As Sydney continues to grapple with high infection rates, Dante’s Museum of the Divine Comedy has announced that it will remain open in its current format into 2022, to allow visitors an opportunity to experience the facility in the new year.
Located in Bossley Park, in Sydney’s South West, the exhibition features a replica collection of 115 framed miniatures created between 1444 and 1450 in northern Italy found in one of the finest medieval copies of La Divina Commedia commissioned by the King of Naples, Alfonso of Aragon, known as “il Magnanimo.”
The museum also displays a bust of Dante Alighieri, Italian-English versions of the literary work as well as an original 1902 edition of the masterpiece decorated with postcards made at the end of the nineteenth century by the Italian painter Attilio Razzolini with the ancient technique of the miniature on parchment.
President of the Marco Polo – The Italian School of Sydney, Giovanni Testa MLO hopes the extension can allow more visitors to the Museum, which has been closed since the start of the Sydney lockdown in June.
“This Museum is a one-of-its-kind. During the lockdown, we have received a number of inquiries from the community, asking whether the exhibition in its entire and original format would be changed once Tuesday 14 September 2021, the date of Dante’s death, came.”
“We responded that we were monitoring the situation and were considering an extension to the closing date. We are now pleased to announce that the exhibition will continue to be made available until 14 September 2022 and we will advise once the Museum will reopen to the public,” said Testa.
Dante’s Museum of the Divine Comedy, colloquially known as “Il Museino” was inaugurated by Italian-Australian Senator Concetta Fierravanti-Wells on 26 March 2021 as part of the Dante 700 Week initiative organised by Marco Polo – The Italian School of Sydney to promote the life and works of Dante Alighieri in Australia.
Similarly, the competition “Dantedì, what Dante means to me!” has been postponed to 2022, providing more time, especially for students, to submit entries.
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