New museum corridor — **New museum corrido**r

Letterpress is timeless, rich in history, and delightful in what it can offer to spectators and makers today. Our local printing and historical museum, Museo Civico della Stampa in Mondovi, got a much-deserved facelift for the public. It’s an interesting redevelopment project linked to the theme of the book and has yet to be completed. LIBER, as the project is referred to, occupies the ground floor of the former Collegio delle Orfane, a beautiful seventeenth-century brick-vaulted building. It was once the seat of the Discalced Carmelite Fathers from 1802 until 1927. The space, turned cultural center, intends to enhance the historic heritage of the Monregalese, the town’s people where I live.

There are three floors. The ground floor is occupied by printing machines and instruments with a plethora of video screens and large descriptive panels that guide the visitor through the rooms. There are tablets for guided visits in English. The first floor (to be completed), is dedicated to printed paper and will house historical archives. The second and last floor of the building (to be completed) will house the artist's residence. The concept and layout are detailed on the museum website in Italian.

At the start of autumn, my daughter attended a stop motion laboratory on the premises of the new laboratory space of the museum, so I decided to see the rest. I found myself standing in front of a holographic image dressed in medieval costume greeting me at the start of my visit and describing the evolution of illuminated manuscripts onto Gutenberg. Large screens and descriptive panels were put next to European and a selection of Italian-made printing machines as as I made my way towards a room with large screens showing former and current volunteers describing what their work used to entail. In conclusion, there was a small bookshop where modern letterpress prints by graphic designers dabbling in letterpress are sold and an interesting selection of small edition books. This was a nice addition to the museum along with the laboratories and events added to the agenda.

It’s a heroic project that overshadows the “orphaned” museum that once was. The former seat of the museum was badly lit, dusty, and cold-cold enough that the museum would close in late autumn and reopen in late spring. The former laboratory, where “old-timer” volunteers used to print collateral for the municipal, was exactly how a print shop would have been when they were working as printers in their prime. It was a proper workshop with heaps of discarded paper, lead scattered about, inked rags, dustballs, and spiderweb patterns in corners too busy to be bothered with. It was not what any modern-day letterpress boutique would appropriate for their Instagram feed. I had the pleasure of collaborating on a few occasions at the former location, and I had imagined a prettier if not warmer place to be.

The architectural beauty of the building and spacious grounds are aspiring. I anticipate the presses will settle in over time, collecting veils of dust to give away secrets and incite a visitor's imagination of another place and time.

New Museo Civico della Stampa Mondovì

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