Castelvecchio Museum

Museo Civico di Castelvecchio

Architect: Carlo Scarpa

Address: Corso Castelvecchio 2, Verona, Italy

Web:museodicastelvecchio.comune.verona.it

Completion:1958-64, 1968-69, 1974-75

Construction of the castle: 1354-1376
Damaged by the Napoleonic wars: 1796-97
Converted into a museum: 1923
Scarpas renovation: 1959-1973
General reconstruction: 2005-07

Carlo Scarpa worked on the renovation of the Veronese castle Castelvecchio intermittently from 1957 to 1975. This is probably his most significant project, where all his remarkable abilities are utilized. It shows how creatively one can utilize a building that has a complex history. It is a magnificent example of Scarpa's very distinctive architectural language, not to mention his incredible sense of detail and mastery in working with materials. The medieval castle houses a museum exhibition that is just as radical and timeless today as it was on the day of its opening in 1964 and has served as an inspiration ever since. The convergence of all these themes is evidenced by the stunning installation of the equestrian statue Cangrande I, which is one of the most remarkable places for displaying a work of art ever created.

Murphy, Richard. Carlo Scarpa and the Castelvecchio Revisited, ‎Edinburgh: Breakfast Mission Publishing, 2017

"We were used to museums designed architecturally in monumental scale, with a shell into which artworks are later inserted. Now, however, this concept is turning around: the artworks themselves create the architecture, define the spaces, and outline the proportions of the walls. Each painting is carefully studied in advance to allow for the best possible viewing later: then it is installed in a space of appropriate qualities."

Bruno Zevi, 1958

"We must proceed like the Greeks; they invented nothing, but remade everything."

Eugène Viollet-le-Duc, 1872

The restoration of Old Castle Verona, by the bridge and home Scaliger family of the same name who guided the destinies of the city in the Middle Ages, would take decades of work by Venetian architect Carlo Scarpa. Destined to be an exhibition space dedicated to the many works of art that had the city was a challenge to balance between maintaining legacy factories and the introduction of new uses and spaces adapted to not renounce contemporary language expression.
With his usual mastery would Scarpa designing spaces for the exhibition seeking to combine sculptures, paintings and utensils supports the proposed, appropriate frameworks and construction details that show your affiliation clear contemporary.
It is perhaps his most significant work and it shows the influence of the architecture of Wright and admiration for traditional Japanese spatiality. The intense effort to detail reflects the method applied doubtful that this architect of all business. One way to work that would challenge the ideas already developed constantly to find new configurations and arrangements by careful use of pencil drawing.
The result is a work of high poetic intensity in which respect for the remains inherited from the past is being relied on any other aesthetic consideration.