CSAC museum

The museum of the Centre of studies and Archive of communication of the Parma University (CSAC), hosts the widest visual and design cultural heritage in Italy about the 20th century, with more than 12 millions of works divided in five sections: Art (over 1.700 paintings, 300 sculptures, 17.000 drawings), Photography (with more than 300 funds and more than 9 millions of pictures), Fashion (with about 70.000 pieces among sketches, drawings, dresses, magazines), Design (1.500.000 drawings, 800 maquettes, 2000 objects) and Media (7.000 sketches for posters, 2.000 movie posters, 11.000 satire drawings and comics and 3.000 illustrations).

The Centro Studi e Archivio della Comunicazione (CSAC) was founded in the late 1960s and early 1970s by an idea by Arturo Carlo Quintavalle. The original idea is to build a collection of original works and documents, entire archives, of the various forms of visual communication mainly of the twentieth century and contemporary, donated by the authors to the University on the model of the American university collections.The museum, that is hosted in the majestic latin crossed monastery church, in the Columns and in the Ipogea halls, shows a permanent exhibition, which may change and renew forever, thanks to the extraordinary visual repertoire of the Archive, whose works will be put on display by rotation.

The CSAC, since 2007 hosted in the prestigious Cistercian Abbey of Valserena (https://www.csacparma.it/), a place whose historical-architectural value adds value to the uniqueness of the collections, is a center of excellence of the University of Parma organized in five sections: Art, Media, Project, Photography, Show and incardinated on a heritage that currently includes more than 12,000,000 pieces, which is continually updated through fund increases and new acquisitions.

Because of the consistency of its collections and the coexistence of different "cultural products" of the twentieth century, the CSAC is a unique European that contains in itself, in addition to the archive, a museum and an academic center where research activities are carried out, teaching and third mission. The University of Parma is fully aware of this artistic, cultural and formative uniqueness and, in addition to systematically investing important resources on the structure, to ensure its operation and fruition, has launched a wider policy of sharing, both at the level of the regional government, and of the Ministries for Cultural Heritage and Activities and for Tourism (MIBACT) and University and Research (MUR), aimed at maximising the value of the CSAC at national and international level.

The Museum of CSAC is inside the Charterhouse of Paradigna: it inspired French writer Stendhal for his novel The Charterhouse of Parma, was built between 1314 and 1324 by benedictine workers. It is one of the most beautiful examples of the Cistercian culture, with squared apses, the predominance of a central nave on the aisles, a polygonal base of the cupola at the crossing with the nave and the transipt connected to squared chapels. Many changes have been made during the centuries. By instance, the present facade dates back to the beginning of the 18th century. 
On the right side can be seen the remains of a 15th century construction. Even the ancient convent has been consistently modified in the 16th and 18th centuries. The interior, with three naves, has a covering with a croos vault; the floor is higher than the original one, the leaflike capitals are made of stone. The base of the cupola has a vault hiding the view of the octagonal tower. The area of the apse is divided in two bays with a cross vault and a keystone.In the apse there are still some frescoes of the 16th century; those on the vault were painted in 1580 by Cesare Baglione.The second chapel of the west transipt was decorated with stuccos in the 17th century, and between the end of the 17th and the beginning of the 18th century big statues of saints were put upon the pillars.