Studio Adrien Gardère

The first half of the Vatican Ethnological Museum Anima Mundi was inaugurated by Pope Francis on October 18, 2019, during the Amazonia Synod.

Since 2018, Studio Adrien Gardère has been entrusted with the project artistic direction and designed of these permanent galleries and visible storages, displaying the unique Vatican collections of artifacts from Oceania, Australia, Africa, Asia and Americas.

In his inaugural speech, Pope Francis said:

"I appreciate that the installation created here, for which I thank those who have worked on it — curators, architects, engineers and laborers, everyone! — is a sign of transparency. Transparency is an important value, especially in an ecclesial institution. We always need it! In these showcases, over the course of time, thousands of works coming from every part of the world will find space, and this kind of installation is meant to place them effectively in dialogue among themselves. And as works of art are the expression of the spirit of peoples, the message received is that one needs to always look at every culture, at the other, with openness of spirit and with benevolence."