Topic 86 Visiting modern times

As a student in art history, my interest had always been on modern art. If I could travel back in time and space, I would pick Paris at the verge (пороге) of twentieth century, the place and time of modern art development, without hesitation.

I believe that living during the period of the avant-garde art (авангардного искусства) in Paris would be something quite exciting. I could go to experience the Eiffel Tower's opening, or visit the first Cubist exhibition. I would also be enthusiastic to attend Bergson or Poincare's lectures at College de France, or read articles in the newspapers of the time. I have always curious (любопытно) how people felt when they saw for the first time an automobile or an airplane.

Moreover, I think it would be exciting to see how long distance communication became a reality, and how people perceived (восприняли) the introduction of the Greenwich Universal Time. This was an age in which incredible changes took place in the way people saw the world, in the way they (так, как они) perceived and understood time and space. It was the time when Einstein published his first studies about relativity. It was, as far as I am concerned, a time that it is worth (время которое стоит, чтобы) taking a look at. I believe that Paris at the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20^th would be something fascinating.

If I were to return from the past back to our own times, I would be much more confident in my researches about that time, and my contribution to the study of art history would be a quite substantial one (весьма существенен). Till now I can only read books and articles about it, and just imagine the wonderful time Paris had been just before the war!