Nativity scenes from around the world

On the first floor of Palace of Culture, there are more than 400 modernly made cribs, some of which are copies of earlier originals, created by artists from all over the world, donated by a fine collector from Avellino, Andrea di Gisi.
The variety and composition of the donation make this collection a particularly interesting point of view for a demo-ethno-anthropological survey on the iconography of the nativity in the world. You can see nativity scenes with a traditional style, the primitivism of African cribs, scenes made with recycled materials and miniature cribs: all of them show the evolution of the Italian tradition, but reinterpreted and adapted in an absolutely original way in other countries.
The exhibition ends with the majestic and imposing crib donated by the heirs of the priest Gennaro Penta from Fontanarosa. Dating back to the late 18th century, it consists of more than a thousand wooden characters, with period clothes made of silk from San Leucio. The scenography in which the characters are placed is of great interest, and was built by a famous Neapolitan workshop after the acquisition of the nativity scenes by the Province of Avellino.