MILAN, April 6 (Xinhua) - A "Salt Mountain" sculpture was inaugurated in Milan on Wednesday amid amazed glances of tourists and passersby.
The masterpiece by Italian renowned artist Mimmo Paladino, measuring 35 meters in diameter and 10 meter high, will remain until next July in the heart of Milan, close to iconic Duomo' s cathedral.
Thirty carved horses emerge from the mountain, charged with symbolic aspects originating from Italy' s social and cultural history, with the salt recalling Italians' intellectual history and the horses their strength and ingenuity.
"The Salt Mountain was reconstructed in Milan after twenty years it was first created and fifteen years since its appearance in central Naples (southern Italy), in a kind of arrival after a journey unifying cultural Italy" , 62-year-old Paladino told Xinhua.
"It is no coincidence that it has been indicated as a possible symbol for the 150th anniversary of the unification of Italy. Just think to its salt (150 quintals) which was transported here from Sicily, in the very south of the country" , he added.
Mayor of Milan Letizia Moratti and other local authorities attended the inaugural ceremony. "Artists are like workers, craftsmen who manufacture our soul" , said Milan Municipality' s Culture Councilor Massimiliano Finazzer Flory.
"Culture always means union, as it transforms abstract ideas into concrete forms. It can help Milan and the entire country to do more for citizens" , he added.