Naples, Sansevero Chapel Museum director resigns in protest of Green Pass

A sensation in Naples: Fabrizio Masucci, president and director of the Sansevero Chapel Museum, one of the city’s most famous and visited monuments, a treasure trove of late Baroque art where Giuseppe Sammartino’s famous Veiled Christ can be admired, has decided to resign from his post in protest against the implementation of the Green Pass in museums. As is known, in fact, as of next August 6, the green certificate, which is obtained only if one is vaccinated, cured of Covid or negative to a swab taken within 48 hours, will be compulsory to visit all cultural places.

Masucci disagrees: in his view, in fact, the rules for museums are already stringent and the Green Pass requirement has nothing to do with epidemiological reasons, but is, if anything, an obligation that makes museums a tool for purposes that have nothing to do with their mission. “I think it is first of all useful to point out what are, in compliance with the measures imposed by the health emergency, the rules currently provided for in a museum,” he premised in the letter explaining the reasons for his gesture. “In our case, the maximum daily capacity has been reduced by about two-thirds, prior to entry all visitors are subjected to the survey of body temperature with a non-contact thermometer, it is compulsory to properly wear a mask for the duration of the visit, and special horizontal and vertical signage has been put in place aimed at ensuring respect for interpersonal distance. Hand sanitizing gel is available for visitors in the ticket office and visitable spaces, the visit route is unidirectional and entry and exit are through separate gates, rented audioguides are sanitized after each and every use, and they can be listened to with their own earphones or with disposable earphones provided free of charge. Finally, to avoid the risk of possible crowding or long queues outside, access planning has been arranged to ensure the safety of visitors: tickets are available online, and only a residual quantity of last-minute tickets are made available each opening day, which can be purchased at the ticket office until they are sold out, for explicitly designated time slots. These main measures are complemented by others, which I omit to add to the list.”

“The Authority,” Masucci recalls, “has determined that the adoption of such security measures in museums is compatible with their opening to the public. I have to assume that, in addition to common sense reasoning inherent in the simplicity and efficiency with which flows can be regulated and security rules enforced in these places, this decision was also made and is maintained on the basis of statistical findings and scientific research, which conclude that of all the major indoor places open to the public (assuming certain basic security measures are observed) museums are those where there is the least risk of contagion.”

“In light of this evidence, noted by the policymaker who has felt and still feels that he can keep museums open,” Masucci then states in explaining the reasons for his resignation, “the requirement to require the display of a green pass for access to museums is not related to epidemiological evaluations specifically referring to museum contexts, but was considered exclusively a useful tool, among so many others, for the stated purpose (at the press conference for the presentation, last July 22, of DL no. 10) of getting more people to join the vaccination campaign. Without in any way going into the merits of the purpose that the government intended, and obviously not being prejudiced in any way against vaccines, I nevertheless object that museums should not and cannot be instrumentalized (in the literal sense of ’used as a tool’) to achieve any purpose unrelated to their natural purposes, especially when such instrumentalization inevitably contributes to undermining, rather than fostering, social cohesion, in open contrast to one of the most intrinsic missions of a museum.”

“During the serious crisis we are going through,” declares the director of the Sansevero Chapel Museum, “we have respected without exception long periods of closure, when such closure was ordered by the Authority on the basis of epidemiological assessments also related to museum environments. Given similar reasons, I would have considered continuing to direct a museum that had to give up equal treatment of its visitors. However, if a museum is asked to renounce equal treatment for reasons that can only be received as instrumental, in that they are not related to the type of space and activity, I want to calmly remind that museums are by their very vocation places of inclusion and that equal access to art and culture, a right of all, should be sacrificed only at the outcome of every possible effort to avoid such an injury. I hope that the relevant authorities can reconsider a decision involving sociocultural aspects of relevant collective interest, in order to at least spare museums, a golden reserve of civilization, the uncomfortable role of target of the intemperances of the media arena. On the contrary, there would be favorable conditions to make museums a safe ’neutral space’ in which people, surrounded by beauty, can begin to know and recognize each other again, without labeling each other.”

“Because of the deep-rooted culture of legality that has always distinguished our institution,” Masucci then stresses, “as of August 6, the Sansevero Chapel Museum, too, will, as a matter of course, comply with the rules laid down in DL No. 105 of July 23, 2021.” However, the director concludes, “In view of what has been said so far, I cannot, however, escape the strongest call of my conscience, which induces me to leave (after more than ten and a half years) the presidency and direction of the Sansevero Chapel Museum. I hope that this decision will be understood, which it is, as a simple gesture of consistency of my judgment and feeling. I would like to thank the Board of Trustees, not only for their support during my tenure, but also specifically for wanting to publish this letter on the institutional channels of the Sansevero Chapel Museum. My warmest thanks go to all the staff of the museum and to all the institutions and people with whom I have had the pleasure of collaborating over the years. I am reassured that the Sansevero Chapel Museum will reach new heights and continue to spread the value of beauty and culture.”

In the photo: the Sansevero Chapel

Naples, Sansevero Chapel Museum director resigns in protest of Green Pass

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.