Kircherian Museum
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

The Kircherian Museum was a public collection of antiquities and artifacts, a cabinet of curiosities, founded in 1651 by the Jesuit father
Athanasius Kircher Athanasius Kircher (2 May 1602 – 27 November 1680) was a German Jesuit scholar and polymath who published around 40 major works, most notably in the fields of comparative religion, geology, and medicine. Kircher has been compared to fe ...
in the
Roman College The Roman College ( la, Collegium Romanum, it, Collegio Romano) was a school established by St. Ignatius of Loyola in 1551, just 11 years after he founded the Society of Jesus (Jesuits). It quickly grew to include classes from elementary school t ...
. Considered the first museum in the world, its collections were gradually dispersed over the centuries under different curatorships. After the
Unification of Italy The unification of Italy ( it, Unità d'Italia ), also known as the ''Risorgimento'' (, ; ), was the 19th-century political and social movement that resulted in the consolidation of different states of the Italian Peninsula into a single ...
, the museum was dissolved in 1916 and its collection was granted to various other Roman and regional museums.


History

In 1651, Italian aristocrat and antiquarian Alfonso Donnini donated his " cabinet of curiosities" to the members of the Roman College. The collection contained "various curious and precious things so that they can take care of it and their studies may benefit from it." Father
Athanasius Kircher Athanasius Kircher (2 May 1602 – 27 November 1680) was a German Jesuit scholar and polymath who published around 40 major works, most notably in the fields of comparative religion, geology, and medicine. Kircher has been compared to fe ...
(1602–1680), professor of mathematics, physics, and oriental languages, took care of the collection and transformed it into a museum of antiquity, technology, art, science, and archeology. Famous and admired by the most enlightened minds of his time and by his students at the Roman College for his scientific knowledge and philosophical eclecticism, Kircher added natural history objects collected during his expeditions to Sicily (1630) and Malta (1636), musical instruments, and even machines of his own invention. He used his contacts, particularly Jesuits abroad, to augment ethnographic collections with exotic objects from overseas
mission Mission (from Latin ''missio'' "the act of sending out") may refer to: Organised activities Religion *Christian mission, an organized effort to spread Christianity *Mission (LDS Church), an administrative area of The Church of Jesus Christ of ...
s. The museum quickly became popular and hosted many visitors. The first catalog was published in 1678 by Giorgio de Sepibus and included some illustrated tables, today the only evidence of the museun's layout. After Kircher's death in 1680, the museum went through a period of neglect. It took on new life and vigor thanks to the activity of the new curator
Filippo Bonanni Filippo Bonanni; S.J. or Buonanni (7 January 1638 – 30 March 1723) was an Italian Jesuit scholar. His many works included treatises on fields ranging from anatomy to music. He created the earliest practical illustrated guide for shell collecto ...
who published a second catalog in 1709. By comparing the two catalogs, it is clear that many objects had already disappeared from the collection. Over time the museum regained its former glory and thanks to the aid received and the many donations, it became the seat of many important collections on fields of knowledge from experimental philosophy to esotericism to technology. Fathers (1725-1741), (1741-1761) and (1761-1772) succeeded Bonanni as curators; during this period the Marquis Alessandro Gregorio Capponi and King August of Poland added their donations to the museum. The archaeology collection was expanded by the Jesuit Contuccio Contucci, director of the museum between 1741 and 1761.


