New opening for the Museum of Traditions in Nuoro

The new Museum of Traditions, formerly Museum of Sardinian Life and Folk Traditions, will be opened in Nuoro on Saturday, December 19, 2015, at 10:30 AM. This museum, established by the Region in 1960, holds a special place in the European scenery of etnographic museums by the quality of collections and number of visitors.

The new layout offers a general representation of traditional life on the island, from work to feasts, covering dwelling and dressing methods, food, popular religiosity: an extraordinary cultural experience proposed through settings and the exhibition of over 4000 items.

The ARP Studio (Oristano) designed the renovation and expansion of the complex, undertaking the design of the furniture with the Goppion; the museum path, the topics, their sequence and the form of the exhibition, the texts, the photographs and the films are due to Dr. Paul Piquereddu who conceived the cultural project and has directed the building of the museum helped by ISRE's museum division led by Ms. Francarosa Contu.

The museum, completely renovated, is articulated through nine themed rooms that offer a comprehensive look at all the material culture of Sardinia, allowing the visitor a deep dive in the history and traditions of Sardinia.

Goppion took care of the new setting of the structure, engineered and manufactured showcases, graphic displays and multimedia installations with the aim of making this structure an innovative example of the newest trends in demographic and anthropological museology and museography.

So, in the first hall, next to the timeline with the main events that marked the island from prehistory till 1950, a video-wall with footage dedicated to the many types of rural, coastal and mountain landscape enables the visitor to get an overview of the varied regional ecosystems.

In the next halls, six large windows-dioramas reconstruct traditional environments and re-create several kinds of symbolic scenes, opening important windows on ethnography and the main productive activities of the island. The spectacular glass case of costumes (13 m x 3.40), fully made in glass without mullions, showcases 54 dresses on full-size dummies, which reproduces an ideal procession. Then, the reconstruction of a cumbessia, the showcase dedicated to the Great Countryside Feast, a homage to the work of great painter Giuseppe Biasi, and finally jewels and amulets (450 items), which are displayed in a space that looks like the chapel of a sanctuary: a kind of symbolic return to the original place.

The remaining showcases and chests of drawers (over 70 elements) illustrate, in a theme sequence, food production (bread), work tools, handicraft, which give an exhaustive idea of Sardinian material culture.

In line with the latest trends of demographic and anthropological museology and museography, the Museum required considerable effort from Goppion – a commitment of over two years - in terms of design to meet the request for essential and minimal showcases, which should not interfere, better still enhance, their rich and varied contents; of engineering design, necessary to guarantee the soundness and structural safety of such large-sized, yet simultaneously lightweight constructions; down to delicate logistics, by which huge glass panels were carried to the premises and showcases were assembled in situ.