Pinacoteca Mus'a al Canopoleno, Art museum in historic center of Sassari, Italy.
Pinacoteca Mus'a al Canopoleno is an art museum in the historic center of Sassari displaying over 400 paintings and graphic works spanning different periods. The collection ranges from medieval times to modern art and is organized across several exhibition spaces.
The Jesuits arrived in Sassari in 1559 and completed the Casa Professa in 1627. Archbishop Antonio Canopolo founded the Canopoleno college in 1611, giving the building its name. After the Society of Jesus was suppressed in 1773, the complex passed to secular clergy, then to the Jesuits again in 1823–24, and became a national boarding school from 1848 to 1852. Abandoned in 1973, it was restored in the 1980s with lottery funds and opened as the Pinacoteca in December 2008.
The gallery displays works by Giovanni Marghinotti and other Sardinian artists like Giuseppe Biasi and Stanis Dessy, reflecting regional artistic traditions. You can see how local creators developed their own visual language and what subjects mattered most to them.
The museum occupies the former Canopoleno Jesuit college on Piazza Santa Caterina, between the church of the same name and the Palazzo Ducale, in Sassari's historic centre. The exhibition runs over three floors, from the Middle Ages to the mid-20th century, so allow time to climb through all levels. The building was restored and fitted out with proceeds from the lottery.
The museum opened in December 2008 in the former Jesuit Casa Professa, built by 1627. Its restoration and installation were funded with proceeds from the lotto game. In 1976 the abandoned college served as a film set for Padre padrone by the Taviani brothers, before the State acquired it in the 1980s.
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