Museo per la Memoria di Ustica, Historical memorial museum in Bologna, Italy
The museum displays the reconstructed wreckage of Itavia flight 870, a DC-9 aircraft that crashed near Ustica in 1980 with 81 people on board. The exhibition shows the fuselage alongside recovered belongings, documents, and photographs that tell the story of the flight.
The aircraft disappeared in 1980 over the sea under mysterious circumstances and was only found years later off the coast near Ustica. The investigation that followed suggested impact from an air-to-air missile and sparked decades of official inquiries and court cases.
The installation by French artist Christian Boltanski surrounds the aircraft remains with 81 black mirrors, pulsing lights, and recorded voices. This creates a space where visitors encounter a personal dimension of the tragedy, transforming debris into individual remembrance.
The museum is located in Bologna and welcomes visitors on select days throughout the week. It is advisable to check opening hours in advance before planning your visit, as these can vary seasonally.
The museum is named after Ustica island where the crash occurred, yet it stands thousands of kilometers away in Bologna. This geographical separation itself tells a story about how a tragedy becomes woven into places far beyond where it happened.
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