MUSEO MISSIONARIO ETNOLOGICO
Founded in 1926 by Pius XI Ratti (1922/39)
in the Lateran Palace
It was moved here at the behest of John
XXIII (1958/63)
It was inaugurated only in 1973 by Paul VI
Montini (1963/78) in the new wing designed by the brothers Lucio (1922) and Fausto Passarelli (1910/98)
The original collection of 40,000 works,
was selected by a committee among no less than 100,000 objects from around the
world, offered to the pope by private individuals, from missions and from 400
dioceses for the Great Exhibition of 1925 on the occasion of the Holy Year
Over the years, the initial collection has
been enriched with new acquisitions and donations to reach the staggering
amount of 100,000 works
The exhibition opens with the oldest object
in the Vatican Museums: “Tool for chopping bones in quartzite” from
South Africa dating back to about 2,000,000 years ago
“It represents the beginning of technology
and material culture .It is the first object built intentionally by a human
being which has come down to us. It was used to break the bone marrow which our
ancestors used to eat” (Vatican Museums - Description in the exhibit)
The museum, which is partially closed for
the setting up of a new exhibition, will inevitably exhibit, when it will be
completely reopened, only a small part of the enormous collection into five
different sections:
Asia
Polychrome wood sculpture “Vairocana Buddha” from China
“Taoist Altar” from China
“Armor
of a Manchu General of the Qing dynasty” nineteenth century from
China
Reproduction of the altar of the Temple of
Confucius in Kufu
Wooden statue of the “Kwanyn” ancient
goddess of fertility
“Pictures of the martyrs of Nagasaki in 1597”
by Okayama Shunkyo
from Japan
“Perfume burners” of the eighteenth century
from Japan in metal with scenes and mythological figures of Shintoism
“Handicrafts of the Ainu population”, which
means men, indigenous, now almost extinct, mostly present in the northern
Japanese Island of Hokkaido
"Folding
screen with two doors Byobu, with scene of cherry blossom"
eighteenth century, from Kyoto in Japan
“Model of the Lamaist monastery of Tch'uoyang-Hien”
in eastern Mongolia, founded in the eighteenth century
Two “Home altars” of the sixteenth century
with Vishnu at the center and his various incarnations
Persian and Oriental “Majolica” from the
Farina Collection in Palermo
Miniature painted with tempera and gold on
paper “Young man in a garden” about 1565/1635 from
Iran
Extraordinary “Twenty-four marble reliefs depicting stories of the
Buddha” eight century AD from the BUDDHIST TEMPLE OF BORUBUDUR in the island of
Java in Indonesia
The incredible temple was built by the
architect Gunadharma for the Shailendra royal family (750/850) and was active
for about two centuries before being abandoned
It was found in 1814 by the Dutch engineer
H.C. Cornellius
It consists of a square base of about 122 m
(400 feet) per side and was adorned by as many as 2,672 reliefs such as those
present here and 504 statues
COLLECTION OF OBJECTS FROM INDONESIA
More
than one thousand objects
Polychrome statue of winged lion known as "Singa
Ambara Raja" and three polychrome statues of deities known as "Auction
Dwipalaka" from Bali
Manuscript known as "Lontar"
from Bali, made with five palm leaves kept together with a lanyard and stopped
by two Chinese coins in bronze. There are scenes from the epic poem Ramayana
Collection of puppets of the "Theatre
of Shadows" from Indonesia, whose stories are inspired by Hindu
epic novels
In 2003 UNESCO declared the Wayang, Indonesian shadow theater,
heritage of humanity as a masterpiece of oral intangible culture
“Kelembit
Bok shield” from Kalimantan, region of the Borneo island, part of
Indonesia
“This shield was one of the main instruments
of the Dayak people. As well as being used in hunting, it was regarded as a
catalyst for vital energies. The elaborate painted designs were meant to convey
the fierness of the hunter as well as his strength. Using human hair as an
ornament confirmed the success of the owner” (Information sign of the Vatican
Museums)
Oceania
“God TU” from the Mangarewa Island in
Polynesia, considered to be the benefactor of humanity
“Figure of ancestor Moai Kavakava” from
Easter Island, one of the gods who gave man the knowledge
“Ceremonial house for men” from New Guinea,
hut that was sacred to the worship of ancestors forbidden to women and children
“Poles for tombs” painted and carved with
totemic animals
“Ceremonial
headdress and two scepters” nineteenth/early twentieth century, of
the Mekeo people, New Britain, Papua New Guinea
Africa
Face mask-helmet “Agbogho Monnwu” from Nigeria. It used to
belong to the Igbo tribe
“Fragments of vases” in colored terracotta
from Egypt from the ninth to the sixteenth century
“Statuettes in clay” with beads from
Basutoland. They represent ancestors adored by women for fertility
“Crucifixion” of the seventeenth century
from Zaire, carved by members of the Bakongo tribe
America
“Quetzalcòatl” the feathered Aztec serpent
considered the god of the wind
"Mask
of the population Yahgan" late nineteenth/early twentieth
century, from Tierra del Fuego in Chile
“Busts and full statues of members of Indian tribes of
North America” by Ferdinand Pettrich pupil of
Bertel Thorvaldsen. The tribes represented are the Sioux, the Sauks-Foxes, the
Winnebago and the Creeks
“Bible stand” in wood and mother-of-pearl
from the Caribbean, belonged to the friar Bartolomeo de Las Heras chaplain of
Christopher Columbus
Objects from Countries with Missions
“Painting on silk with Last Supper” by the
Chinese artist Wang-Su-Ta
“Painting on Silk (kakemono) with the
introduction of Christianity in Japan” by the Japanese artist Luca Hasegawa. It shows the arrival of Francis Xavier
in Japan, Nagasaki's martyrdom and the Virgin as Queen of Japan
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