Set up inside the Castle of Mombasiglio, the General Bonaparte Museum owes its charm not only to the collections it contains, but also to the historic manor that preserves them. The skilful arrangement of the collection inside the rooms means that not only is a great historical-artistic heritage immediately and captivatingly accessible to the visitor, but at the same time one can also enjoy the architecture that contains it. A sort of double reading, a double path, which ensures that the collections are not invasive towards the medieval building, but on the contrary they integrate and enrich each other.
The Museum revolves around the figure of General Bonaparte and the numerous battles he fought during the First Italian Campaign of 1796, with the aim of preserving the memory of the passage and stationing of thousands of soldiers of the various armies, to promote historical research and the interest of the population. The 44 copper engravings on display here constitute a very rare collection that documents both the fighting and the territory where it took place. They accurately depict an environment that has not yet disappeared and depleted. They therefore become a tool to discover the geographical area between France, Piedmont, Liguria, Lombardy, Emilia and Veneto and, with the help of the documents on display, to inform about its topographical, economic and social characteristics.
Ample space is given to the museum’s didactics and the transmission of knowledge to the children. There are plans for games, workshops, activities of various kinds, including recreational activities, which allow young and very young people to relive history, with the help of new and updated methodologies. Scholars and history lovers can access a modern database full of documents, also unpublished, on the historical period of reference in the museum, collected in Italy and abroad.
