Tesina in inglese sui musei italiani negli anni 50

BBPR

The Museo del Castello was inaugurated in a period during which the Italian architecture had

a considerable heritage of concrete experiences and critical reflections behind itself, yet it

triggers a series of reactions both positive, such as those of Labò and Samonà, and negative,

such as those of Pane. 11

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12 The BPR group, in the article published on Casabella in 1956 , they explain their design

Belgiojoso, Peressutti, Rogers, Carattere

stilistico del museo del castello, in “Casabella choices, motivating them from the main problems that you encounter working inside the

n°211, 1956, p. 63 environments of an historic building; the problem is the relationship between the monument

and the exhibition requirements.

They have transformed those who could appear as insurmountable restrictions, ideas for

projects, understanding the concept of museolographic objects could not be distinguished

from that which could be drawn from the poetic exaltation of the enviromental vase aimed

at containing it. The building, with its walls, the sequence of the three courtyards, bridges,

towers, moats, evoke touching feelings in the viewer.

Due to the location of the museum, the environment has a wide popular resonance, and this

has affected the style of the museum. In this case, the work is opposed to the Pinacoteca di

Brera, which is more noble, while the Museum di Castello wants to have a didactic function,

folk, easily readable by the masses, to their own free emotionality, their need for expressions

spectacular, imaginative and great. The task that the architects felt they had to accomplish

was to create a series of rooms that would express these social functions without never fall

into banality or rhetoric.

They say they did not impose any form, but instead have deducted forms from the study of

each work to expose, through their clear act of interpretation.

The stylistic features of each object have been translated into a contemporary language,

without indulging in a redundant manner and slavish of the past.

The Arches - view from the Pusterla The adopted materials work together to achieve the frankness of the supporting elements,

which does not go looking for any ornamental satisfaction.

Great interest has been placed on the flexibility of the place, although some bulkier works are

immovable. The first three rooms are linked in a single perspective with the opening of three

arches, and are dedicated to sculpture medieval, up to Gothic examples.

The quality of the objects are put in relief thanks to their location and the immediate referen-

ces to their primitive conditions.

The Sala delle Asse has been discussed a lot about, in that room the architects wanted to

give the feeling of being in an exterior space, harmonized with the brilliant decoration of

the Leonardo ceiling, the walls are made of slabs of walnut, that accentuate the airiness of

Sala delle Asse painting.

12 To emphasize the appeal with the external space, the room has a rhythm with rows of street

lamps that illuminate the arabesque that branches off from the door to the top of the wall.

Sala Ducale and Colombine are full of artistic documents of Renaissance period, for this

reason the architects decided to give them a spruce up, through the use of bronze instead of

iron and of marble instead of beola.

The Hall of Scaglioni housed La Pietà Rondanini by Michelangelo, which was recently moved.

It is the most important work of the entire collection, and it was dedicated a place of honor.

The Room has been largely transformed, while maintaining intact its core value; the floor has

been lowered by 1.8m, with a subsequent digression of shelves connected by a system of

stairs of vast proportions.

The description of the museum set-up continues in the article, up to the final mission state-

ment, where the architects claim that the method used for the first part of the museum will

also apply to future interpretation of the museographic collections, that will be placed in the

halls around the Cortile della Rocchetta.

When BPR speak of a “didactic function easily accessible to the intelligence of the mas-

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ses” . This would mean creating a language that, continually renewing itself with freshness 13 Belgiojoso, Peressutti, Rogers, Carattere

of invention, maintained the unity of style, and then reconquered the emancipation of archi- stilistico del museo del castello, in “Casabella

tecture, from the principles and rules of rationalism and affirm the need for a review or even n°211, 1956, p. 63

a linguistics reform.

It also means recompose a new unit in the techniques of vision, through the observation of

the “museum piece” with new eyes, and through the different manipulability of the artwork.

A museum thus conceived is not yet an active museum, according to the deweyan meaning,

but is no longer a traditional museum.

Samonà uses the adjective “folksy” to describe in the museum “the efforts of reviving the

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world of art in Milan of long ago, who finds in museum a vital link” . The museum becomes G. Samonà, Un contributo alla museografia,

the compendium of civil history, a museum-monument, and the place where they settle and in “Casabella” n°211, 1956, pp.51-53

gather the values of the city. Between the city and the museum, direct links are tied that refer

to the specific art, but go beyond it and widen the horizon.

