Description
The Castello d'Albertis, home of the Museum of World Cultures, is the Gothic Revival castle that sea captain Enrico Alberto d'Albertis had built for himself on the hill of Montegalletto, above Principe station: towers and battlements looming over the city, exotic rooms and objects gathered from half the world.
The visit begins in the captain's house, a fanciful collage of Aosta Valley castles, Florentine palaces and details of medieval Genoa, such as the Embriaci tower. You pass through the Columbus Room, the Gothic Room, the Cabin and the Nautical Room, with model ships, instruments and charts.
The coup de théâtre is the Turkish Room: hundreds of objects, jewels, weapons, vases, divans and lamps beneath heavy drapery that mimics a tent, among hookahs and ostrich eggs. On the grand staircase, spears and halberds are arranged like trophies, in the taste of the time.
Then the museum shifts its gaze to the real protagonists, the peoples of Africa, the Americas and Oceania. Standouts include artefacts of the Plains Indians, in bison hide embroidered with porcupine quills and beads, and Maya fragments in tuff from the acropolis of Copán, in Honduras.
The captain's collections are joined by those of his cousin Luigi Maria d'Albertis, the first explorer of the Fly River in New Guinea, and by objects from the vanished peoples of Tierra del Fuego. The same castle also houses the Museum of the Music of Peoples, with instruments from all over the world.
The castle was built between 1886 and 1892 on top of a 16th-century bastion of the city walls. The restoration emptied the bastion of earth and covered it in glass: in a single glance you can see the 14th-century stones, the Renaissance walls and, above, the 19th-century tower.
The inauguration coincided with the four hundredth anniversary of the discovery of America, and the captain, on his death in 1932, left the castle and collections to the city. Around it is a park with an open view of the sea.
There is no shortage of legends. One door, always locked, is said to bang and open by itself at night. And there is talk of a secret tunnel leading from the captain's rooms down to the harbour, so he could escape on his ship if need be.
The visit begins in the captain's house, a fanciful collage of Aosta Valley castles, Florentine palaces and details of medieval Genoa, such as the Embriaci tower. You pass through the Columbus Room, the Gothic Room, the Cabin and the Nautical Room, with model ships, instruments and charts.
The coup de théâtre is the Turkish Room: hundreds of objects, jewels, weapons, vases, divans and lamps beneath heavy drapery that mimics a tent, among hookahs and ostrich eggs. On the grand staircase, spears and halberds are arranged like trophies, in the taste of the time.
Then the museum shifts its gaze to the real protagonists, the peoples of Africa, the Americas and Oceania. Standouts include artefacts of the Plains Indians, in bison hide embroidered with porcupine quills and beads, and Maya fragments in tuff from the acropolis of Copán, in Honduras.
The captain's collections are joined by those of his cousin Luigi Maria d'Albertis, the first explorer of the Fly River in New Guinea, and by objects from the vanished peoples of Tierra del Fuego. The same castle also houses the Museum of the Music of Peoples, with instruments from all over the world.
The castle was built between 1886 and 1892 on top of a 16th-century bastion of the city walls. The restoration emptied the bastion of earth and covered it in glass: in a single glance you can see the 14th-century stones, the Renaissance walls and, above, the 19th-century tower.
The inauguration coincided with the four hundredth anniversary of the discovery of America, and the captain, on his death in 1932, left the castle and collections to the city. Around it is a park with an open view of the sea.
There is no shortage of legends. One door, always locked, is said to bang and open by itself at night. And there is talk of a secret tunnel leading from the captain's rooms down to the harbour, so he could escape on his ship if need be.