THE VIAREGGIO CARNIVAL CITADEL MUSEUM

December 15, 2001, Architect Francesco Tomassi presented the project he had conceived for the Museum, that has been completed in 2003 in the new plant of Carnival Citadel. The statue of Burlamacco, that was invented by Uberto Bonetti in 1930, welcomes visitors and leads them into the fantastic world of Viareggio Carnival.
The exhibition starts with an ideal procession of models of first and second category allegoric floats, placed within glass showcases that allow to observe the structure and the various chromatic composition solutions, in particular the satiric interpretation of the different subjects.
A number of wooden showcases, resembling working surfaces of craftsmen, contain original works of some famous artists, such as those of Enrico Prampolini, Lucio Venna, Moses Levy, and Uberto Bonetti.
The exhibition continues with what can be considered the training section for young future builders: “mascheroni a piedi” (big walking masks) and “teste in capo” (heads on the head), or paper-made giants to wear on, whose grotesque and satire shapes bring joy and fun.
Another showcase puts on display postcards of the official posters of Viareggio Carnival since 1925. This micro-section dedicated to advertising graphics is also fully displayed along the museum walls with a series of bigger posters offering a complete panoramic view on Carnival graphics and on the national and international artists.
In the museum sections, it is possible to observe the building processes of the masks, from the sketches to the finished artworks, obtained from the paper-maché technique, or more precisely, from Viareggio’s moulding paper technique. This technique allows to reach wonderful aesthetic and formal results, even in different fields like furnishing, theatrical scenography, opera, housewares, etc.
The museum area contains numerous projects and sketches realized by our Carnival “wizards”, in order to build the famous allegoric floats. It is interesting to observe the builder’s skill in catching and expressing vices and faults of contemporary society in a satiric way, thanks to the language of mockery.
The primary materials of the artworks on display are clay and paper, which are used to build models of heads, bas-reliefs, rounded figures, animal-shaped figures, while showing the skill of the builders and the art of humour.
A huge paper-maché hand and a dragon head stimulate curiosity, while they ideally introduce us inside the float, in order to uncover its secrets. Levers and ropes invite the visitor to animate these structures, thus proving the simplicity and the fantasy of the means used by the builders.
The artisan character of Viareggio Carnival finds its roots in the dockyards, where axe masters, carpenters, and sawyers used to build ships. The shipyard experience was gradually brought into Carnival handicraft, adopting and developing the shipyard techniques and building methods.
The Citadel Museum wants to be a “memory jewel-case”, where visitors can understand and feel the magic of our Carnival.

THE LABORATORIES

The ground floor of the museum building hosts the educational laboratories, covering a surface of 300 square meters. Here school classes have the chance to play with the most elementary manipulation techniques of moulding paper.
It is possible to organize personalized courses for high school students and for everyone interested in having modelling experiences and learning all the process steps of moulding paper.

THE PAPER-MACHE’

Modern society produces huge amounts of garbage that is invading, polluting and degrading natural and urban environments, thus affecting both the economy and citizens’ health.
Since 1925, Viareggio Carnival has been developing and carried out the philosophy of recycling through a manual technique and in an original and creative way. Poor materials like old newspapers, flour glue, clay, plaster, and rushes, characterize Viareggio’s technique. The result is then expressed in the building of huge allegoric floats.
This artisan technique is easy to learn and can be taught in schools, from kindergartens to high schools, and can be considered as an autonomous expressive language.
It allows to combine different themes, from the design of the subjects until the main structure, from the clay modelling until the moulding of plaster, from the paper application until its colorizing phases.
Paper-maché technique adds value to creativity and to manual work, especially using and recovering disposable materials.
“Paper made stories” of our Carnival and its main characters are narrated along the Paper-maché Exhibition, presented through photos, graphic works, movie clips and models, where the moulding paper technique expresses all its potentialities.
The magic place, theatre of this artisan technique, is located within the Citadel, where the artists/artisans create the big allegoric floats, which parade in the streets of Viareggio in winter time, conveying laughs and joy through their grotesque aspects.
If you want to discover the secrets behind the magic three “Cs”, we are waiting for you here, at the Citadel, where paper makes Carnival alive.