The basic idea was to create popular art, or rather to give art a civil function. The steps

followed up in the process of the project are:

- The restoration of the cavity and the construction of architectural path 13

- the location of the pieces and the choice of privileged places

- the design of the equipment The last two phases interact with each other.

The time of restoration assumes the thinner function to define a museum inside the museum

and at the same time to take control of the original layout, adjusting it to the new destination.

Prospects, deadlifts and episodes are made up of a constantly changing sequence, from

the first entrance through the door of Pusterla, up to the green room of armor and the hall of

Scarlioni. The restoration by BBPR consists of additions and measured locations of elements

on an urban scale, while aiming the redevelopment of the space.

The works are located in order to induce the most intense resonance between cavity and

exhibited objects. The identification of suitable locations where to place the major works

become a dominant aspect, in some cases it is an entire room, the other in a path or a privile-

ged space. In the case of minor works, however, it will be returned in the form of spectacular

collections to consolidate the low quantity with the force of numbers.

The museum consists of scenes, constantly summoning the visitor’s interest.

Regarding the introduced structures to support the works, those that Samonà calls “or-

naments of arrangement”, in the sense of “make-up” or restore integrity; these have been

exploited for the critique of the museum, claiming the abuse, the intrusiveness, the violence

that architects would have had against the exhibits.

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14 Samonà operates in defense of these ornaments and their exuberance, arguing that they

G. Samonà, Un contributo alla museografia, impose a richness of content in the atmosphere around each work or group of works, creating

in “Casabella” n°211, 1956, pp.51-53 a closer relationship between works, almost always fragmentary, and the public atmosphere.

It is not a secondary detail the fact that the works are defined fragmentary, in fact for Samonà,

the frames used by the BPR are the completion of the artworks, such as a restoration of the

pieces, their exuberance is not meant as a subjugation nor a simple line of discussion.

The architects themselves claim that they have tried to deduce the forms by the careful

study of all things, when the aesthetic and historical value of exposed material end to prevail;

they say they have designed several supports in different materials (predominantly forged

iron and wood) according to coherent criteria, but each adapted to the practices needs

and expressive of each individual object. Porta and Bonfanti, in their book “Città, museo e

architettura”, claim that the real key to interpret the Museo di Castello is a ubiquitous notion of

the restoration, so different from the typical eclectic way of the nineteenth century, positivist,

14 or the scientific one of the “Charter of restoration “, resolved, a total accountability for the

modern architect.

The harshest critique made against the museum is that of Roberto Pane that, in the article

“Reserves on Museum” published in the magazine “L’architettura - cronache e storia” in

1958, says that the museum is not organic but appears more like an album that collects

different ideas. According to him, in fact, when designing a museum it is necessary to seek

a contrast with the preexistence and not a formal analogy.

The positive values of modern architecture are to be acquired and research, but they can

never be taken for granted.

The renewal of the furniture was made in a reckless way, because if it is true that technolo-

gical solutions are now needed, we must ensure that they are not perceived by the visitor,

creating an environment that fosters an undisturbed contemplation.

Profiles are unusual, but do not agree with the architecture and, instead, they impose to the

view, disturbing the visitor’s gaze.

Also criticized the decision to maintain the Roman boundary stone in support of the Pieta

Rondanini, because if it is true that this place works even when the Pietà was placed in

Palazzo Sanseverino, according to Pane would be the case of daring and move it to the

archaeological section, maybe replacing it with a rectangular marble. He does not accept

even a kind of historical justification because he claims that this boundary stone refers to a

Renaissance world from which the Pietà is very far away. Pietà Rondanini

In any case he recognizes in the museum several stylistic qualities, such as the sensitivity

in the choice of materials, but configured in an intellectual and inquisitive manner, so his

opinion remains negative overall.

In the chapel, the Christ that should be “religiously emotive” for Pane looks more like a Kafka-

esque nightmare.

He concludes the article claiming that the appreciation received by Milan people, from which

the BPR group takes strenght, is not actually symptomatic of a well done job, claiming that

the critique has also approved the restoration of the Pinacoteca di Brera, that the architects

themselves claimed to be a work diametrically opposed to theirs.

The fact that both Brera that il Castello has received critical acclaim for Pane is symptomatic

of a widespread inability to take a stand, not only with regard to the architecture but also in 15

culture and politics. Society should aspire to more communication with others rather than

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