On Saturday, March 18, 2023, the Museum of Archaeology of the Pavia Ateneo Museum System will be open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. At 4 p.m., meet at the Museum for a guided tour to discover the wooden ceiling of the ancient San Matteo Hospital, the presentation of some recently restored tablets and the book “Angels. Ceiling tablets from the ancient San Matteo Hospital in Pavia.” Sagep publishers.

The public is guided by the Museum’s Curator, Anna Letizia Magrassi Matricardi, they will have the opportunity to visit the Museum and some rooms of the University’s Political and Social Sciences Library, which, thanks to the willingness of Director Monica Crivelli and Donatella Barzaghi, is collaborating in the initiative to make this precious heritage, a unicum in Italy, to be known by all. Renata Crotti of the University of Pavia, who has thoroughly investigated the history of San Matteo Hospital and facilitated the publication of the book, will narrate the main events of the hospital institution.

The museum is located in the University’s Central Campus, inside a precious architectural container: the heart of the cross vault of the old San Matteo Hospital, which was founded in 1449 with a roof characterized by flat wooden ceilings. Corresponding to the great cross, which once hosted  the male wards of the hospital, the ceiling, a metaphor for heaven, was decorated with thousands of busts of angels, one different from the other, to give a heavenly and consoling vision to the sick people.

The volume Angels. The ceiling tablets of the ancient San Matteo Hospital, illustrates the project of the study and recovers a spectacular heritage that is still little known and it is aimed to elaborate new narrative paths that is open to all.

The volume that includes Maurizio Harari, Anna Letizia Magrassi Matricardi, Renata Crotti, Luisa Giordano, Giacomo Fiocco, Chaehoon Lee, Maurizio Licchelli, Curzio Merlo, Marco Malagodi, Tommaso Rovetta, Francesca Volpi, was published under the sponsorship of CeSUP – Center for the History of the University of Pavia, the IRCCS Policlinico San Matteo Foundation and with the support of the Banca del Monte di Lombardia Foundation, the Community Foundation of the Province of Pavia and the Inner Wheel of Pavia.  The book is on sale in Pavia bookstores.

Thanks to the generosity of the Inner Wheel Club of Pavia and physician Maria Gabriella Ranieri, the Museum has provided conservation recovery of some of the tablets. Maurizio Licchelli and Marco Malagodi of CISRIC (Interdepartmental Center for the Study and Research for the Conservation of Cultural Heritage, the University of Pavia) were given responsibility for the diagnostic investigation, and Mario Colella, Silvia Marchioron and Elisa Salvini of the Centro Studio e Conservazione Piccolo Chiostro s.r.l. in Pavia were commissioned for the restoration work. Restorer Mario Colella will be present at the meeting and will complete a color integration in front of the audience.

The initiative has obtained the patronage of the IRCCS San Matteo Hospital Foundation, which looks forward to the moments of appreciation of that glorious centuries-old past that deserves to be known.

No reservations necessary, For information: museo.archeologia@unipv.it

The cost is included in entrance fee.

Site: https://archeologia.unipv.eu/

Address: Università dagli Studi di Pavia, Palazzo Centrale, Strada Nuova 65, the entrance is in the passage between Cortile delle Magnolie and Cortile Sforzesco.

Scheda di promozione