Lombardy, two exhibitions tell the story of Lombard civilization in Italy

As part of the celebrations for the tenth anniversary of the UNESCO recognition of the serial site The Lombards in Italy. Places of Power (568-774 AD.), including the seven localities scattered in different Italian regions that preserve the most significant architectural signs of the degree of civilization achieved by this people, two traveling exhibitions will allow visitors to approach the knowledge of daily life at the time of the Lombards and to get in touch with the main monuments left by their passage through the territory: in Brescia, until May 29, at the Museum of Santa Giulia, a multisensory itinerary accessible to all, entitled To Touch the Lombards with the Hand, will allow visitors to immerse themselves in the extraordinary and complex of the UNESCO serial site "The Lombards in Italy," while in Castelseprio and Torba (Varese) the Antiquarium and Monastery will be the chosen container, from March 30 to July 31, to host the exhibition on the theme Trame Longobarde. Between Architecture and Textiles, a journey to discover everyday living through textiles, jewelry, and clothing.

Thus, after Spoleto and Campello sul Clitunno, the two municipalities in Umbria that host important architectural evidence of the Lombard presence on their territory, it is the turn of Lombardy, under the aegis of the Associazione Italia Langobardorum, management structure of the UNESCO site The Lombards in Italy. Places of Power (568-774 A.D.) the task of bringing under the spotlight, through the setting up of the two exhibitions in Brescia and Castelseprio-Torba (Varese), the fundamental role played in Italy, between the Late Antiquity and the early Middle Ages, by the civilization of the Lombards.

A polyethnic grouping from the plains of Pannonia, but with origins connected to Scandinavia, the Lombards, led by King Alboin, settled, after penetrating Friuli in 568 AD, in various territories of the Italian peninsula, showing themselves capable, in the following decades, of combining their Germanic substratum with the classical and Roman-Christian tradition, crediting themselves, perhaps even more than the Byzantines, as “the true continuers of Roman civilization.”

In addition to the two exhibitions, Lombardy has as many as two of the seven sites in its territory that have been part of the UNESCO serial site The Lombards in Italy for ten years now: in Brescia, capital of the Duchy of the same name, stands the San Salvatore-Santa Giulia complex, now home to the Museo della Città, an architectural palimpsest built in its original nucleus in 753 at the behest of Desiderio, at the time still duke of Brescia but destined to ’rise to power as king of the Lombards, and his consort Ansa, which incorporates the 16th-century women’s monastery of Santa Giulia and the basilica of San Salvatore with its crypt, while at Castelseprio-Torba, between the towns of Castelseprio and Gornate Olona (Varese), one can admire the remains of the castrum, a fortified site of’high ground of the late Roman period, reused by the Lombards and then destroyed by the Visconti, which also includes the important cultic complex of St. John the Evangelist, renovated by the Lombards in the 7th century, the church of Santa Maria foris portas, which offers visitors a cycle of frescoes on the theme of thechildhood of Christ inspired by the apocryphal Gospels, and, at the locality of Torba, the ancient defensive structure of the Tower, used for military purposes by the Goths, Byzantines and Lombards and converted into a Benedictine women’s monastery during the 8th century.

The To Touch the Lombards exhibition in Brescia

The exhibition To Touch with Hands the Lombards, already on display at the Omero State Tactile Museum in Ancona, the Palazzo Paolo V in Benevento, the Castle of Monte Sant’Angelo and the Rocca Albornoziana in Spoleto, home of the National Museum of the Duchy, allows visitors to learn about and “touch” the seven architectural excellences of the serial site The Lombards in Italy. The Places of Power (568-774 A.D.), for the past 10 years recognized by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site, in an itinerary of the places of Lombard power. Until May 29 it is hosted by Fondazione Brescia Musei at the Museo di Santa Giulia and produced by Italia Langobardorum in collaboration with the Museo Tattile Statale Omero of Ancona and with the support and contribution of the Ministry of Culture, it aims to acquaint visitors with the complexity of the UNESCO site through a tactile itinerary and a differentiated range of fruition options that facilitate understanding, ensuring a multisensory experience for all. Seven three-dimensional scale models of the architectural monuments that most represent the Longobard serial site and seven models related to the areas where the monuments are located will be displayed in the halls to enable tactile exploration of their contexts of origin. Making the itinerary even more accessible will be audio descriptions (in Italian and English), recorded by the actors of the #SIneNOmine Company from the Maiano Prison in Spoleto, to be listened to via NFC and QR code, as well as a Braille catalog and a large print catalog for free reference. Finally, to enable inclusive enjoyment of the models, videos were made using the compositing technique in LIS - Italian Sign Language, along with images and animations, subtitles and audio.

