ENCHANTING. ISRE MUSEUM OF COSTUME IN NUORO
| by Susanna Cati |
Is there a place where ‘material and immaterial’ traditions and modern history of an enire people converge into a single environment?
There is, and it’s in Nuoro, in Sardinia, in a complex of buildings that houses the Museum of Life and Popular Sardinian Traditions, previously known as ISRE (Institute for Regional Ethnographic Studies), the most comprehensive ethnographic exhibition on the island. Built in the 1950s, after a major thematic revision and expansion works for structural and exhibition improvements, the Museum of Costume reopened to the public on December 19, 2015. This extraordinary cultural experience is divided into ten thematic rooms, offering a complete view of the traditional life of the island, covering themes such as work, festivals, housing, clothing, food, religion, and popular imagination. A journey that crosses the ‘nomadic’ life of Sardinian shepherds, the ‘settled’ life of the rural peasant world, and includes a section dedicated to weaving techniques, clearly highlighting the importance of women in the ancient culture of Sardinia.
In the superb section dedicated to traditional garments, more than 400 typical Sardinian costumes are displayed in a large hall, where you will feel like you’re in the middle of a crowded, motionless procession. Bonnets, bodices, accessories, lace, gloves, headgear, and much more are exhibited in drawers that anyone can open. A fundamental premise, across the different functional forms of the artifacts, is the recurring use of the same decorative patterns, almost emphasizing the ideograms at the origin, a common alphabet that seems to allude to an indigenous heritage, which in craftsmanship shows a peculiar persistence. This language has symbolic origins, because contrary to common belief—that craftsmanship, not just Sardinian, was born solely to meet practical needs—its motivation often has a sacred character (for example, the filet lace migrated from altars to domestic furnishings; the embroidery or fabrics of chasubles traceable in traditional festival garments).This sacredness is even found in the multiple decorations of breads that testify to various rites and festivities of everyday life and special occasions. The embroidery on baptismal garments is magnificent, and the ones on bodices are sumptuous. Every town has its own wedding dress, and all are rich in refined decorative elements and full of meaning. Some men’s waistcoats suggest contemporary styles, while the magnificent pleated skirts are examples of high tailoring.
Did you know that the skirt of the traditional dress was also used as a headpiece?
The collection of jewelry and amulets is vast, with many artifacts being an integral part of popular clothing (buttons, pins, chains); others are true jewels (earrings, pendants, rings); still others are amulets, ex-votos, and devotional objects (rosaries, reliquaries, crosses). A display case with 450 pieces of jewelry and amulets is presented in an evocative reconstruction, offering a testimony to the extraordinary devotion of the faithful who flocked to the rural shrines in central Sardinia.
The visit concludes with the new room dedicated to the Barbaricino Carnival, where wooden facial masks, cowbells, and sheep skins constitute an example of the persistence of a series of manifestations rooted in the distant histories of Mediterranean peoples (Thurpos, Merdules, Mamuthones).The number, quality, aesthetic value of the displayed materials, their contents, and the exhibition methods make this visit unmissable for those traveling to Sardinia as well as for enthusiasts of weaving and traditional costume.
