The Library of the Charterhouse of Pavia opens to the public to admire its illuminated choir books

From November 4, 2021 to January 9, 2022, the Library of the Certosa di Pavia will host the exhibition Immagini in canto. The Chorales of the Certosa of Pavia, curated by Emanuela Daffra with Barbara Galli, promoted and organized by the Regional Directorate Museums Lombardy.

The exhibition is proposed on the occasion of the conclusion of the restoration of Codex 822, an illuminated specimen of"gradual," that is, a volume that brings together the chants of the masses that follow one another in the Liturgical Calendar of the Catholic Church.

“This was not a book for personal use, but for collective use,” explains director Emanuela Daffra, curator of the project of which the exhibition is a part. “The codex was opened, and gradually leafed through, on a tall lectern in the center of the choir, so that all the monks could, from their stalls, follow its texts and musical annotations, while also admiring its glittering decorations. Of these colossal codices,” Daffra continues, “the wealthy Certosa of Pavia boasted at least thirty-nine, as recorded in the inventory of the monastery’s property drawn up on December 16, 1782, at the time of its suppression. From that moment began the diaspora of one of Lombardy’s great book deposits. In fact, the Charterhouse Library brought together more than 10,000 volumes, including illuminated codices, manuscripts and incunabula. A unique ensemble that partly took the way of the Braidense Library in Milan, partly of the University Library in Pavia, then dispersing along rivulets still partly unknown. It was a patrimony of great richness also in terms of quality, since on the pages of the oldest volumes were at work the major artists and illuminators active for the court of the Visconti first and the Sforza later, great protectors of the Pavia monastery. The research conducted over time,” concludes the director, “has made it possible to identify many of them, and the project of the Regional Directorate of Museums of Lombardy is to get to bring them together in an exhibition dedicated to them of which today’s is but a taste, based on the heritage remaining in the monastery and of which the systematic recovery has begun, thanks to the Sleeping Beauty project desired and financed by MIC.”

The exhibition is actually a double event because, in addition to the display of the 16th-century illuminated graduals, visitors will be able to access theLibrary environment, still pertaining to the Monastery today but which on the occasion of this event the monastic community has made available to welcome the public who will want to admire the chorals, which have been preserved here for centuries.

The protagonists will be precisely the monumental illuminated chorals and the sumptuous cabinet that was created in 1886 in order to welcome them on their return to Certosa. Four chorals, the two restored and two planned to be restored soon, will be displayed open on the most beautiful pages; however, visitors will be able to virtually browse through the entirety of both Chorale 822 and Codex 814, restored in 2009 by the Benedictine nuns of Viboldone, thanks to the photographic campaign carried out on this occasion. Then, for the first time, the musical notations marked on the ancient parchments and which the monks of the ancient Carthusian monastery transformed into sung prayers will become sound again thanks to the voices of the Centro di Musica Antica del Collegio Ghislieri of the University of Pavia.

For info: www.musei.lombardia.beniculturali.it

Hours: Friday through Sunday from 9:30 to 11:30 a.m. and 2:30 to 5 p.m.

Image: Gradual 814, folio 31R. Charterhouse of Pavia

The Library of the Charterhouse of Pavia opens to the public to admire its illuminated choir books

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.