The secrets of medieval Vercelli: a major exhibition with Alessandro Barbero as an exceptional guide

Until June 27, 2021, the exhibition The Secrets of Medieval Vercelli is on display at the Arca - Arte Vercelli exhibition space. The exhibition aims to illustrate the important role that the city of Vercelli played during the Middle Ages, in a chronological period between the 9th and 14th centuries.

The exhibition takes its cue from presentations by Alessandro Barbero, a medieval historian and lecturer at the University of Eastern Piedmont, aimed at illustrating the artistic works and precious documents that allow us to understand the importance of Vercelli in the Middle Ages. From academic descriptions, the exhibition presents parchments and illuminated manuscripts from significant locations in the city, such as the Archives and Library of the Municipality of Vercelli, the Diocesan Historical Archives, the Agnesiana Diocesan Library, the Cathedral Treasure Museum Foundation, the Leone Museum and the State Archives. Among unpublished pieces and others already appreciated in exhibitions in various parts of the world, documents are displayed that intend to give a sense of what the world of medieval writing and thought was like, particularly from the ecclesiastical point of view, in the city and the territory. The exhibition intends to move through a plurality of voices: not only the best-known documents and codices,but also the apparently more modest, and no less important, testimonies.

Following the events of the Diocese and the Municipality, as well as the University and the great urban aristocratic families, various aspects, such as the organization of power, forms of daily life, political and religious ideologies, and developments in culture, will be discovered in a new way. Also dating back to the medieval period are the great architectural works such as St. Andrew’s Abbey (1219-1227), as well as churches with a medieval layout in the historic center such as St. Bernard’s, St. Paul’s, St. Francis, the Cathedral, and the great treasures kept in the city’s libraries and archives. Testimonies that recount characters, events, situations, needs, difficulties. Among the great protagonists of pre-medieval Vercelli it is necessary to mention St. Eusebius who, thanks to his preaching spread along the territory we know today as Piedmont, made the city and the Diocese impressive and full of evangelical grace.

A first section is useful to bring visitors closer to the Middle Ages, the second is rich in documentary content, while the third and last is intended to be very emotional. The initial video by Alessandro Barbero and the 18th-century engraving from the Agnesiana Diocesan Library depicting the profile of turreted Vercelli prove propaedeutic.

Some fundamental moments in the city’s history will then be traced through precious archival and bibliographic documents, accompanied by Barbero’s videos. The central section of the exhibition is divided into four settings that evoke the side chapels of a liturgical hall: each setting represents an ideal time period of about a century.

The last section is intended to be avisual experience with a strong emotional impact: in fact, the visit concludes with the majesty of evocative images reproducing the four medieval Crucifixes (Vercelli, Pavia, Casale and Milan), with special attention to the Vercelli Crucifix.

The exhibition is organized by the City of Vercelli and the Archdiocese of Vercelli, in collaboration with Museo Borgogna, Leone Museum, Cathedral Treasure Museum Foundation, City of Vercelli Archaeological Museum, Società Storica Vercellese, Metropolitan Chapter of Sant’Eusebio, State Archives of Vercelli, Soprintendenza Archivistica e Bibliografica del Piemonte e della Valle d’Aosta, Università del Piemonte Orientale and ATL Valsesia Vercelli, and with the support of Biver Banca, Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio di vercelli, Iren and ATL Valsesia Vercelli. It has the patronage of Regione Piemonte and the Soprintendenza Archivistica e Bibliografica del Piemonte e della Valle d’Aosta.

Admission to the exhibition is free, with reservations by writing to prenotazioni.vercelli@gmail.com or calling 380 1868799.

For more info: https://www.comune.vercelli.it

The secrets of medieval Vercelli: a major exhibition with Alessandro Barbero as an exceptional guide

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