Audiotour The corals

The corals

The pride of the Museum is the rich collection of coral artefacts which includes objects of sacred and profane use (chalices, monstrances, crucifixes, rosary crowns, reliquaries, cameos, jewels) coming from churches and convents in the area or from private collections . The precious red gold, fished since the late Middle Ages, over the centuries constituted the raw material for the creation of high quality artefacts, exported from one end of the Ancient Continent to the other. The boats from Trapani, the ligudelli, went on their fishing trips as far as the coasts of Tunisia and transported the precious branches to the city, which were then sold on the docks of the port and subsequently processed in specialized workshops. The development of coral fishing was therefore associated with the mastery and creativity of artisans-artists, coral workers and sculptors. The Trapani masters, originally dedicated exclusively to the cleaning, cutting and shaping of beads intended for rosary necklaces and crowns, starting from the sixteenth century, thanks to the use of suitable tools such as the burin and the chisel, began to create real masterpieces of art. What stimulated the birth and development of quality artistic craftsmanship were the ever-increasing requests of the rich city bourgeoisie (made up of traders and bankers), of the large landowners and of the rich ecclesiastical class, in the continuous search for symbols of power capable of represent one's social prestige through artistic creations. Among the masters dedicated to this noble art, which reached its period of maximum splendor between the early seventeenth century and the first half of the following century, Fra Matteo Bavera from Trapani stands out, who as a lay Franciscan friar worked in the Trapani convent of San Francesco d 'Assisi, adorning the adjacent church with masterpieces of inestimable value and intact beauty, such as the monumental hanging lamp, the famous Crucifix full of intense pathos and the precious Chalice with sculpted coral cameos.