Costruire una Nazione. I disegni dell’Archivio della Fabbrica del Vittoriano (Building the Nation. Drawings from the Vittoriano Factory Archives)

The Institute for the History of the Italian Risorgimento presents the exhibition Costruire la Nazione. I disegni dell’Archivio della Fabbrica del Vittoriano (Building the Nation. Drawings from the Archives of the Vittoriano Factory), an exhibition dedicated to the history, design, and long symbolic life of the monument that, more than any other, has accompanied the construction of the national identity: the Vittoriano. The monument has become one of the most recognizable symbols of the Italian nation, along with one of the most visited sites in Rome, the privileged setting for the Republic's main civil ceremonies, and a place of homage to the soldiers and civilians who fell for Italy. Conceived as a funerary monument for the first King of Italy, the Vittoriano has over time become a political and symbolic space capable of restoring the continuity of the nation's history.

The exhibition is the result of the conservation project that secured the impressive collection of the Vittoriano Factory - over 6,000 technical drawings, sketches, and drawings - and transferred it to the Central State Archives to ensure its full protection.

The exhibition reconstructs the monument's design and construction phases through drawings, plans, and archival documents, many of which have never been presented to the public.
The exhibition illustrates the initial architectural ideas and the competition for the monument; the project's lengthy construction; the transformations of its meaning as the political and cultural climate changed; and, finally, the Vittoriano's many lives, right up to the present day. This exhibition thus transports us through the nation's material and symbolic construction site, which can also be explored thanks to the splendid catalog produced, in collaboration with the Institute, by Fabrizio Fabbri Editore.

Photo: official poster of the exhibition