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  Collegio di Maria Museum  

collegio di maria Museum

The Museum of the College of Maria di Piana degli Albanesi is a museum that is open only for private visits and which preserves the most important corpus of sacred vestments of the Byzantine rite, created and jealously guarded over the centuries by the nuns of the College.

These embroideries truly seem inspired by the Divine and feature a highly elaborate and rich embroidery technique, which unfortunately has almost been lost today, thus making this permanent exhibition unique. The Museum also houses an extraordinary collection of 17th-century icons and paintings, including the famous Madonna Hodegetria by Ioannikios Ieromonaco. Visitors can admire a one-of-a-kind collection of Byzantine rite sacred objects, exquisite wax models, exquisite altar frontals, and a collection of embroidery using all the techniques used by the nuns of the College. By visiting the Museum of the College of Mary, you will have an immersive experience that will allow you to discover the cultural identity of Piana degli Albanesi. ​ This museum was conceived and established thanks to the enlightened vision of Sister Maria Pia Caronna. Following the closure of the College's embroidery school, fearing that the embroidery techniques the women learned at the College might be lost, as unfortunately happened, she had the brilliant vision of creating a space to permanently preserve and display the rich Byzantine rite vestments created in this Collegio over the centuries.

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Sister Maria Pia Caronna was also the driving force and guiding spirit of the school that was located in the Collegio di Maria and that trained the women and teachers of Piana, which was recently closed. The Collegio di Maria Museum was re-established in 2014 thanks to the Mother Superior of the College, Sister Maria Canicattì, who accepted the proposal for a new exhibition conceived and curated by Salvatore Vasotti with the valuable advice of a committee he himself created and chaired by Sister Maria Canicattì. The committee was composed of Archpriest Papas Giovanni Stassi (rector of the Sanctuary), Professor Rita Cedrini (head of the FAI Palermo delegation), Professor Maria Elena Volpes (Superintendent of Cultural Heritage of Palermo), historian Stefano Schirò, and Maestro Sergio Lucito.

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The Museum of the Collegio di Maria is the most sought-after destination in Piana degli Albanesi, a museum not open to the public and can be visited by reservation only.

The Museum houses the most precious permanent exhibition of sacred vestments of the Byzantine rite and ancient Byzantine icons, which together with rich frontals, silver, sacred wax plastics and other rare objects related to the Byzantine rite, make a visit truly unmissable.

The sacred vestments were embroidered by the nuns of the College, whose hands were as if inspired by God, so much so that their embroideries were spoken of as "Divine Embroideries". In the Collegio di Maria the nuns taught the boarders of the College, until the closing of the boarding school dating back a few decades ago, the secrets of the most refined and elaborate embroidery techniques. The embroiderers trained here first kept alive the production of the sacred vestments of the Byzantine rite and then of the Traditional Costume of Piana degli Albanesi, which was developed in the current version in this college.

This permanent exhibition was created in the 1950s by the will of Sister Maria Pia Caronna, an enlightened nun who did so much for her schooling in Piana and who had the intuition to create a room in the Collegio di Maria that would hold this treasure.

In 2014, thanks to the precious contribution of Professor Rita Cedrini and Superintendent Maria Elena Volpes, the entire exhibition was set up by Salvatore Vasotti to make it more suitable for use.

Visit this Museum and discover in exclusive the "Divine Embroideries" of the Collegio di Maria di Piana degli Albanesi.

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TIMETABLES:

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It can be visited only with a private visit and by reservation . The visit of the Museum of the College includes the visit of the Sanctuary of M. SS. Odigitria.

You can visit the Museum and the Sanctuary by booking one of the experiences below.

For more information on this museum contact us here

OPENING HOURS Collegio di Maria Museum:

 

Visitable only with private tour and by reservation . The visit to the Collegio Museum includes the visit to the Sanctuary of M. SS. Odigitria.

You can visit the Museum and the Sanctuary by booking one of the experiences below.

 

for more information on this site, for visits and initiatives click here and fill out the form.

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