Armed Forces Museum 1914-1945

Montecchio Maggiore

The Armed Forces Museum 1914-1945 was created with the aim of "not forgetting", as the inscription at the entrance reads, and support for memory is its priority aim. For this reason, the collection of objects, photographs and documents is organised to give voice to collective memory and to solicit questions, reflections, interpretations of what characterised the beginning of the last century, without celebratory intentions of the past. Showing soldiers' uniforms and equipment, means of transport and combat equipment, and weapons of all kinds is meant to be a contribution to recognising the tragic violence to which men were forced and coerced. The Museum offers an exhibition itinerary organised in three sections: the first two are dedicated respectively to the First and Second World Wars and the third to Ferruccio Bonapace, born in Montecchio Maggiore and decorated with the Gold Medal.

The visit

The Museum covers a rather long time period from the outbreak of the Great War in 1914 to the last moments of the Second World War in 1945 and compares these two dramas and their implicit relationships. Objects and documents from the Italian front predominate, although the intention is to reconstruct the political and geographical complexity of the events. In realising its intention of documenting war events, the Museum is particularly aimed at teachers and school classes, with whom it collaborates on studies, research or projects and to whom it offers guided tours. In addition to the exhibits, educational tours can also include the rich material preserved in the film library and the historical library, which has around eight hundred volumes, as well as the historical archive, with hundreds of original documents, most of which refer to the local area.

The history

The Museum was established in May 2003 as an expression of the will of the Associazione Cultori della Storia delle Forze Armate (Armed Forces History Culturists Association); born from the passion of its president Giancarlo Marin and vice-president Giancarlo Cosaro, and supported by a hundred or so members, its main objective is to foster the memory and understanding of one of the darkest periods in our history, marked by two World Wars, the birth of the great dictatorships and the terrible ethnic and racial cleansing.

Since 2014, the Association has been running the new Armed Forces Museum 1914-1945, which opened on 10 May 2014.

This new structure, built on municipal land and completed in just over two years, following a proposal to the Municipal Administration by the Association (in 2012), had to go through a complex bureaucratic/administrative process, necessary to be able to start the work and the many fulfilments such as the approval of conventions, projects, urban planning variants, which also involved the Province and the Region and the waiting for favourable outcomes from third parties, often imposing longer timescales than those of the actual construction.

But the close and necessary collaboration between the Municipality of Montecchio Maggiore and the Association, united by a strong conviction in the quality and usefulness of this museum complex, were able to overcome every obstacle and make it possible to reach the end of the road, making it possible to enjoy a unique and accessible museum open to all, not only to the Montecchio Maggiore community. The objective of having a location that was appropriate for the collections and means already collected, and which is constantly being expanded, has been achieved. But it was not just a matter of constructing a building, but above all of giving life to an overall historical and cultural project connected to the Museum in such a way as to make it something alive and in step with the times.

The museum offers the possibility of preserving a visible, tangible and easily accessible memory for everyone, from the elderly, who have lived through those years, to the less young, who have family memories handed down from father to son, to the very young, who unfortunately, today more and more, lack any link due to the generational gap. The museum also does not limit itself to the purely historical aspect, although the initiatives associated with it are obviously related to the 1914-45 period. Commemorative events and presentations of poetic texts have been held at the museum, and numerous activities are planned, ranging from art exhibitions to theatrical initiatives in the evocative historical setting.

The Museum collaborates with cultural institutions and the Italian Army, as well as with cities and municipalities scattered throughout the Veneto region, and acts as a reference point for all enthusiasts by organising in-depth events, conferences, and setting up temporary and permanent exhibitions.

We would like to publicly thank the many people and families (it is impossible to mention them all) who have made donations to the Museum over time, making it ever richer in details and prestigious pieces, very often linked to local history, documents that in the Museum come to have a new life, linked to memory, and are in this sense enhanced, in turn giving further added value to the Museum itself.

Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays: 9 a.m. – 12 p.m.

Other days and times by appointment

Tel. 0444 746211

Mobile: 340 5978 913

E-mail: museostorico@svecom.com

Sito web: http://www.museostorico.com/

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