Like many European travellers, Robecchi Bricchetti collected hundreds of items that formed part of daily life in the places he visited. In 1926, Pavia’s Colonial Museum was opened to the public, and most of that museum was made up of objects that Robecchi Bricchetti donated to his home city. Here, we display some of 3D models of objects from that collection.
Some European travellers kept detailed records of where, when, and from whom they acquired particular objects. Some even listed what they paid or traded in exchange for them. In contrast, we have limited information about Robecchi Bricchetti’s collection in Pavia. Often, the inventories we have do not even tell us an object’s original use, or where it was acquired.
We know that Robecchi Bricchetti carried money and valuable goods with him to trade during his travels. We also know that some of the places he visited had markets selling the kinds of objects in his collections. We can see from his writings that he was keen to document commercial activities in the places he visited, and to understand how these could benefit future Italian colonialists.
Thumbnail images have been designed using resources from Flaticon.com
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