2026-07-072026-07-07http://salesiana.dossiersoluciones.com/handle/123456789/67983A mixture of an historical article, and of a survey of recent developments, containing also a couple of new results.45 pages, to appear in the Abel Bicentennial Conference Volume, edited by Springer Verlag (Oslo, june 2002). Some typos correctedAlgebraic Geometry14K20, 14-03, 14-02From Abel's heritage: transcendental objects in algebraic geometry and their algebrizationtext