The Carrara Marble Museum

The establishment of Carrara’s “Museo Civico del Marmo” dates back to 1982: at the end of a long process of research and studies promoted by the municipal administration, it was then decided to give life to a place that would document the historical memory of the “marble culture,” recognized as a founding element of local society and economy. The museological project, published since 1979, was set on interdisciplinarity: the nascent museum would not only be a container of historical artifacts, but would include aspects involving archaeology, mineralogy, history of techniques and social history.

The inauguration took place with an exhibition titled “Marmo Lunense,” and in the following years the museum’s collection was enriched with items related to industrial archaeology (1984) and works of contemporary sculpture (1987), in a move to constantly enrich the initial materials. During the 1990s a section on medieval sculpture and one dedicated to marble icons of the area were created, while an initial revision of the museum itinerary dates back to 1996, with a new arrangement of the geology and Roman archaeology sections.

Some of the most interesting artifacts undoubtedly include the marble statue of Artemis-Moon (1st century), found in the Fossacava locality in 1925, numerous blocks quarried in Roman times and fragments of half-finished columns and capitals, flanked by a number of tools anciently used for marble working. Also of great importance is the contemporary art collection, with the sketch of the Monument to the Fratelli Rosselli (1948) by Carlo Sergio Signori (1887-1940), and the well-stocked marble library .

The museum is housed in an important architectural structure designed by Ezio Bienaimé (1923-2002), strategically located along Viale XX Settembre, roughly halfway between the historic center and the sea. The buildings were erected between 1962 and 1965 on the initiative of the local Chamber of Commerce, with exhibition purposes: the spaces were thus characterized by large glazed halls designed to allow flexible use of the interiors, a principle also adopted for the definition of the outdoor spaces.

After the 1965 and 1966 National Marble Exhibitions, however, the building was remodeled and adapted to new functions: from 1978 it housed the offices of the “Internazionale Marmi e Macchine” and even today, in addition to housing the Marble Museum, the complex includes an important cultural institution such as the Carrara Chamber of Commerce Library.

Since 2023, the Marble Museum has been closed for a redevelopment project that, thanks to an agreement between the Municipality of Carrara and the Chamber of Commerce of Northwest Tuscany, promises to offer an entirely redesigned itinerary capable of reaffirming the centrality of this institution with a strong cultural, tourist and identity value. It is scheduled to reopen in 2025.