The Museum route
The idea of building a museum route in Santa Maria di Castello arose from the need to exhibit many works that, following the transformations of the church and monastery, had remained without a precise location or were not visible to the public. A first museum tour was created by Gianvittorio Castelnovi in 1959.
In January 2001, 12 new rooms were inaugurated, gathering in 400 square meters the furnishings and various collections from not only Santa Maria di Castello, but also from other Dominican monasterys and monasteries.
The setting up of this museum itinerary pursues the twofold purpose of improving the conservation of historical-artistic materials until then kept in storage and of offering a new enjoyment of said materials by the Genoese, national and international public.
The layout and new restorations were conceived following the sober tone of the monastery, to give the exhibition a rhythm of its own, capable of interweaving with the deep one of the monastery paths. An essential exhibition criterion is used, comparable almost to a scientific classification of objects by homogeneous classes. The designed display apparatuses let the different types be compared in order to bring out the specificity of the objects.
In the retrochoir are sacred vestments from the 17th-18th cent; in the space formerly occupied by the chapel of SanBiagio, under the patronage of the merchants of Ragusa, are placed the oldest artifacts found in the area of Santa Maria diCastello from the 2nd to the 10th century, and in the upper room some altarpieces from the church (All Saints’ or Paradise altarpiece by Ludovico Brea, dated 1513, and polyptych of the Conversion of St. Paul, from Brea’s school) and some sculptural works, including Domenico Gagini’s Madonna and Child in painted marble (15th century), and Anton Maria Maragliano’s Immaculate Conception in painted wood (18th century).
A small room houses a collection of 19th- and 20th-century Russian icons donated by Friar Henry of Rovasenda; two other rooms hold the collection of votive offerings related to the venerated image of the Moor Christ of Santa Maria di Castello, many of them dating from the 16th century.
The refectory houses some frescoes torn from the hiesa and monastery and the Crucifix formerly placed on the pier, attributed to Antonio Brea and dated to the last years of the 15th century.
Four rooms on the upper floor are devoted to objects of use and furnishings mainly from the monastery of Saints James and Philip: notable are the collection of reliquaries and silverware. The reconstruction for educational purposes of a nun’s cell is interesting.
In the upper loggia and the adjacent Grimaldi chapel, 15th-century marbles that can no longer be relocated to their original locations have found their place.
A small room houses a collection of 19th- and 20th-century Russian icons donated by Friar Henry of Rovasenda; two other rooms hold the collection of votive offerings related to the venerated image of the Moor Christ of Santa Maria di Castello, many of them dating from the 16th century.
The refectory houses some frescoes torn from the hiesa and monastery and the Crucifix formerly placed on the pier, attributed to Antonio Brea and dated to the last years of the 15th century.
Four rooms on the upper floor are devoted to objects of use and furnishings mainly from the monastery of Saints James and Philip: notable are the collection of reliquaries and silverware. The reconstruction for educational purposes of a nun’s cell is interesting.
In the upper loggia and the adjacent Grimaldi chapel, 15th-century marbles that can no longer be relocated to their original locations have found their place.
