Museo Missionario Indios Frati Cappuccini in Amazzonia (MUMA)

The MUMA preserves several collections of Amazonian material (natural history and ethnographic), coming predominantly from the region of the upper Solimões River, where the Umbrian Capuchin friars arrived in 1909. The first nucleus was assembled in 1925 with the aim of taking part in the “Mostra Missionaria Internazionale” (International Missionary Exhibition) that Pope Pius XI decided to mount in the Basilica of St. John Lateran in Rome on the occasion of the Holy Year celebrations. Once the exhibition had ended, the objects and natural history specimens were taken to the convent of Todi (PG), where on 29 April 1928 the “Museo Amazzonico” was inaugurated. Subsequently, the collection was further enriched by material gathered by Father Fedele d’Alviano on the occasion of another “Mostra Missionaria”—this time promoted by Pius XII to celebrate the Holy Year of 1950. In 1971 the provincial superiors decided to reorganize and transfer the missionary museum to Assisi where, in 1973, the “Museo degli Indios dell’Amazzonia” was established. It was conceived by Father Luciano Matarazzi on the basis of the donations already mentioned and of further donations made by missionaries traveling between Italy and the upper Solimões. Finally, in 2011 it gave way to the MUMA.