Relying on Heaven

The exhibition wants to highlight the religious and cultural heritage of the main Marian shrine of Trento's Diocese: this collection of ex voto from Trentino is now available to the public after an important restoration work.
The exhibition pathway will be opened on 24 April: the Tridentine Diocesan Museum will exhibit the ex votos; on 3 July Torre Vanga will open a section dedicated to the shrine and its pious tradition. At the end of the exposition, the small votive boards will be arranged in their original location in Montagnaga di Piné.

The origins of the shrine date back to the third decade of the XVIII century, when the story of Domenica Targa experiencing five apparitions of the Virgin Mary (in the fields nearby the church of Montagnaga) gave a great impulse to the devotion of Caravaggio's Virgin Mary, which already had historic roots in the village. Hence, Montagnaga became a venerated place for the Marian cult, destination of pilgrims from Trentino and Veneto. In place of the old alpine chapel there was built a new church was built, dedicated to Saint Anne, which was expanded later, as the number of devotees grew bigger. Over time, different buildings and monuments became linked to the various places of appearances of the Virgin Mary; as a result, a path of art and worship was born and grew longer thanks to continuous news of healing and miraculous events.

Since September 1729 the new altar in Saint Anne's Church, consecrated to Caravaggio's Virgin Mary, was surrounded by the ex voto, which were offered by pilgrims as a public testimony of gratitude for grace received. Final result of a "meeting" between mankind and the Divine, these votive offers tell us of man's inclination to rely on God when faced with life’s difficult moments.

This collection, which has continuously grown, owns now more than a thousand of specimens: 413 of these ex voto are of cultural interest; they were arranged and restored by the Cultural Heritage Directorate.

The exhibition at the Tridentine Diocesan Museum will offer a significant selection of this rich collection, which can now be now perfectly interpreted in its material, figurative and symbolic aspects, and which is relevant to reconstruct the story of devotion, custom and human activities of this land.

The lasting nexus between the votive objects and the shrine will be examined in the exhibition section at Torre Vanga. Through a selection of paintings, textile artefacts and grave goods from Montagnaga's parish church, it will be possible to retrace its evolution, by following also the standardisation of the appearances' iconography and the shrine's image through historical postcards and photos; the latters are compared with the evidence offered by the ex voto themselves.

The exhibition of the ex voto will be supplied with a quick, didactic guide curated by the Tridentine Diocesan Museum. The contents of this double exhibition will be delved deeper in a catalogue curated by the Cultural Heritage Directorate.