MAT Museo Arte Tempo

About the museum

The MAT – Museo Arte Tempo has been based since 2005 in Palazzo Marinoni Barca, a historic building in Clusone with galleries and frescoed ceilings. It is a civic museum: the owner is the Comune di Clusone, which entrusts its technical and scientific organisation to its own Culture Office.

The collections include around eighty works, among paintings, drawings, sculptures and repoussé pieces by artists from Clusone and elsewhere, coming from bequests and donations by families such as Sant'Andrea, Querena, Trussardi Volpi and Nani, which reflect the artistic vitality of the town over the centuries. The route includes rooms devoted, among others, to Carpinoni and Cifrondi, to the Lombard school of the 18th century, and to music and the 20th century in Clusone.

Alongside the artworks is a collection of tower clock mechanisms, which echoes the theme of time in the museum's name; the photographic archive of Cesare Cristilli completes the heritage. The museum also organises temporary exhibitions, events and educational activities, and its park, with centuries-old sequoias, is open to visitors.

Highlights

• Around eighty paintings, sculptures and repoussé works by artists from Clusone
• Collection of tower clock mechanisms
• Cesare Cristilli photographic archive
• Sant'Andrea collection and works by Carpinoni and Cifrondi
• Parco Nastro Azzurro with centuries-old sequoias
• Free admission and free Wi-Fi

Permanent exhibitions

• Collezione permanente del MAT – Paintings, sculptures and repoussé works by artists from Clusone and elsewhere, with rooms devoted to Carpinoni, Cifrondi, the Lombard school of the 18th century, and music and the 20th century in Clusone.
• Orologi da torre – Collection of tower clock mechanisms that accompanies the visitor route.

Founded

2005

Operated by

Comune di Clusone

Visitors per year

approx. 4,316

Admission & discounts

Admission is free.

Free admission, no ticket office.

Accessibility

• Wheelchair accessible
• Elevator
• Accessible restroom
• Accessible parking
• Service dogs welcome
• Tactile models & exhibits: no information
• Sign language tours: no information
• Easy-to-read materials: no information
• Audio description: no information

The main entrance is at street level (door width 132 cm). The lift (car 150×150 cm, raised controls) connects the three floors; the exhibition route occupies the first two floors, with no steps between rooms and no passages narrower than 80 cm. The toilets on the second floor are equipped for people with disabilities. The video room screens films without sound. Guide dogs are admitted without restrictions. Nearby, on Via G. Verdi, free blue parking bays are available for holders of disabled parking permits.

Kids & families

Great for kids & families

• Family tours & workshops

The Educational Services, run by the Cooperativa Origami, offer children, young people and families routes and workshops with a playful approach to reading paintings and to tower clock mechanisms; in summer the museum organises weeks dedicated to children. The museum welcomes families with children, groups and school classes.

Getting there & parking

From the Via G. Verdi car park, continue to Via Carrara Spinelli and, after 20 m on the left, you will find the entrance to the Parco Nastro Azzurro, from which the MAT is accessed.

Amenities & dining

• Café: not available
• Restaurant: not available
• Museum shop
• Coat check
• Wi-Fi

Free and unlimited Wi-Fi. There is no bar or restaurant in the museum; the bookshop sells the museum's catalogues and the Comune's publications; large backpacks and umbrellas are left at the entrance. In the museum park, food and drinks may be consumed, with benches in the shade of the sequoias.

Events & venue rental

• Spaces for rent

The museum offers the possibility of hiring its rooms (“Affitto sale” section of the website).

Plan your visit