“This beautiful exhibition project of a tactile and multimedia nature dedicated to the Longobard architectural and urban heritage in Italy is an excellent example of a proposal open to participation and inclusion,” says Francesca Bazoli, president of Fondazione Brescia Musei, “two areas on which Fondazione Brescia Musei is extremely sensitive and which proposes the institution as a case study for the variety of approaches to overcoming barriers toward sharing our heritage. A few months after the digital accessibility thanks to the virtual reality of the two areas of the crypt of San Salvatore and the oratory of Santa Maria in Solario for the public with motor difficulties, this project dedicated to the blind and visually impaired, but also, thanks to video contributions in sign language, to other categories of visitors, continues and enriches the path of Brescia Musei towards an increasingly universal museum.”

For more information and reservations: https://www.bresciamusei.com/

The exhibition Longobard Plots. Between Architecture and Textiles at Castelseprio-Torba.

The traveling exhibition Trame Longobarde. Between Architecture and Textiles, which will stop in Castelseprio-Torba (Varese) from March 30 to July 31, curated by Glenda Giampaoli and Giorgio Flamini, with scientific comparison by Donatella Scortecci, is a work of reconstruction, based on archaeological data, of the daily life of the Lombards, a journey through textiles, clothing and jewelry produced by this extraordinary civilization. On the opening day, Wednesday, March 30, 2022, the exhibition will be open to the public with a guided tour, which will first lead to Castelseprio and then to the Monastery of Torba. All the dresses on display were half made from fabrics made strictly by hand on horizontal heald looms reproducing exactly the number of warp and weft threads present at the cm, as well as the thickness of the threads themselves and the twists. The other half of the dresses were made by employing an industrial cotton cloth precisely to emphasize that the pattern of the repurposed dress is the result of scientific contamination and elaboration by the curators. The fabrics and borders were made in the Spoleto House of Reclusion by the inmates of the weaving course, with the looms of the IIS Sansi Leonardi Volta, after an extraordinary work of study and reconstruction of wefts and warps inferred from archaeological discoveries. The composition of men’s and women’s dress was made with careful iconographic comparisons combined with the few literary sources (Historia Langobardorum by Paolo Diacono), the result is a proposal of the ancient weaving and cutting and sewing techniques of early medieval dress. The different social classes are represented complemented by accessories made by inmates of the Restricted High School of Art.

Led by equine icons and spears among artifacts from the 4th to 8th centuries, visitors meet the protagonists of Lombard plots in front of large photographic backdrops of the seven architectural monuments that make up the serial site The Lombards in Italy. Places of Power (568-774 AD).

The exhibition was made possible thanks to resources from the Region of Umbria, Regional Law 24 of 2003 project “Museums that have fabric,” MiBACT, Associazione Italia Langobardorum and Law 77 of 2006 in support of UNESCO sites.

Trame Longobarde. Between Architecture and Textiles will be open to visitors at the following times: Monastery of Torba, Wednesday through Sunday 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. | Antiquarium of Castelseprio, Wednesday 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.; Thursday, Friday and Saturday 3:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m.; Sunday and holidays marked on the website 1:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m.

For more information and reservations: 366.6632727; https://www.antiquarium.castelseprio.beniculturali.it/ https://fondoambiente.it/luoghi/monastero-di-torba

Both exhibitions are curated by the Associazione Italia Langobardorum, management structure of the UNESCO serial site The Lombards in Italy. Places of Power (568-774 AD). “Italia Langobardorum, which I have had the honor and pleasure of presiding over for the past few months, is an Association that perfectly embodies the spirit and essence of the principle of subsidiarity in its operational reality and broad project horizons with significant results on the concrete level,” comments Antonella Tartaglia Polcini, President of Italia Langobardorum and Councillor for Culture of the Municipality of Benevento, “the management of a heritage of exceptional universal value requires us, now more than ever, to pay great attention to all types of users, and this project in particular is a tangible and relevant testimony to this profound sensitivity to inclusion and participation, which place visitors at the center of our culture.”

They are part of the UNESCO serial site of Lombard civilization: the Gastaldaga area and episcopal complex in Cividale del Friuli (UD), the Sanctuary of San Michele in Monte Sant’Angelo (FG), themonumental area with the Monastery of San Salvatore-Santa Giulia in Brescia, the castrum with the Tower of Torba and the Church of Santa Maria Foris Portas in Castelseprio and Torba (VA), the Basilica of San Salvatore in Spoleto (PG), the Tempietto del Clitunno in Campello sul Clitunno (PG) and the Complex of Santa Sofia in Benevento.

For more information www.longobardinitalia.it Facebook/Instagram/Youtube “Longobardinitalia” #Longobardi #Longobardinitalia #DecennialLongobardi #LongobardiUNESCO10

Lombardy, two exhibitions tell the story of Lombard civilization in Italy

Warning: the translation into English of the original Italian article was created using automatic tools. We undertake to review all articles, but we do not guarantee the total absence of inaccuracies in the translation due to the program. You can find the original by clicking on the ITA button. If you find any mistake,please contact us.