Not far from the heart of the upper town, cross Piazza Mercato del Fieno to discover a fine example of medieval convent architecture, rich in hidden treasures: the Convent of San Francesco.
This enchanting place is also the setting of the Sestini Photography, one of the most technological photography museums in Italy!
Convent of San Francesco
The Cloister of the Arks, the Cloister of the Well and the Capitular Hall reveal the long history of this building with their cycles of frescoes made between the fourteenth and seventeenth centuries.
The panoramic terrace offers an unmissable view: the intersection of the two valleys, Brembana and Seriana.
Today home to the offices, archives and library of the Bergamo History Museum, the convent hosts temporary exhibitions dedicated to the twentieth century and to historical photography.
Sestini Photography Museum
The Sestini Photography Museum enhances its photographic heritage with an interdisciplinary exhibition dedicated to the world of historical photography and divided into two sections: a scientific and a historical one.
Phenomenal visions - the scientific section develops in three environments. In each one we propose activities that guide visitors to discover the process of sight, the phenomena that regulate the propagation of light, the perceptive deceptions, the similarities between the functioning of the human eye and the camera.
Photography Museum - the historical section leads visitors to discover the history of photography between local and international dimensions. Evocative multimedia installations reproduce the techniques of photography processing from the first half of the 19th century to the second of the 20th century, reconstruct the diffusion of photographic studios in the Bergamo area and illustrate the resources of the Sestini photographic archive.
Bergamo in the twentieth century. Stories from the Sestini Photographic Archive
The photographs preserved by the thirteen Sestini photographic archive funds are put on display to narrate the stories of Bergamo in the twentieth century. More than 100 shots contribute to composing a multi-perspective mosaic of the city, but above all they offer, in thirteen stages, a new inclusion among the funds preserved by the Bergamo History Museum.
Each stage has a story at heart that tells of a city full of customs, transformations and moments of aggregation. Here then are the shots of exciting races among curious machines without engines at the end of the Fifties or the images of Bergamo locals on vacation that crowd large cruise ships at the turn of the Thirties and Forties. And again, the face of the Upper Town during the 1930s Reclamation Plan, the low-traffic streets of Bergamo in the 1960s and the enchanting snowy landscapes of the Brembana Valley.
Since 2019 the exhibition space at the Photography Museum, in the historic church of the San Francesco Convent, offers a journey of black and white images and reminds us that History is made up of stories: come and discover them all!
Exhibition promoted and organised by the Bergamo History Museum, Municipality of Bergamo and Siad - Sestini Foundation.
Not far from the heart of the upper town, cross Piazza Mercato del Fieno to discover a fine example of medieval convent architecture, rich in hidden treasures: the Convent of San Francesco.
This enchanting place is also the setting of the Sestini Photography, one of the most technological photography museums in Italy!
Convent of San Francesco
The Cloister of the Arks, the Cloister of the Well and the Capitular Hall reveal the long history of this building with their cycles of frescoes made between the fourteenth and seventeenth centuries.
The panoramic terrace offers an unmissable view: the intersection of the two valleys, Brembana and Seriana.
Today home to the offices, archives and library of the Bergamo History Museum, the convent hosts temporary exhibitions dedicated to the twentieth century and to historical photography.
Sestini Photography Museum
The Sestini Photography Museum enhances its photographic heritage with an interdisciplinary exhibition dedicated to the world of historical photography and divided into two sections: a scientific and a historical one.
Phenomenal visions - the scientific section develops in three environments. In each one we propose activities that guide visitors to discover the process of sight, the phenomena that regulate the propagation of light, the perceptive deceptions, the similarities between the functioning of the human eye and the camera.
Photography Museum - the historical section leads visitors to discover the history of photography between local and international dimensions. Evocative multimedia installations reproduce the techniques of photography processing from the first half of the 19th century to the second of the 20th century, reconstruct the diffusion of photographic studios in the Bergamo area and illustrate the resources of the Sestini photographic archive.
Bergamo in the twentieth century. Stories from the Sestini Photographic Archive
The photographs preserved by the thirteen Sestini photographic archive funds are put on display to narrate the stories of Bergamo in the twentieth century. More than 100 shots contribute to composing a multi-perspective mosaic of the city, but above all they offer, in thirteen stages, a new inclusion among the funds preserved by the Bergamo History Museum.
Each stage has a story at heart that tells of a city full of customs, transformations and moments of aggregation. Here then are the shots of exciting races among curious machines without engines at the end of the Fifties or the images of Bergamo locals on vacation that crowd large cruise ships at the turn of the Thirties and Forties. And again, the face of the Upper Town during the 1930s Reclamation Plan, the low-traffic streets of Bergamo in the 1960s and the enchanting snowy landscapes of the Brembana Valley.
Since 2019 the exhibition space at the Photography Museum, in the historic church of the San Francesco Convent, offers a journey of black and white images and reminds us that History is made up of stories: come and discover them all!
Exhibition promoted and organised by the Bergamo History Museum, Municipality of Bergamo and Siad - Sestini Foundation.
Getting there
100 metres away (Piazza Mercato del Fieno): 1 reserved parking space with cobbled paving.
300 metres away: Upper Town Funicular Station; one of the two cabins is accessible with a stair lift.
Footpath from carpark and funicular station: footpath paved with stone slabs; no tactile ground surface indicators.
Entering
Main entrance accessible: threshold 2 cm; door 2 metres wide.
Ticket counter height 125 cm.
Visiting
Permanent exhibition spaces on the ground floor, fully accessible.
Accessible temporary exhibition spaces and rooms connected by ramps with 5% slopes.
Small northern cloister not accessible because connected only by a staircase to the main cloister.
There are no specific aids for the visually impaired.
Using the bathroom
There are no accessible bathrooms.
Synthetic evaluation
O: accessible with a companion.
/: usable with a companion.
Gallery
Parcheggio in piazza Mercato del Fieno
Attraversamento di piazza Mercato del Fieno.
Percorso di avvicinamento.
Ingresso.
Biglietteria.
Ingresso a una sala espositiva.
