“With our initiatives we want to make the history of the Duomo known to tourists and bring it back to life for the Milanese”. Words of Fulvio Pravadelli, general director of the Veneranda Fabbrica del Duomo, speaking during the in-depth seminar ‘Museum, widespread museum, non-museum – When passion for history is an enterprise’, organized at the institution’s headquarters in Piazza Duomo in Milan.
A seminar intended to stimulate reflection on the current challenges of corporate culture and on how values, beliefs and behaviors stratified over time can be codified and handed down to new generations. The Veneranda Fabbrica del Duomo is the historic organization responsible for the conservation and enhancement of the Milanese Cathedral. Guardian of a defined and deep-rooted identity: “We live off the tourism part – continues the general director of the organization – and fundraising initiatives, one of these is the adoption of one of the 3,400 statues of the Cathedral”.
Since 1387, the institution has been responsible for the marble processing process, from excavation at the mother quarry of Candoglia, to processing at the Marble Yard in the Certosa area, up to the installation of the architectural and decorative elements on the Cathedral.
The Veneranda Fabbrica del Duomo has thus conceived the project ‘Adopt a Statue’: “It is one of the 3,400 statues that were on the Duomo and that were brought to the Cantiere Marmisti – Pravadelli says – A few years ago, in agreement with the superintendency, we proposed to some companies some restored statues to be able to lend them for use by bringing them to the company or to particular places”. ‘Adopt a Statue’ echoes the project ‘Adopt a Spire. Carve your name in history’, one of the many initiatives of the Veneranda Fabbrica: “The purpose of the Museum is to make the Duomo known. We also did it with a photographic exhibition. Thanks to Ferrovie Nord we also had an exhibition at the Bovisa station”.
The seminar also illustrated the main cultural heritage actions of the Fnm Group, which is increasingly committed to taking on the role of narrator of the history of the territory through projects and initiatives based on ethics, tradition and future, aimed at promoting a two-way dialogue between the Group and the communities.