The first of its kind in Italy and one of the few worldwide to be dedicated exclusively to the jewel.December 2014, saw the launch of the Museo del Gioiello (Jewellery Museum) in Vicenza, a permanent museum space of 410 square metres inside the Palladian Basilica, during an exclusive event reserved to the press, vip and authorities. The project, devised and run by Fiera di Vicenza in partnership with Vicenza Municipality, is the result of the company’s commitment to promoting the cultural aspect of gold and jewellery, a sector in which it is recognised as a world level business hub, with the trade show VicenzaOro.
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- Museo del gioiello - Photo credit Cosmo Laera
The launch of the new Museum, which will open to the public on 24th December 2014, was attended by Matteo Marzotto, President of Fiera di Vicenza, Corrado Facco, Managing Director of Fiera di Vicenza, Achille Variati, Mayor of Vicenza, Jacopo Bulgarini d’Elci, Deputy Mayor of Vicenza and Councillor for the growth of the Vicenza’s Municipality, Alba Cappellieri, Director of the Museum, and Patricia Urquiola, designer of the exhibitions in the Jewellery Museum and international designer, Jacopo Bulgarini d’Elci, Deputy Mayor of Vicenza and Corrado Facco, Managing Director of Fiera di Vicenza. An event held on the occasion of two other important cultural events for the city of Vicenza: the presentation of the exhibition “Il silenzio della realtà. La realtà del silenzio” by Antonio López García at Palazzo Chiericati, and the “Tutankhamon Caravaggio Van Gogh - La sera e i notturni dagli Egizi al Novecento” exhibition in the Palladian Basilica.
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- Photo credit Cosmo Laera
Matteo Marzotto, President of Fiera di Vicenza, declared: “We are particularly proud to present the Museo del Gioiello (Jewellery Museum), on the eve of an important year for Fiera di Vicenza, for the territory and for a national-system that will host Expo 2015 in the coming months. The Museum is an extraordinary project that rewards and capitalises on the cultural identity of this area and the jewellery industry, one of its main vocations when it comes to manufacturing. In this way Fiera di Vicenza strenghtens its capability to acclaim itself as an innovative example of cross-fertilization in which business, culture and fashion can come together, a point of reference in an area that makes over 40% of European luxury goods. It’s an initiative entirely consistent with the mission of our Company: to be an Exhibition Provider committed in promoting Well Done in Italy in the world. We know that in the modern market place the cultural dimension plays a strategic role in creating high quality and highly attractive contents, in order to promote italian products. Also for this reason, the Museo del Gioiello really represents a great asset and an unicum in Italy , one of the few in the world dedicated exclusively to the jewel in its various meanings. It has been designed to be a dynamic and usable place, dedicated to both experts and to a wider public, as well as to younger generations: a place that can host other important cultural events with an international profile”.
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- Function Room. Photo Credit Cosmo Laera
The Deputy Mayor and Councillor for the growth of the Vicenza’s Municipality, Jacopo Bulgarini d’Elci, stressed: “The Museo del Gioiello is one of the leading examples of policies redefinition and conversion of the territory undertaken by force by the municipality. In a time of crisis like the current, the challenge is to turning a reality always strong entrepreneurial into culture’s economy, creativity, tourism. The Museo del Gioiello is, exactly, and admirably, the encounter between production and culture, enterprise and creativity, between economy and beauty. For this reason, it will become one of the structural attractors of the Palladian Basilica, helping to confirm it among the international sites offering a new way to produce and approach culture. Fiera di Vicenza, under the leadership of Matteo Marzotto, is a key partner off all these policies, as evidenced by its investment in the Museum that we introduce today”. The Museum, curated and directed by Alba Cappellieri, Professor of Jewellery Design at Milan Polytechnic and Italy’s foremost jewellery expert offers us an original, varied aesthetic and educational jewellery experience, enhancing an item with ancient origins, deeply rooted in human culture. The museum offers a scientific and educational route, divided across two floors: on the ground floor, an entrance, with the bookshop as a cultural reference point and a stock of national and international publications on jewellery. This is followed by the versatile room of temporary exhibitions, which will host jewellery exhibitions.
The top floor, which is the heart of the museum, has nine exhibition rooms containing about 400 jewels to lead visitors on a journey never experienced before, through time and culture, from prehistoric times to the future: Symbol, Magic, Function, Beauty, Art, Fashion, Design, Icons and Future. The focus is therefore on themes and not on any particular time order, in line with the most recent museum science research at international level. The rooms are curated by international experts, including: Aldo Bakker, Gijs Bakker, Bianca Cappello, Franco Cologni, Deanna Farneti Cera, Graziella Folchini Grassetto, Stefano Papi, Maura Picciau and Paolo Maria Guarrera, Alfonsina Russo and Ida Caruso. A bold choice of curators, with the aim of restoring some of the semantic complexity of jewellery from very different viewpoints, helping the visitor to become familiar with both the values and the well-structured content Alba Cappellieri said that: “The Museo del Gioiello is designed to offer a knowledge-based experience instead of dusty relics from the past. Jewellery is shown in all its facets: antique pieces alongside contemporary items and Etruscan masterpieces or neoclassical pieces together with cutting-edge pieces printed in 3D. It is an interesting journey into some marvellous jewellery”.
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- Future Room - Photo credit Cosmo Laera
The combination of an iconic site like the Palladian Basilica - historical 16th century building and UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1994 - and an innovative layout gives the Museum a high degree of artistic importance, expressing a meeting of Renaissance and contemporary periods.
Patricia Urquiola called it “A challenge, a dialogue between an emblematic icon like the Palladian Basilica and the reinterpretation of how jewellery - the true protagonist - can be represented. A symbolic journey between casing and casing, from the marble Palladian windows to the museum rooms, the display cases, stands and on to the jewellery itself”. Visitors are met with a new vision of “museum space”, which can be used for a host of purposes, including the presence of different design elements at the same time, from the strictly exhibition based to different educational and promotion ideas (workshops, seminars, press conferences, presentations).
It is a unique experience for everyone in Vicenza and also for visitors from all over Italy and the rest of the world who come to the city of Palladio. It is also a project that gives Vicenza an influential position as a cultural hub for jewellery. A two-yearly rotation of works will also make the museum a place to visit with a certain continuity for people living in the area. The Jewellery Museum operates under the patronage of Banca Popolare di Vicenza, the Ministry for Economic Development, Veneto Regional Authority, Province of Vicenza, Vicenza Chamber of Commerce, Milan Polytechnic, and Milan Triennale. Opening times: Mon-Fri: 10:00 - 18:00; Sat, Sun and holidays: 9:00 - 19:00. Holiday period: 24 December 16:00 - 19:00, 25 December 15:00 - 20:00, 31 December 9:00 - 01:00, 1 January 10:00 - 19:00. Ticket prices: full price 6 euros, reduced 4 euro, but if purchased with a ticket to the exhibition “Tutankhamon, Caravaggio, Van Gogh: la sera e i notturni dagli Egizi al Novecento” in Palladian Basilica, it will cost 2 euros.