Dispersement

The last Jesuit director of the Museum was the scholar Antonio Maria Ambrogi (1713–1788). In 1773, following the
Suppression of the Jesuits The suppression of the Jesuits was the removal of all members of the Society of Jesus from most of the countries of Western Europe and their colonies beginning in 1759, and the abolishment of the order by the Holy See in 1773. The Jesuits we ...
by
Clement XIV Pope Clement XIV ( la, Clemens XIV; it, Clemente XIV; 31 October 1705 – 22 September 1774), born Giovanni Vincenzo Antonio Ganganelli, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 19 May 1769 to his death in Sep ...
, the Roman College was entrusted to the clergy of Rome and the collections began to undergo drastic alterations: many finds ended up in the Pio-Clementino Museum in the Vatican Museums. In 1814, the
Society of Jesus , image = Ihs-logo.svg , image_size = 175px , caption = ChristogramOfficial seal of the Jesuits , abbreviation = SJ , nickname = Jesuits , formation = , founders ...
was reconstituted by
Pius VII Pope Pius VII ( it, Pio VII; born Barnaba Niccolò Maria Luigi Chiaramonti; 14 August 1742 – 20 August 1823), was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 14 March 1800 to his death in August 1823. Chiaramonti was also a m ...
, and in 1824,
Leo XII Leo or Léo may refer to: Acronyms * Law enforcement officer * Law enforcement organisation * ''Louisville Eccentric Observer'', a free weekly newspaper in Louisville, Kentucky * Michigan Department of Labor and Economic Opportunity Arts an ...
returned the college and museum to the Jesuits. From 1839 and for almost twenty years, the museum was directed by Giuseppe Marchi. Marchi attempted a reorganization of the collection and produced a monograph on the ancient coins preserved there, the ''Aes grave del Museo Kircheriano''. When Rome was conquered in 1870 and became the capital of the
Kingdom of Italy The Kingdom of Italy ( it, Regno d'Italia) was a state that existed from 1861, when Victor Emmanuel II of Sardinia was proclaimed King of Italy, until 1946, when civil discontent led to an institutional referendum to abandon the monarchy and f ...
, most of the ecclesiastical properties were expropriated by the new, unified state. The
Ennio Quirino Visconti Liceo Ginnasio The Ennio Quirino Visconti Liceo Ginnasio ("Ennio Quirino Visconti Lyceum– Gymnasium") is the oldest and most prestigious in Rome, also known as Roman College due to its previous historical role. History The was set up shortly after the Cap ...
and the Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale di Roma were placed in the Roman College. The Kircherian Museum also became a state museum and between 1881 and 1913 was directed by
Luigi Pigorini Luigi Pigorini (10 January 1842 – 1 April 1925) was an Italian palaeoethnologist, archaeologist and ethnographer. Biography Pigorini was born at Fontanellato, near Parma. At the age of sixteen years, in 1858, he became an alumnus of the Mu ...
, who increased its collections by joining the
Pigorini National Museum of Prehistory and Ethnography The "Luigi Pigorini" National Museum of Prehistory and Ethnography is a public and research museum located in Rome, Italy. Established in 1875 and opened in 1876 by Luigi Pigorini, from 2016 it is one of the four museums inside the Museum of Ci ...
to it. In 1913, a decree of the Ministry of Education authorized the definitive dispersion of the collections, which were distributed in the new state museums of the capital. The Etruscan and Italic antiquities went to the
National Etruscan Museum The National Etruscan Museum ( it, Museo Nazionale Etrusco) is a museum of the Etruscan civilization, housed in the Villa Giulia in Rome, Italy. History The villa was built for Pope Julius III, for whom it was named. It remained in papal prope ...
, the Roman ones to the
National Roman Museum The National Roman Museum (Italian: ''Museo Nazionale Romano'') is a museum, with several branches in separate buildings throughout the city of Rome, Italy. It shows exhibits from the pre- and early history of Rome, with a focus on archaeological ...
, the medieval and Renaissance to the Castel Sant'Angelo and, in 1916, the new
Museo nazionale del Palazzo di Venezia The Museo Nazionale del Palazzo di Venezia is a state museum in Rome (Italy), housed in the palace of the same name together with the important Library of Archaeology and Art History. Collections The Museum preserves paintings by artists such ...
. Some curiosities, such as the wooden models of the Roman obelisks, remained at the college; the
Pigorini National Museum of Prehistory and Ethnography The "Luigi Pigorini" National Museum of Prehistory and Ethnography is a public and research museum located in Rome, Italy. Established in 1875 and opened in 1876 by Luigi Pigorini, from 2016 it is one of the four museums inside the Museum of Ci ...
was finally transferred to Roman neighborhood of in the 1960s.


Legacy

An exhibition dedicated the Kircherian museum was held in Rome at the
Palazzo Venezia The Palazzo Venezia or Palazzo Barbo (), formerly Palace of St. Mark, is a palazzo (palace) in central Rome, Italy, just north of the Capitoline Hill. The original structure of this great architectural complex consisted of a modest medieval hous ...
in 2001. The Italian Ministero della Cultura published a catalog with photos of objects in the Kircher collection that had been dispersed to other institutions. In recent years, the teachers and pupils of the Liceo Visconti have prepared a museum layout that recalls the historic Kircherian museum.Cfr.


See also

*
List of Jesuit sites This list includes past and present buildings, facilities and institutions associated with the Society of Jesus. In each country, sites are listed in chronological order of start of Jesuit association. Nearly all these sites have bee ...
* Antiquarianism


References


Bibliography

*Encyclopedism in Baroque Rome: Athanasius Kircher and the Museo del Collegio Romano between Wunderkammer and the scientific museum, curated by Maristella Casciato. Venice, Marsilio 1986. * *Athanasius Kircher - the museum of the world ome, Palazzo di Venezia, February 28 - April 22, 2001 Ministry for Cultural Heritage and Activities, Central Office for Archival Heritage. Curated by Eugenio Lo Sardo. Rome, De Luca 2001. , *Claudia Cerchiai (edited by), The Roman College from its origins to the Ministry for Cultural Heritage and Activities, Rome, 2003. *Alberto Bartòla, «At the origins of the Roman College museum. Documents and testimonies ", in Nuncius, 1, 2004, pp. 297–356. *Angela Mayer-Deutsch, Das Museum Kircherianum. Kontemplative Momente, historische Rekonstruktion, Bildrhetorik, Zürich, 2010. *Nathalie Lallemand-Buyssens, «The acquisitions of Athanasius Kircher in the museum of the Romain Collège à la lumière de documents inédits», in History of Art, n. 133, Oct-Dec 2012, pp. 107–129. * {{Authority control Museums in Rome Athanasius Kircher