano says he's has
tried to evoke some of Rome's history. The signing pavilion looks like a square
Colosseum from the outside, its arched "windows" actually sky-blue backboards.
Catalano told reporters visiting the site Saturday that he was aiming for "Roman
classicism" blended with the warm hues of Rome today. The effect looks like a
three-dimensional stage set. For the hall where heads of state will lunch
together, he has provided some authentic Roman history: 20 Roman-era marble
statues were shipped last week from Naples' Capodimonte museum. Crews have also
outfitted an old runway hangar as a VIP lounge for delegates, using white Air
Force parachutes to create a billowy tent-like roof - appropriate for a military
base, designer Roberto Malfatto says. Premier Silvio Berlusconi has acknowledged
the site isn't the most glamorous, but he stressed the historical significance
of the surrounding area, where Romulus and Remus' ancestors settled after the
sacking of Troy in 1200 B.C. "It's a place where the East - then Troy and today
Russia - and the West have found a way to found a new civilization," Berlusconi
said last week. "I think that's an enormous fact." It is also the best site for
logistical and security needs for the one-day summit. Ten of the 20 summit
delegates will fly in Tuesday morning at the Pratica di Mare airstrip and take
off Tuesday afternoon, never leaving the barbed-wire confines of the
base. -AP
