METS - Trentino Ethnographic Museum
The METS - Museo etnografico Trentino San Michele | Trentino Ethnographic Museum of San Michele, founded by Giuseppe Šebesta in 1968, is one of the most distinguished Italian museums of popular traditions.
METS - Trentino Ethnographic Museum: a place of heritage and traditions
The Trentino Folklife Museum, founded by Giuseppe Šebesta in 1968, is one of the most distinguished Italian museums of popular traditions.
Housed in the former Augustinian monastery of San Michele (1145), which then became the seat of an important School of Agriculture (1874), the Museum with its cloisters and towers has been witness to a very long history. Its permanent ethnographic exhibition is supported by extensive field research and by continuous educational activities. The Museum thus serves as a centre of alpine ethnographic studies, which entails the collection of ancient objects, thorough-going investigations on local dialects and lore, and specific projects of wider anthropological significance. In the Museum, the visitor is offered a unique opportunity to appreciate the original roots of rural life in the Trentino mountains.
Forty rooms for man in the Alps
In a well structured progression, the Museum illustrates the various aspects of the agroforestry system of the mountains of Trentino, with its great hydraulic machineries and its rich tradition of handicrafts, in daily contact with stone, wood, copper, iron, ceramic, fabric, thus bringing to light the elements of a self-sufficient and ingenuous peasant world. A view to the intangible heritage of the yearly festivities, of popular devotion, of music and folklore, completes the picture of a whole world of traditional values.
Source: http://www.museosanmichele.it
Notes on the accessibility to the site
The Museum has two entrances. The main entrance leads to the ground floor and includes an always open 192 cm wide portal: it can be reached from a 20 metres long path (max. slope: 10%) or parking temporarily in front of it. The second entrance is on the north side of the building, close to Istituto Agrario S. Michele all’Adige, Edmund Mach Foundation and to the indicated parking spaces: there are a 217 cm wide portal and a 8-10,5 cm high step. The car park is 220 metres far from the main entrance (road slope: 15%) and 100 metres on the same level from the seconday entrance. On the ground floor: the access to the ticket office is via the ramp and the door indicated above; the counter height varies from 73 to 111 cm; the Hall 1 Agricoltura/Agricolture is fitted with two ramps (length: 85 cm - slope: 3,2%); the access to Hall 2 Mulino ad acqua/Watermill and Hall 3 Zona ristoro e fucina/Smithy amd dining area is from the courtyard, each via one step (riser: 6 and 7 cm); more steps are on the way to the Cellars.
The indicated lift, a goods lift located by the second entrance, allows to visit parts of the upper floors:
- Floor -1: the exhibition room, Fonderia e ferro battuto/Foundry and wrought-iron - access via a 3 m long ramp (slope: 5%);
- Floor 0: Grotta San Michele/Saint Michael Cave
- Floor 1: the wheelchair accessibile toilet (grab bar on the side of the wc opposite to the one approached, 81 cm high sink) and the lecture hall-ktichen;
- Floor 3: the Alpine hut area is partially accessible; the access to the other rooms (beekeeping, forest, waggons, sawmill, wood art) is via ramps (slope: 7,2%,10%) and sections with some steps (height: from 15 to 19 cm);
- Floor 4: the library is preceded by a 146 cm long ramp (slope: 5,7%) but is not wholly accessible (there is a 17 cm high step); the access to the other rooms (typical majolica stoves, ceramics, costumes, music and religiosity) is via steps.
Information collected by the staff of the Cooperative Handicrea
