Visas and Skullduggery
Just moments ago, in defiance of gravity, we soared higher as the gear and flaps retracted on departure from the USA. After a few weeks in Italy, our stops in EU member states
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Destination Belgium |
will swell with the addition of a pause in France at Charles de Gaulle airport before continuing by train to Belgium. Freewheeling jaunts like these, up to now, have been the norm, but with the burgeoning of globalization and growing security concerns, times are changing which is why I’d like to take a moment to go over some new and old travel rules that will soon impact American tourists.
A new kind of travel visa will soon debut among the ‘must haves’
of travel documents before last-minute travelers, and pleasure-seeking jet
setters can grab their passports and hop a flight “across the pond”.
Currently, only non-EU citizens
(ex; American citizens) who intend to stay in Italy for more than 90 days must
apply for a long-stay visa. Like
many Americans, we never had to obtain one.
Because we both worked during our early travel years, staying that long
was inconceivable. By the time it became
possible, we had acquired Italian/EU passports, which made a long-stay visa
unnecessary.
The new kid on the block is the European Travel Information and Authorization System travel
visa, ETIAS for short. It was scheduled
to debut in 2024, but thankfully, its implementation has been rescheduled to
May 2025, with further delays possible. [1] ETIAS is an electronic travel authorization,
also known as a visa waiver that goes along with any other form of visa (already
in place as mentioned above) that also may apply.
This new entry requirement affects former visa-exempt nationals
traveling to any of thirty European countries.[2] The current list of countries (just about all
of Europe) requiring this new visa to enter is as follows:
•
AUSTRIA • BELGIUM • BULGARIA • CROATIA • CYPRUS • CZECH REPUBLIC • DENMARK •
ESTONIA • FINLAND • FRANCE • GERMANY • GREECE • HUNGARY • ICELAND • ITALY •
LATVIA • LIECHTENSTEIN • LITHUANIA • LUXEMBOURG • MALTA • NETHERLANDS • NORWAY
• POLAND • PORTUGAL • ROMANIA • SLOVAKIA • SLOVENIA • SPAIN • SWEDEN •
SWITZERLAND
In the past, travelers from 59 countries were
exempt from needing a visa to enter the EU, but with this change this is no
longer the case. [2] If you
plan to visit any of the countries listed for a short-term stay and
wonder if the USA is on the list now requiring this visa, be assured it is. One form of immunity to ETIAS requirements is
if you are a national of a European country requiring an ETIAS visa. For example, the holder of dual passports, US
and Italy, would be immune to the requirement.
If there is a nice part to the new rule, it is that this visa
is valid for three years or until the travel document you used in your application
expires, whichever occurs first (i.e.: if you get a new passport,
you need to get a new ETIAS travel authorization as well). Another convenience is that it will be computer-based and allow applicants to apply for an ETIAS travel
authorization before their departure, online.
It would be
wise to apply well in advance. Although
it is hoped that most applications will be processed within minutes, so fingers
crossed, it seems likely that most last-minute applications just might make
it. Applying for an ETIAS requires a
payment of €7.[3] Those
under the age of 18 or over 70 will have their fees waived.[4] But since things will likely change before
the new requirement goes into effect and following that, from the growing pains
of lessons learned, it’s best to check for the latest information.
To recap, a valid
ETIAS travel authorization allows entry into participating European countries
as often as you want for short-term stays.
However, short-term visits for frequent travelers can be impacted by
what is known as the Schengen Convention.
The Schengen Convention also takes the form of a visa, the most common
in Europe, that allows a person to travel to any Schengen member state for up
to 90 days in every six month period starting from the date of entry. Within this zone, checks at EU internal
borders have been abolished. Currently,
twenty seven nations comprise the Schengen area.[3]
Keep in mind that the EU is a political and
economic union. In contrast, the
Schengen area allows for the free movement of people between the participating countries. It also helps to remember that an ETIAS
permit is like a Schengen visa, but for visa-exempt travelers. At first glance, it appears to be a straightforward
rule, but is often misunderstood even by savvy travelers. It is essential to know how the rule works to
avoid overstaying and facing subsequent penalties. A Schengen Calculator
is available to determine when your 90-day allowance in a 180-day window ends.[6] When you arrive in a Schengen area, don’t be
surprised if a border guard asks to see your passport and other documents and
verify that you meet the entry conditions.
I wonder how, with all the imprints in our passports, none of which are in
any sequence, they know the earlier entry/exit dates, but the newer biometric
passports may do the counting for them. Unprepared,
it can be an unexpected shock for any traveler.
I recall a gentleman ahead of us at German entry control once being told
he had only a few days remaining. He was
stunned into the realization he quickly needed an early go-home plan.
With our European entry paperwork sorted by this
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Bruges Zot Beer |
point, we find ourselves well past Newfoundland, mid-Atlantic, with Greenland ahead. What attracts us to fairytale Bruges is more than chocolate, waffles, and blond Zot beer. The food there, which we expect will be excellent, is served in the most inviting settings, interspersed with canals, replete with storybook architecture, churches, and museums.
One of its charms is the Madonna
of Bruges. Because little is known of
the details and associated drama surrounding its creation, it is relegated to
the branch of lesser-knowns in the annals of art treasures. Yet, there is reason enough to
visit. More than simply a Madonna, it
also presents the Christ child. What makes it especially treasured is that it was sculpted by Michelangelo
di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni, whom we know simply as Michelangelo. That connection is all the more reason to
explore its remarkable history.
