Bartolomeo Nogara and Biagio Biagetti in the service of the Holy See
A glance at the past through archival papers
Vatican Museums Conference Hall – in person and live streaming
The first appointment of the year with the Thursdays in the Museums is intended to pay homage to two illustrious figures from the past, to whom today’s Vatican Museums owe a great deal: Bartolomeo Nogara (1868-1954) and Biagio Biagetti (1877-1948): one appointed Director General of the Pontifical Museums and Galleries by Pope Benedict XV in 1920 – and in office until 19 June 1954, the day of his death – the other appointed just one year later, at the behest of the same pontiff, as Artistic Director for the paintings of the Sacred Apostolic Palaces.
The aim of the conference on 22 February is to present the two figures and their innovative drive through the analysis of the archival collections of the Vatican Museums, the Apostolic Archive, the Historical Archive of the Fabric of Saint Peter and the Archive of the Lombard Institute Academy of Sciences and Letters of Milan.
The opportunity is offered by important new acquisitions donated by the heirs of Nogara and Biagetti: the former, a collection of notebooks in which he recorded the salient events of his long and fruitful career, and the latter his personal archive.
The notable human and managerial skills of Bartolomeo Nogara, a scholar of international renown, and the scientific and far-sighted rigour of Biagio Biagetti in the field of restoration have characterized and given life to a new museum that, starting from a nineteenth-century structure and passing through one of the most troubled periods of European history, has evolved into a modern institution, open to international exchange and aimed at welcoming scholars and visitors; a valuable heritage that has been handed down to us, to be defended with responsibility and far-sightedness.
The meeting will be introduced, as usual, by a greeting from the Director of the Vatican Museums, Barbara Jatta, followed by interventions from Marta Bezzini, Head of the Vatican Museums Historical Archive; Luca Carboni, archivist of the Vatican Apostolic Archive; Simona Turriziani, Head of the Historical Archive of the Fabric of Saint Peter; and Rita Pezzola, Chancellor of the Lombard Institute Academy of Sciences and Letters of Milan.