In this exhibition, designed as a journey in Middle-earth, the public will enter the imaginary world created by the author of The Lord of the Rings. A writer, philologist and academic, J.R.R. Tolkien has built - through hundred-page stories, mostly unpublished in his lifetime – a modern form of “mythology” with its own languages, characters, geography, architecture, art and history.

Organized in collaboration with the Tolkien Estate and the Tolkien family and thanks to the exceptional participation of the Bodleian Library (Oxford) and of Marquette University Libraries (Milwaukee, United States), the exhibition will take you on a journey to Tolkien’s imaginary geography.

The first part of the journey is divided into chapters which serve as stopovers through Middle-earth, from the Shire to Mordor, and further still, to Valinor. Each place, each territory offers an opportunity to address the underlying literary, cultural and linguistic details behind Tolkien’s work.