MUST - Historical Museum of the city of Lecce

The MUST - Historical Museum of the City of Lecce is open to the public in the section dedicated to modern and contemporary art, on the ground floor. Soon sections dedicated to the history of Lecce, from the Messapians to the twentieth century, will also be set up.

Once an ancient monastery of Santa Chiara, the beautiful monumental complex that houses the MUST, is located in the heart of the historic center, adjacent to the church of Santa Chiara and the ancient Roman Theater. Probably, the former monastery was founded in 1410 by the friar Tommaso Ammirato, a religious of the Order of the Conventual Fathers of San Francesco, bishop of the city of Lecce from 1429 to 1438. According to another hypothesis, instead, the foundation is due to wealthy Antonio di Giovanni De Ferraris who destined some buildings and all his movable property for the monastery of the Poor Clares.

From the few existing paper evidence, it appears that the cells were twenty and that there were three dormitories, a refectory and a pantry. Over the centuries the monastery has undergone massive renovations and it seems that the last Poor Clares remained there until 1866. More recently used as an office of Finance Intent, today the building opens to the public with exhibition rooms of rare beauty, in which the white light of the lime merges with the golden atmospheres of the Lecce stone.
At the entrance, a large vaulted arched hall amazes the visitor with its grandeur, and envelops it in the luminous rays coming from the inner courtyards. The meticulous restoration has enhanced the already refined architectural elements,

A reopening that gave the city of Lecce an important center of cultural aggregation, in which to bring together the historical depth of the city with its current liveliness. The MUST hosts permanent exhibitions including the works of the Salentine sculptor Cosimo Carlucci, the photographic exhibition of the American artist Jenny Okun and a collective of contemporary art - De Sculptura - (sculpture) by artists from the Apulian territory, with works created in the last 50 years . In the MUST there is also a Living lab and numerous temporary exhibitions that throughout the year enrich the cultural offer of the Museum