Il convento dell’Osservanza, edified by the Minor Observants in 1403, the first seat of the Franciscan reform in Bologna, is annexed to the church of S. Paolo in Monte, rebuilt in neoclassical forms by V. Vannini in 1828. The complex houses the Missionary Museum of Chinese Art, opened to the public in 1964 and rearranged in 1996, which exhibits ethnographic materials collected by the Franciscan minors of the Emilia province operating in Africa and the Far East, particularly in China, and the Museum of the Observance. The latter, inaugurated in 2003, preserves precious examples of sacred art belonging to the Minor friars. Important paintings by C. Bononi, E. Sirani, G. Cavedoni, G. and U. Gandolfi, A. Crespi, and F. Pedrini are kept. Chinese culture between the late 19th and early 20th century is well documented: alongside items of higher historical and artistic value, including a series of bronze statuettes with Buddhist subjects or rare examples of small wooden sculptures from Hunan, the collection includes everyday objects, clothing, embroidered silks, tapestries, paintings, and items that belonged to the missionary friars. It is completed by artifacts from Oceania and Central Africa, from which musical instruments and ivories come. A section of the Museum of the Observance is dedicated to objects of convent life and archaeological finds discovered during excavation work near the convent. Among the artistic heritage, noteworthy are the panel of the “Crucifixion” by Orazio di Jacopo, the terracotta sculpture of “Saint Onuphrius supported by angels” by Gaetano Gandolfi, some works of liturgical goldsmithing, and the miniatures by the Bolognese Nicolò di Giacomo dating back to the 14th century.
Information about the Missionary Museum of Chinese Art and the Museum of the Observance
Via dell’Osservanza, 88,
40121 Bologna (Bologna)
051580597
frati.osservanza@libero.it
Source: MIBACT
