The Museum

Il Canopoleno con la chiesa di S. Caterina

The imposing building which hosts MUS'A was built by the Jesuits. The Jesuits first arrived in Sassari in 1559 and played an important role in the cultural development of the city. At first they lived in an old building owned by Donna Caterina Montanyans y Flors, on the site of the present Piazza Santa Caterina and Via Ospedale Militare. Soon, with the help of religious donations, they built the Colegio Nuevo, on what is today the site of the University of Sassari. They also built the Casa Professa and the church of Gesù e Maria, which is now the church of Santa Caterina, in the area which faced towards the old house of Donna Caterina Montanyans. In 1611 the Casa Professa was completed and the Jesuits moved there in 1627. Very probably the same Spanish and Italian architects that built the other most important buildings of the order, G. Tristano, D. Verdina and, above all for the final design, G. De Rosis, contributed to the architectural plan of the building. The church of Gesù e Maria and the Casa Professa are a single organic complex. The two elegant gateways in mannerist style opened up into a square, which was raised above the level of the street outside. It was protected by balustrades and had a central staircase. This square was demolished in the first half of the 19th Century and replaced with a set of steps which led up the church, while the gateway into the Casa Professa remained suspended in space and unused. A new doorway to the Casa Professa was opened at street level along the side of the building and this was connected by a staircase to the raised ground floor.
La Casa Professa was the headquarters of the Jesuits and seminarians for some two centuries. The seminarians studied in the front hall or in the Collegio Generale (today the University). This was closed in 1773 after the suppression of the Society of Jesus. It was reopened fifteen years later in 1788 on the orders of King Vittorio Amedeo III and Professor Giuseppe Pinna was appointed as rector. However in 1814 the Jesuits were pardoned by Pius VII in the Bull Solicitudo omnium ecclesiarum and in 1824 returned to govern the school. The Canopoleno was restored and expanded and the teaching program also became wider. After these scholastic and administrative changes the Convent was transformed into a religious seminary and State College and the students were almost exclusively the sons of the rich bourgoisie of Sassari and the surrounding area. This is why for many years it was called 'Real Convitto Canopoleno dei Nobili' (Royal Canopoleno Convent of the Nobles). In October 1852 it was inserted in the ministerial list of National Convent Colleges. It was officially recognised as a National Convent in the Royal Decree of 10 March 1860.
The ground floor was occupied by the 'Domenico Alberto Azuni' High School, with an entrance in Via Canopolo, and the high school remained here until it moved to its present site in Via Rolando, which was built in 1933.
Shortly afterwards another high school was created in the remaining free rooms and an annex of the convent. This allowed the students to attend classes without leaving the building.
In the 1960's the 'Canopoleno' National Convent and the attached school in the annex was transferred to a new site and the old building fell into disuse.