From 1501 at age 26 until he died in 1564, Michelangelo’s talent did not suffer for commissions. By then, his fame had spread internationally to include King Francis I of France, the Signoria of Venice, even as distant as the Sultan of Turkey. Although these foreign patrons were rejected or held off, as in the case of the Sultan for 10 years, one commission was accepted from the Mouscron brothers, Giovanni and Alessandro, wealthy Dutch cloth merchants from Bruges, which at the time was one of the leading commercial cities in Europe.[4]
Michelangelo accepted their request for a statue to adorn their hometown Church of
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Church of Our Lady, Bruges |
This beautiful translucent marble creation is often
compared to Michelangelo's Vatican Pietà, completed
five years before his Bruges masterpiece. The Madonna wears the same solemn facial
expression in both sculptures. Other shared
similarities include Mary's flowing robe and the movement of the drapery. Her long, oval face is also reminiscent of the
Pietà.[4]
In this work, Michelangelo took a different approach
.webp)
Adding
to its notoriety, it would be the only sculpture by Michelangelo transported
outside Italy in his lifetime.[10]
Following its arrival, history would see it depart Belgium twice,
beginning in 1794. During that year, the
sculpture was removed to protect it from French Revolutionaries. [7]
It and other valuable works of art were
moved to Paris for safekeeping, only to return after Napoleon’s
defeat at Waterloo
in 1815. Its second departure occurred
during World War II. With the retreat of Nazi soldiers, the
sculpture was smuggled swathed in mattresses in a Red Cross truck to Germany
in September 1944 as the Allies advanced on the city. [2] [8]
In her book, The Rape of Europa, Lynn Nicholas tells the story of a French woman,
It was thanks to a toothache that The Monuments Men learned of the Altaussee mines. Months earlier, Captain Robert Posey was in the city of Trier in eastern Germany with Pfc. Lincoln Kirstein and needed treatment. Townspeople led Posey and Kirstein to a local dentist, who pulled the tooth. Before they left, the dentist
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A Few WWII Monuments Men |
Thankfully
a plan to destroy the mine to prevent the artwork from
falling into enemy hands was thwarted by a combination of local miners and Nazi
officials who considered the plan folly. The mine director convinced the Nazi district
leader to set smaller charges to augment larger bombs already in place. He then ordered the larger ordinance removed
without the district leader’s knowledge. On 5 May 1945, the smaller charges detonated,
closing the mine's entrances and sealing the art safely inside instead of seeing
it destroyed.[8]
As the war quickly drew to a close, the area, within days, seemed destined for Soviet
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Examining Their Mattress Protected Find |
With a lantern
in hand, Captain Posey was the first to enter the mine through
the small gap in the rubble, followed closely by Pfc. Kirstein. Inside, they discovered Michelangelo’s
Madonna. Hidden inside the mine’s miles
of tunnels, some chambers more than a mile inside the mountain, the ERR had
also hidden other masterpieces, including Vermeer’s The Astronomer, the Ghent
Altarpiece by Jan van Eyck, and thousands of other works of art and culturally
significant items looted from the great French collections by the ERR. [8]
[9]
Days were spent packing the Michelangelo Bruges Madonna, described as “looking very much like a large Smithfield ham.” [8]
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Getting the Bruges Madonna Ready to Ship |
As the sun begins
to rise as we wing our way across the Atlantic, closing in on our
own EU and Schengen checks in Munich, it is my desire to see this recovered
masterpiece, once shrouded in a cave, that fuels my interest in Bruges and the
trials and tribulations of this masterwork.
And to think, I needn’t go to Moscow to see this stolen, recovered, and well-traveled
masterpiece.
Instead, it will
be Bruges, where it sits, believed to portray the Christ child in His head bowed
mother’s hands, reflecting on her son's tragic fate, in contrast to
Michelangelo’s representation in his Pietà of the crucified
Jesus, again in her arms, but there reflecting on His destiny fulfilled.
Until we see and report on it,
travel far, eat well, and live long.
Paolo
[1] European-Union-Postpones-Launch of Entry
Requirement Document, https://www.travelagentcentral.com/europe/european-union-postpones-launch-two-authorization-processes?utm_medium=email&utm_source=nl&utm_campaign=TAC-NL-Daily&oly_enc_id=7910E7565989E6B
[2] Who Should Apply, https://travel-europe.europa.eu/etias/who-should-apply_en
[3] Schengen Area,
https://home-affairs.ec.europa.eu/policies/schengen-borders-and-visa/schengen-area_en
[4] ETIAS Frequently Asked Questions, https://etias.com/etias-frequently-asked-questions
[5 ] New Requirements to Travel to Europe, https://travel-europe.europa.eu/etias/what-etias_en#validity
[6] Schengen Calculator, https://www.schengenvisainfo.com/visa-calculator/
[7] Madonna of Bruges, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madonna_of_Bruges
[8] Madonna of Bruges, https://www.michelangelo.net/madonna-of-bruges/
[9] Michelangelo, The Artist, the Man, and his Times,
William E. Wallace, 2010, Cambridge University Press
[11] Rose Valland, https://www.artonauti.it/rose-valland-spia-rischio-vita-per-salvare-arte-francese/
[12] Robert M. Edsel,
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_M._Edsel
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