Museum of Arti Monastiche

The Town Hall complex houses the Museum of Monastic Arts “The Rooms of Suspended Time” which collects in highly evocative environments the material cultural finds that belonged to the nearby Monastery of S. Mary Magdalene. The people who enter this museum are not just visitors, but active spectators, invited to step into the shoes of various characters who are the protagonists of an audio-guided theatrical journey.

Through the narration of small daily events, the fundamental stages of the monastery’s history are retraced, in a period between the 16th and 20th centuries. The recorded voices of some actresses accompany the visitor, for a thorough and conscious knowledge of the often unfathomable reality of seclusion. An imaginary and engaging journey into the rooms of suspended time. The theatrical journey is individual and responds to the need to preserve the intimacy of an experience that is not only cognitive, but also emotional. In the room dedicated to the laboratory, you can watch a video showing the nuns who lived in the monastery until a few years ago, busy carrying out their ordinary activities. The exhibition, characterized by direct contact with the objects presented and complemented by an interactive and multimedia display, offers visitors the extraordinary opportunity to gain a closer understanding of the cloistered world with its rules and customs, discovering, through the telling of the monastery’s history, a temporal dimension naturally extended towards infinity. The objects on display were found in the rooms of the Monastery of S. Maria Maddalena, which has maintained its original location next to the museum since 1586. Ceramics, kitchen utensils, glass containers for the apothecary, but also embroidery, bobbin lace, and ornamental designs for sacred vestments, have survived the monastery’s turbulent history, sometimes retaining the particular aspect of infinity that characterizes them.The objects had remained in the “suspended time rooms”, placed in boxes, cabinets and chests as if to be taken up and completed. The suspension of manual activity is typical of monastic life, where work is very important, but never overrides the time of prayer and meditation. The materials on display were chosen based on the testimonies found by the monastic offices (the specific tasks assigned to each member of the community) and the ancient inventories that the nuns drew up during pastoral visits. The objects were used for a long time, sometimes until they were worn out, and in some cases they were intended for a different function than the original one. Subsequently, they were set aside either for the introduction of more technically advanced products into the market or for the nuns to lose specific skills, as happened for example with wax modeling. While some activities, although no longer practiced, are still remembered among the older nuns, all memory of others has been lost. Walking through the museum rooms, one perceives the dimension of an everyday life that is set against the backdrop of the nuns’ hushed voices, their singing, their prayers, their footsteps in the corridors, the beating of the shuttles in the frames, the sound of the dishes, the ringing of the bell, and… the silence, which preludes the joyful resumption of activities. The Poor Clares have animated the spiritual and cultural life of the country for centuries, representing an important point of reference not only in the most difficult historical moments. The awareness of the historical and religious value of the Monastery of S. Mary Magdalene is still very much alive today, and you can feel her walking through the alleys of Serra de’ Conti.