MuSaBa – Parco Museo Laboratorio Santa Barbara

About the museum

MuSaBa was founded in 1969, when the artists Nik Spatari and Hiske Maas began to restore an ancient, ruined monastic complex of about 1,500 square metres in Mammola, in the Locride. After the first clearing and cleaning work, carried out with the help of volunteers, Hiske Maas exhibited three hundred works by contemporary artists there in 1974, in collaboration with the Comune di Milano and Milanese galleries: an unusual initiative for Calabria at the time.

The complex has been transformed into a contemporary museum in which the historic remains engage with new interventions, and into a seven-hectare park-laboratory with monumental and site-specific works. The heart of the route is “The Dream of Jacob”, a large three-dimensional work of 240 square metres in the former church of the complex, often compared to a Calabrian Sistine Chapel and dedicated to Tommaso Campanella and Michelangelo.

In the cloister of the Foresteria unfolds the monumental mosaic of 1,400 square metres, begun in 2006 and continued until 2020, the year of Nik Spatari's death, which tells the story of humankind from Sumerian civilisation to the Resurrection of Christ. The foundation also offers mosaic workshops for schools and an artists' mural programme on the park's pillars.

Highlights

• “The Dream of Jacob”, a three-dimensional work of 240 m² in the former church
• Monumental mosaic of 1,400 m² in the Foresteria cloister
• Seven-hectare art park with site-specific works
• Ruined monastic complex transformed into a contemporary museum
• Mosaic workshops for schools

Permanent exhibitions

• Il Sogno di Giacobbe – Three-dimensional work of 240 m² by Nik Spatari in the former church of the complex, covering the apse and the vault.
• Mosaico monumentale – Mosaic of 1,400 m² in the Foresteria cloister, on the history of humankind from Sumerian civilisation to the Resurrection.
• Parco d'arte – Seven-hectare park with site-specific works and murals on the pillars.

Founded

1969

Operated by

Fondazione Spatari/Maas

Visitors per year

approx. 26,000

Admission & discounts

Admission contribution of €10. Guided tours for groups of at least 15 adults: €15 per person, booking at info@musaba.org.

Accessibility

The museum hasn’t published any information on this.

Kids & families

• Family tours & workshops

For schools, workshops are offered in which students make small mosaic panels with fragments of coloured ceramic.

Getting there & parking

The museum hasn’t published any information on this.

Amenities & dining

The museum hasn’t published any information on this.

Events & venue rental

The museum hasn’t published any information on this.

Plan your visit