PHOTO ARCHIVES
León, Spain – 1966 – This image shows the interior of the chapel of the former Salesian house in La Robla (León), with a close-up on the altar decorated by artist Vela Zanetti (1913-1999). The mural, dedicated to Mary Help of Christians, is a modernised Marian version which bears some similarities to one of the paintings in the Basilica of Mary Help of Christians in Turin. It is the only religious mural signed by Vela Zanetti, dated 10 April 1966. The Salesians had arrived in La Robla two years earlier, in 1964, and ran the Buen Suceso Vocational Training School for more than 36 years. The Salesian presence in La Robla ended, finally, in 2001.
Rome, Italy - 1960s - In this photograph dating back to the early 1960s and now kept in the archive of the Pontifical Salesian University, you can see how the building site of the Pontifical Salesian Athenaeum, in Rome's Nuovo Salario district, looked at the time. The Athenaeum was transferred to Rome in the first half of the 1960s, with the aim of unifying all the Faculties in one location, for better mutual collaboration.
Panama - 1933 - This old photograph, dating back to 27 December 1933, shows some students in the carpentry course offered by the Salesians in Panama in those years. In the image you can see many young people engaged in woodworking, with the equipment of the time. The photograph, together with other precious historical testimonies of Panama, is available on the Flickr profile of the Salesian Bulletin of Central America.
Macau - 1921 - This old picture shows a group of Salesian missionaries, together with St Louis Versiglia (front row, centre), Salesian bishop and martyr canonised in 2000. The photo also shows Fr José da Silva Lucas (sixth in the second row), who was the first Portuguese to work in Macau, where he arrived in 1912. The Salesian presence in Macau had already begun in 1906, with the handover of the Orphanage of the Immaculate Conception to the Salesian Congregation.