PALAZZO MADAMA - MUSEO CIVICO D'ARTE ANTICA
Its rococo façade houses the Museo Civico d'Arte Antica, which includes the manuscript of the Très Belles Heures of the Duke of Berry.
The architecture of this palace sums up the history of Turin. Built on the ancient Roman wall (Porta Pretoria, 28 B.C.), the remains of which can be seen today in the entrance under a glass window, the palace became a fortress in the Middle Ages (the remains can be seen at the back of the palace towards Via Po). In the seventeenth century, Palazzo Madama was the home of Marie-Christine of France, sister of Louis XIII, and Marie-Jeanne de Nemours, both regents of the Duchy of Savoy, ironically called by the Turinese the Madame Reali. In 1718, Filippo Juvarra, one of the most famous Italian baroque architects, added the magnificent rococo façade and the majestic interior staircase in carved stone that we know today.
After having been, in the course of the 19th century, the first Senate of Italy, the palace now houses the Museo Civico d'Arte Antica. Among other masterpieces, the Portrait of the Unknown by Antonello da Messina, or the manuscript of the Très Belles Heures of the Duke of Berry
, miniaturized in the fifteenth century by the painter Jan Van Eyck and his school. The museum has a new layout that follows a chronological order corresponding to the major phases of the building's historical development. The tour passes through a total of 35 rooms. Start on the moat level with the Medieval Stone Museum, then continue on the first floor with the Gothic and Renaissance art collections. On the second floor, discover a wide selection of works from the Baroque period. On the top floor, the museum has magnificent collections of decorative arts (ceramics, silverware, ivory, glass, fabrics...); the pieces on display are regularly changed. The Treasure Tower, dating from the 15th century, houses the most precious and representative works of the collections.In the moat of the Palazzo there is also a reconstructed medieval garden, which respects the elements found in the archives, testifying to its existence in the Palazzo Madama since 1402... This garden offers the visitor the opportunity to walk in a vegetable garden, under fruit trees, or in the iardinium domini (prince's garden) to enjoy its fountain and loggia. Finally, such a dense visit deserves a stop: the Caffé Madama, the museum's café, all glass and ice in rocaille style, is one of the most pleasant in the city (accessible only to visitors).
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