The
Costume Gallery is housed in the small building
of the Meridiana of the Pitti Palace, which was
begun under Grand Duke Pietro Leopoldo in 1776
and ended in 1840 and chosen as residence by the
families that ruled Tuscany and by the Savoy house
until 1946. The Lorraine/Savoy rooms display the
exhibitions of the collections of historical clothes
and accessories, which had previously been stored
in the palace's warehouses. The collections cover
the period between the 18th century and the present-day.
The recent restoration of the funeral garments
of Grand Duke Cosimo I de’ Medici, of Eleonora
of Toledo and of her son Don Garzia has further
enriched the museum with some rare examples from
the 16th century.
The rooms, equipped with air-conditioned display
stands, exhibit every two years different selections
of clothes in order to represent the evolution
of fashion for didactic purposes. Some of the
rooms, like the dancing hall, are instead used
for temporary exhibitions. The decision to change
the displayed clothes every two years originates
from the need of guaranteeing their preservation,
but also offers the opportunity of displaying
the patrimony preserved in the depository, mostly
from private donors.
The collections of the Costume Gallery also include
a group of about ninety theatre costumes belonging
to the Sartoria Tirelli, which were given to the
museum together with a large number of historical
clothes by Umberto Tirelli.
The Meridiana building, close to the gallery,
is also the seat of a fabric restoration laboratory.
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