Museum of the Basilica of Gandino - Nativity Scenes and Textile Section ---

Nativity Scenes Section The Museum of Nativity Scenes in Gandino, inaugurated at Christmas 1988, occupies six rooms located on the first and second floors of a seventeenth-century palace that formerly housed elementary schools. On display are approximately 600 nativity scenes representing more than 60 countries, along with paintings depicting the Nativity theme and various sacred furnishings. The collection is dedicated to Saint John Paul II, whose precious zucchetto or skullcap is also preserved in the Museum, and who donated a Brazilian nativity scene. Works by renowned Spanish, French and Italian artists are present, as well as pieces by unknown African and Latin American sculptors. The materials are highly varied: from traditional wood to blown glass, ceramics, ivory, bamboo, dried tropical fruit peels, and corn husks.