THINGS TO SEE AND
DO IN BRESCIA
Brescia's Civic Art and History Museums, which are run as a single administrative
system, are split into six categories. Epigraphic discoveries and ancient monumental
architecture in particular are today concentrated near the Roman Museum (which
is currently closed for refurbishment). In the City Museum, near the Santa Giulia
Convent, the extraordinary variety of historical, archaeological and artistic
discoveries has a particular resonance in relation to the museums complex urban
setting. Brescian works of art, together with important works by Italian and
foreign Masters, are displayed prominently in the Tosio Martinengo Gallery and
in the Gallery of Modern and Contemporary Art. The truly historic style of the
Risorgimento Museum illustrates the important contribution the city made to
the history of Italian unity. The Museum of Weapons is a testimony to the important
role of early workshops in this field.
Santa Giulia
City Museum
The museum is located in the Benedictine Convent of San Salvatore-Santa
Giulia, founded in 753 AD by the Lombard King Desiderio. It
is situated in the north-eastern part of the old town where,
over the course of many centuries, noteworthy archaeological
and monumental discoveries were piled on top of one another.
The San Salvatore Basilica (8th century AD) with its underlying
archaeological area (a Roman residence used from the middle
of the 1st to the middle of the 5th Centuries AD) is typical
of this. The monastic complex, which includes the churches
of Santa Maria in Solario (12th Century AD) and Santa Giulia
(15th to 16th Centuries AD), and three Renaissance cloisters,
was acquired by the municipality after the Napoleonic suppression.
The municipality subsequently opened the Museum of the Christian
Era (1882) in the Santa Giulia church.
The progressive process of cultural rediscovery and repossession
of the complex was recently concluded thanks to wide-ranging
restoration work (from 1990-1998), which has allowed the
following sections of the new museum to be opened to the
public:
- History of the site and the convent
- Discoveries from the
convent
- The prehistoric and protohistoric eras
- The Roman era (the
city and inscriptions)
- The late medieval era (Lombard
and Carolingian)
- The era of the municipality and the Signorie
- The Veneto
era (the image of the city, monument sculpture, residence)
- Collectionism
and applied arts.
The 'Luigi Marzoli' Museum of Weapons
The museum is housed in the prestigious and striking Visconti Keep, the most
important monumental survivor of the large defensive machinery with which the
Viscounts fortified the city in the middle of the 14th Century. As a typical
example of late-medieval military architecture, the Keep's foundations lie on
the remains of a Roman temple. Together with the cylindrical Mirabella tower,
it dominates the city from the top of the Cidneo hill. One of the richest European
collections of weapons (bayonets, suits of armour, parade weapons, guns), divided
into various sections and sub-divided into eras and typologies, has been on
display to the public in the accurately restored complex since 1998. The main
core (1,090 items) is Luigi Marzoli's precious collection, which documents,
in particular, Milanese and Brescian production from the 15th to 18th Centuries,
and which was donated in a legacy in 1965. Added to this are 300 items which
are already part of the civic collection (in particular guns from the 19th Century).
The main pieces offer a convenient panorama of the museum, which is one of the
most complete and homogeneous of its kind.
THE FESTIVAL OF SANTA GIULIA
The old citadel quarter
The festival renews the link between Brescia and the Carthaginian
Saint, to whom the convent which today houses the City Museum
is dedicated. It is traditionally led by historical societies,
which reconstruct moments of everyday life from the past,
artisans and wine and food producers. In addition, more than
100 museums from Lombardy and the Veneto participate and
are represented in the festival. Special guided tours to
the City Museum and the Captiolium area are available.
For information and prices: 334 9575165
Email: info@festadisantagiulia.it
Web site: www.festadisantagiulia.it
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