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THE MUSEUM - The Museum of the Capuchin Friars Minor of the Roman Province was created with the aim of highlighting the spirituality of a religious Order based on intense mysticism, a simple and sober lifestyle, a constant closeness to the people and a strong and sweet spirit of fraternity.
The eight rooms of the museum, housed inside the monastery, show as many sections that go back to the origins of the place, retrace its history and present the lives of those who, having become religious, were inspired by the exemplary testimony of Capuchin saints such as St Felix of Cantalice, St Crispin of Viterbo, St Joseph of Leonessa, etc., but also by contemporary figures of vast proportions, but also to contemporary figures of vast public resonance such as St Pio of Pietrelcina, who was stigmatised for 50 years, and Father Mariano of Turin, the first multimedia preacher.
The first section is dedicated to the Convent, commissioned by the Barberini family in 1626 and completed in 1631, as a large convent complex with a church dedicated to the Immaculate Conception and according to the project by the Capuchin architect Fra Michele da Bergamo.
The second section presents the history of the Order, one of the most widespread in the world, combining the paintings of the General Fathers and documents from the archives with some in-depth studies on the saints and Capuchin friaries of the Roman Province.
The third section, Capuchin Holiness, goes into the specifics of Capuchin spirituality through the images and stories of some of the Order's saints.
The fourth section, which is the largest in the museum, highlights Culture and Spirituality through the display of liturgical vestments and objects, as well as everyday artefacts.
This section is also enriched by some didactic insights, such as the theme of the crucifix and the "bleeding crucifix".
The fifth section is dedicated to "Saint Francis in Meditation", a work by Caravaggio, created especially for the Capuchin Convent.
In the sixth section, "The Capuchins in the 20th century", there is a special focus on the Venerable Father Mariano da Torino, and in the seventh section, "The Capuchins in the world", the exhibition reaches the present day, showing something of the spiritual, cultural, missionary and artistic activity that has characterised the Order in the 20th century. Documents, materials and archival works of some Capuchin religious who spread the Gospel, using old and new instruments, techniques and forms of communication, are presented.
At the end of the exhibition, the eighth section introduces the final and highly suggestive place that closes the visit of the museum: the Crypt.
The Museum also presents itself as a new centre for the conservation of the historical and artistic heritage of the Capuchins of Rome and Lazio. The exhibition rooms, in fact, have been designed not only to house and display the artistic materials but also to preserve them. To this end, an important restoration campaign preceded the opening of the Museum, restoring to their original splendour various types of works of art, books and documents, but above all liturgical objects and Capuchin artefacts of common use, strongly characterised by that spirit of "own and poor production" specific to the Order.

THE CRIPTA - A singular work of art, created around the first half of the 18th century, the Crypt was born from the practical need to make room for the new deceased in the small convent cemetery and thus find a suitable location for the bones of the exhumed friars. The ingenious composition became an excellent opportunity for the positive announcement of the Christian meaning of human life and its arrival at the resurrection.
In 1631, the Capuchin Friars left the convent of St Bonaventure, near the Trevi Fountain, and came to live in the present convent of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Rome, where the remains of the deceased religious were transported and placed.
Father Michele da Bergamo, a Capuchin architect, writes in his "Memoirs" that, in April of that year, he brought here, from the old monastery, the remains of Saint Felice da Cantalice, and then "also the body of the R.F. Francesco Bergamasco, with all the bones of other brothers, and also those of S.r Marcantonio and Prospero Corteselli, placing them in a special place". The bones were arranged in a certain order along the walls, and the burial of friars and even the poor of Rome, for whom the sepulchre in the floor of the chapel was reserved for Mass, began.
The first mention is made of "niches, vaults, some ceiling ornamentation with regular and pleasant designs, lamps, crosses, etc".

It can be assumed that the ornamentation of the crypt was carried out in the years 1732-1775. The mortal remains of some 3,700 deceased people, mostly Capuchin monks, were collected in this place, which is a corridor about 30 metres long, flanked by six rooms. Tradition has it that the earth in this cemetery is holy, because it was brought here from Palestine or even Jerusalem.
It has been suggested that the "brilliant artist" who carried out the decoration must have been Fr Raphael of Rome, a talented Capuchin painter who died in Rome in 1805. Others have identified the creator of this 'funerary monument' as Father Norberto Baumgartner from Vienna (1710-1773), a well-known Capuchin painter, who was certainly present in the Rome monastery in 1745; some of his works remain in the church above the cemetery. But the name of Ennemond (Edmond) Alexandre Petitot (1727-1801 ), who was in Rome from 1746 to 1750, has also been mentioned.