Institutional portal - Municipality of Milan

One million and 300 thousand euros from the Cariplo Foundation for the elimination of architectural barriers, new display cases and multimedia tools

Milan, October 31 2020 – The Egyptian Museum, or rather the Egyptian section of the Civic Archaeological Museum, is one of the most visited Castle museums ever, especially by students.  
The Milanese Egyptian collection boasts a long history - the first materials arrived in Milan in the 1973s - and was exhibited to the public for the first time in a permanent exhibition in 2003 in the basement of the Rocchetta courtyard. The exhibition was then rearranged at the beginning of XNUMX, on the occasion of the reorganization of the spaces of the entire Castle, in the Visconti rooms, where it will be redisplayed.

Passed to the Municipality of Milan, like the rest of the state-owned artistic and archaeological collections in 1900, the Milanese Egyptian collection has been enriched over time thanks to the excavations conducted in the 3.000s by Achille Vogliano in the Fayyum, to donations from private individuals and collectors, and by virtue of targeted acquisitions, currently counting around XNUMX finds, including authentic masterpieces, such as the funerary objects of Peftauajaset and a bronze statue of Osiris, now visible in the temporary exhibition “Under the sky of Nut. Divine Egypt", set up at the Archaeological Museum of Corso Magenta.

The renewal of the exhibition itinerary is now necessary to enhance the collection with a visually impactful display enriched by cutting-edge educational and multimedia aids; the project also involves overcoming the architectural barriers that prevented safe access.

The guidelines for the awarding of the supply and service contract necessary for the redevelopment were therefore approved by the Council. Keeping the construction elements of the Visconti rooms unchanged, the layout of the Museum will see a remodulation of all the thematic sections with the preparation of tailor-made display cases, the general and integrated lighting system in the showcases, the creation of supports for graphics and of multimedia stations, as well as the reorganization of the entrance area.

The overall expenditure for the awarding of supplies and works (mixed contract) is 1.300.000 euros and is financed thanks to the contribution of the Cariplo Foundation through "Art bonus" in support of the interventions for the enhancement of the Sforzesco Castle. Details at https://artbonus.gov.it/789-castello-sforzesco.html#intervento-2668.

The intervention may begin in the second half of 2021, since in the spring the Visconti rooms will be occupied by the staging of the exhibition “The body and the soul, from Donatello to Michelangelo. Italian Sculpture of the Renaissance" - an exhibition curated in tandem by Castello Sforzesco and the Louvre Museum and currently on display in Paris - which will be open to the public from 5 March to 6 June 2021.