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2.3.2. The typology
of objects gathered
Ecclesiastical museums
preserve what refers to the history and the lifestyle of the Church and the
community, even material considered to be of lesser importance. They thus avoid
the elimination, putting aside, alienation, and dispersion of objects now no
longer in use for liturgical-pastoral services. They allow this material to be
protected, preserved and used as the art-historical documentation of the
Church's activity in all its different manifestations.
Since we must generally
identify some types of artefacts present in ecclesiastical museums, we can
first of all discern those with a liturgical or para-liturgical use that can be
grouped in several major categories as follows:
- works of art (paintings,
sculptures, decorations, engravings, prints, works in wood or of other material
of minor quality);
- sacred vessels;
- furnishings;
- reliquaries and ex voto;
- liturgical vestments, textiles, lace, embroidered fabrics;
ecclesiastical dress;
- musical instruments;
- manuscripts and liturgical books, choral books, musical scores,
etc:
To this material, which
often constitute the patrimony of ecclesiastical museums, one can often add
other objects that usually belong to archives and libraries, as:
- artistic and/or
architectural plans (drawings, models, sketches, maps, etc.);
- documentary material connected to the artefacts (wills, juridical acts,
bequests, etc.);
- diaries on works, documentation on collections and on activities inherent to
the artistic and historical patrimony, etc.;
- other materials connected in some way to the art-historical patrimony (rules,
statutes, registers, etc.) regarding dioceses and parishes, Institutes of
Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life, Confraternities and Pious
Works.
Besides this, the
ecclesiastical museum must look after the preservation of the memory of those
traditions, customs, habits, characteristic of the Church community and civil
society, especially in those nations where the conservation of artefacts and
documents still does not represent a major task. But besides these typological
subdivisions, the ecclesiastical museum is further given the task of
demonstrating in a clear manner the "spirit" of the individual works
that it preserves and exhibits.
It should not attribute
to them only an artistic, historical, anthropological, cultural value but it
should show, above all, their spiritual and religious dimension. This dimension
points out specifically the identity of those artefacts with a devotional,
cultual, charitable function, in order that this may be the perspective with
which to understand the will of the donor, the sensitivity of the patron, the
ability of the artist to interpret this aspect and the complex significance of
the work itself.
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