CURRENTLY CLOSED
The Civic Museum of the History of the Fatherland preserves and exhibits documents, objects and works of art relating to the history, private life and folklore of Trieste over the centuries. Open since 1911 in another location, since 1950 its collections have been exhibited - with some interruptions - on the first floor of the Palazzo Morpurgo building in Via Imbriani 5.
The current arrangement was set up between 2007 and 2008 and is divided into three sections, dedicated to the history of Trieste, the Stavropulos Artistic Collections and the Fabric Room.
The city's history occupies three rooms with a gallery of portraits, in oils and miniatures, a series of city views, a selection of eighteenth-century silverworks and a rich collection of Patriotic Medallions.
The large central hall and two others are dedicated to the art collection donated by Socrate Stavropulos (Trieste 1882 - Zurich 1960) in 1952 and enlarged several times until his death.
In the Fabric Room there is a selection of the rich textile collection of the Civic Museums of History and Art, with the aim of exhibiting its variety: alongside fragments of silk from the 15th to the 19th centuries, cerimonial, evening ethnographic and ecclesiastical clothing from the 1700s through to the 1900s. Special attention is dedicated to the creations of Anita Pittoni (Trieste 1901-1982), a genial textile designer from Trieste active in the interwar years.
A wing of the apartment is dedicated to the conservation and consultation of the extraordinary Archive of the History of the Fatherland. It is organized in five documentary series (Documents regarding Trieste, Regional Documents, Italian Documents, Documents (various) and Autographs) and has been enriched over the years with donations from private individuals and associations.
1. Marcello Mascherini, Rhapsody, a bronze sculpture, 1925;
2. Veit Stoss, Madonna and Saint John, sorrowful, wood carvings, 15th-16th century;
3. Pasquale Andervalt, Balloon flying with a suspended donkey, oil painting on canvas, 1854;
4. Paolo Kandler, Table clock, 1760;
5. Anita Pittoni, Textile samples, 1930s-1940s;
6. Bishop Canopeo's Salt-cellar, in pewter, 14th century;
7. Portrait of Maria Theresa in widow's robes, oil on canvas; 1765-1780.
