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Audio guide service. At the ticket office the user can rent the audio guide, available in multiple languages, which illustrates the main masterpieces permanently present in the museum. The service is paid and involves leaving an identity document at the ticket office which will be returned when the audio guide is returned.

Surveillance of museum routes. The Museum is manned by surveillance personnel, with functions of control, direction and assistance to the public also through the use of video cameras.

Access to the heritage exhibited in the permanent route. The exhibition occupies approximately 2600 m2 and currently features approximately 800 works on display. The Museum guarantees regular and continuous access to the permanent collection for five days a week and for five hours a day. Times are published on the website; the museum is closed on January 1st, Easter Sunday and December 25th, as well as, normally, every Monday and Tuesday.

Access to works not on display (deposits). Currently, access to the storage rooms to view works not on display is not permitted to personnel external to the Museum. However, it is possible to request, by appointment and for study purposes, to view the works preserved in the warehouses at the exhibition venue, subject to authorization from the museum conservator who reserves the right to deny it if the requested works are not transportable due to their large size or state of repair. storage. The request addressed to the curator must be submitted via email [email protected] Inspection of the works in the deposits will in any case take place in the presence of a Museum manager.

Consultation of images of the heritage preserved in the Museum. Images of the works preserved at the museum can be requested, according to the methods indicated in the Regulations published on the web, by filling in the forms downloadable from the site. Depending on the type of use, the applicant must pay a fee for reproduction rights.

Consultation of inventories, catalogs and databases. It is possible to access the inventory and catalogs documenting the works preserved in the museum by appointment and for study purposes. The request must be submitted to the curator via email [email protected] The consultation will take place in the presence of a Museum manager.

Loans of works for temporary exhibitions . The museum loans works belonging to its collections for exhibition initiatives of proven scientific interest, subject to authorization from the Director, the Diocesan Ordinary and the territorially competent Superintendence of Historical and Artistic Heritage. The request must be sent in writing to the Director of the Museum including the scientific project of the exhibition, list of works to be exhibited, facility report of the exhibition venue.

Research and publication activities. The Museum carries out research on the heritage it conserves, in close connection with the context of origin, and gives an account of it to the public with the creation of exhibition initiatives and editorial products of various types and supports (guide to the Museum, catalogues, notebooks, documents, videos , databases).

Temporary exhibitions, cultural events promoted by the museum. Based on the programs and financial availability, the museum annually organizes temporary exhibitions and initiatives useful for the dissemination of cultural heritage.

Continuing education of adults . The Museum organizes conferences, guided tours, workshops and meetings, also in collaboration with other cultural bodies and associations aimed at contributing to the permanent education of the citizen. Access to the service is subject to a fee, unless otherwise indicated.

Advice. The Museum is available to offer its advice to students, scholars, teachers, but also to parishes who wish to develop conservation and valorization projects for their assets.

Communication and promotion. The Museum identifies among the main communication tools with the public the social platforms where it is present, the newsletter and the institutional website www.museofrancescogonzaga.it . It is therefore committed to their constant updating.

Concession for the use of museum spaces and their appurtenances. The museum, upon request of third parties, grants the use of the museum environments and ancillary spaces intended for this purpose for events such as exhibitions, market exhibitions, temporary exhibitions and shows, as well as for events such as private assemblies, cultural meetings, conferences, seminars, conferences and book presentations. The spaces dedicated to these activities. however compatible, they are the rooms intended for temporary exhibitions on the main floor and on the ground floor, the “Paolo Pozzo” conference room, the museum library and the cloister with the garden. Any requests must be addressed to the Director of the Museum by email ([email protected]), who reserves the right to authorize the events in question considering not only the ecclesial character of the museum which promotes the values ​​of Christian culture and respect for Catholic morality, the actual availability of the places. For the use of the spaces there is a financial contribution to the Museum, unless otherwise indicated.

The Francesco Gonzaga Museum offers its visitors and users a wide range of specialised services, including an audio-guide system in Italian, English and German a room of tactile reproductions for the blind, several rooms equipped to host temporary exhibitions, an extensive library, a modern conference roomand an educational workshop service.

Among the various services that complement the enjoyment of the works on display, the Francesco Gonzaga Museum has equipped itself with a facility that has few parallels in other Italian museums.

While the works exhibited in the other rooms, as in all museums, can be perceived through sight, this room brings together some twenty paintings and sculptures that visitors are invited to get to know through touch and hearing.

The paintings are reproductions of some of the museum's masterpieces, created in relief so that their subjects can also be perceived in the third dimension, depth.

The sculptures are almost all original works, in a wide variety of materials and techniques (bronze and other metals, marble, terracotta; in bas-relief or in the round), arranged in chronological order so as to trace a brief history of art, from classical times to the present day.

All works are accompanied by an audio guide and a booklet with an illustrative text, in both normal and Braille characters.

The structure was conceived first and foremost for the blind and visually impaired, as part of the Museum's institutional aims to facilitate access to art for those who, for the most diverse reasons, are often far from it.

However, it proves to be of great interest to all visitors, to whom, by stimulating other senses besides sight, it enables a more engaging and fruitful knowledge of the work of art.

In particular, it is useful and enjoyable for children, who by nature are also inclined to know by touching what they see.

The Museum has several rooms, of various sizes, equipped for temporary exhibitions of ancient and contemporary art, organised on its own or at the request of interested parties.

Exhibitions by living artists are numerous and welcome. The Museum considers the support and promotion of contemporary art to be a particularly significant component of its activities. By hosting the exhibitions of emerging artists, the museum performs a service for the entire city of Mantua, thereby increasing valuable opportunities that contribute to nourishing its cultural life. It also fulfils the no less important pastoral task of offering artists friendship, dialogue and collaboration, as called for in Pope Benedict XVI's address to the diverse art world. Indeed, in the context of the pastoral life of the Church, the role of a diocesan museum should continually unfold according to the inspiration of the memorable message that Pope Paul VI addressed to artists at the close of the Second Vatican Council on 8 December 1965: 'This world in which we live needs beauty in order not to sink into despair. Beauty, like truth, is what brings joy to the hearts of men, it is that precious fruit which resists the wear and tear of time, which unites generations and makes them communicate in admiration. And this is thanks to your hands... Remember that you are the custodians of beauty in the world'.

The Museum has an extensive library, which can be consulted with the permission of the management. It contains a large collection of rare and valuable old books, which are the subject of temporary exhibitions, as well as encyclopaedias and other recent texts on history and art.

Since 12 October 2013, the new conference room has been open. It is intended for the Museum's activities and also promotes cultural and associative activities in the city. The room, which can be used by anyone on request, seats 90 and is equipped with the appropriate modern technology. Built by architect Alessandro Campera on the ground floor of the building, it has its own entrance adjacent to the façade designed at the end of the 18th century by Veronese architect Paolo Pozzo (1741-1803). This detail led to the room being named after this professor of architecture at the Mantua Academy, to whom the city owes numerous valuable sacred and profane artistic achievements.

The Paolo Pozzo room, furnished with a precious Louis XIV double wardrobe, lecturers' table and period chairs, displays reproductions of the four projects formulated by the architect from Verona, one of which, as mentioned above, was realised as the façade of the museum.

For information and bookings, please contact the museum directly.