Ultimo aggiornamento 5 September 2024
The Museum of today’s Istituto Centrale per la Patologia degli Archivi e del Libro was established by Istituto Centrale per la Patologia degli Archivi e del Libro in 1938, at the same time as the foundation of the Institute. From the outset, it was conceived as an essential complement to the research activities at the heart of the Royal Institute: a space to represent, above all, the wide range of damage to the book heritage on which the laboratories carried out their investigations: termite infestations, bombardments and storage in inadequate repositories. Irrecoverable materials were also collected, such as the burnt papyri from Herculaneum and the membranous codices damaged in the fire at the National Library of Turin in 1904. The exhibition areas were enlarged in 1939, thanks to the increased interest in the museum project that opened up to an even non-European perspective with the acquisition of paper samples from India and East Africa. A new and conspicuous collection of watermarks, inks and dyes for miniatures and various vegetable fibres also found space. The spaciousness of the premises and its location on two floors determined a functional and logistical layout, documented on several occasions by the publications mentioned and the photographic collection that has come down to us. Over the decades, the Museum has continued to be enriched with artefacts related to book manufacturing and its decay, forming a unique collection of objects, appreciated by scholars nationally and internationally.
In 2001, the museum had a new layout more suited to the growing demand of a public differentiated by interests and age. The museum space, in its new location, was housed in the basement of the Institute of Pathology, which allowed for greater homogeneity and a new restructuring of the contents. The tour was divided into three sections devoted respectively to the materials and manufacturing techniques of ancient and modern documents, to damage and the many factors that cause it, and finally to prevention and restoration, with the possibility of retracing – with the help of period documentaries and more recent films – the evolution of the institution’s history and the most demanding interventions that had involved the laboratories. There was also a didactic section where young visitors could actively participate in practical laboratory tests on the art of writing and illumination with facsimile reconstructions of codices on parchment and paper. The museum thus became a new offering in the area and consolidated the cultural ties of the Rione Monti area, with a not inconsiderable flow of schools. In 2016, the rooms that housed the museum underwent major structural and conservative restoration.
The exhibition hall that is temporarily closed for renovation works – while preserving the previous thematic division – offers a mixed communication system, with numerous exhibits and multimedia installations, which accompanies the visitor in the discovery of the different forms assumed by the book over the centuries, its hidden structures and the different professions that contributed to the production of such a complex object that has profoundly marked the cultural, social and economic evolution of mankind.
Dr. Simonetta Iannuccelli