The museum consists of a collection of some furnishings that once belonged to the Bourbons and Duchess Maria Luigia, dispersed between 1862 and 1868 but partially recovered by the collector Glauco Lombardi with the aim of documenting the life, customs, and history of Parma from 1748 to 1859. Founded in Colorno in 1915 and inaugurated in 1961 in the Palazzo della Riserva, transformed into a casino by Ennemond Alexandre Petitot in 1764, the museum houses artworks, artifacts, and jewelry distributed across the various sections of the exhibition path. Relics of Maria Luigia make up the ‘Napoleonic Museum’, set up in the salon and two adjoining rooms. Here you can admire some precious pieces from the queen’s wardrobe: the ducal mantle embroidered in platinum, fragments of the Imperial Cloak and the ceremonial dress given to her by Napoleon in 1810; the famous wedding corbeille designed by Prud’hon, the cast of the duchess’s hand, a work by Canova, a fragment of the imperial cloak donated by the Duchess to aid the Parma residents struck by cholera, albums, diaries, jewelry, personal effects, and even the empress’s work basket, author of some of the watercolor views displayed in the rooms. The collection also includes letters from Bonaparte and the King of Rome. In the Toschi Museum, in the section of the same name, the engraving activity practiced by the Parmesan artist is documented, while the Petitot Collection features drawings by the architect and engravings by Benigno Bossi. A collection of 19th-century watercolors, engravings, and paintings, along with 18th-century French works, arranged in a dedicated room, completes the palace furnishings. The museum archive houses eight hundred letters from Maria Luigia to her daughter Albertina.
Information about Glauco Lombardi Museum
Strada Garibaldi, 15,
43121 Parma (Parma)
0521233727
glaucolombardi@libero.it
https://www.museolombardi.it
Source: MIBACT
