War against art

On the eve of World War II, one of the tasks of the Superintendency of Monuments and Galleries of Trieste was the implementation of suitable systems for the protection of historical buildings, monuments and works of art throughout the territory of Friuli, Venezia Giulia and Istria. Indeed, the memory of the damage caused by bombing during the Great War was still vivid, and the need to protect the cultural heritage was all the more keenly felt.

Through more than sixty images from the photographic archives of the Friuli Venezia Giulia Archaeology, Fine Arts and Landscape Department, the exhibition recounts the various aspects of the work carried out – from the handling of works of art to the consolidation of buildings -, also documenting the damage suffered by the monuments. It is thus possible to appreciate the efforts made in their restoration or, in the most serious cases, in their reconstruction by a small group of courageous officials and museum directors.

In the narrative, the exceptional role played by Villa Manin emerges, which between 1940 and 1943 was the protection centre for works of art from all over the region. The exhibition route winds its way through the same rooms that, as the then Superintendent Fausto Franco said, housed in crates piled on top of each other ‘all the art of Friuli and Venezia Giulia’.