Bestiarium

The Bestiarium exhibition is a fascinating journey through over 70 sculptures that give shape to an animal world—both real and imaginary—through the skilled hands of artisans from past and present.
Inspired by medieval bestiaries, Bestiarium explores the deep bond between humans and the animal world, built on observation, respect, and shared memory. The exhibited works, made of wood and stone, evoke wild, domestic, and imaginary animals: symbolic creatures that have inhabited the human imagination since the dawn of time. From cave paintings to Alpine folk sculpture traditions, animal representation has always carried deep meaning—as a form of expression, celebration, protection, or spiritual dialogue. The exhibition also delves into the everyday relationship between humans and animals in the agro-pastoral mountain context—a connection marked by closeness, shared labor, and mutual dependence. In this setting, the shepherd-artisan conveyed his lived experience through wood, creating sculptures that were both artistic expressions and testimonies of his reality.
Today more than ever, in a time of growing distance between humans and nature, Bestiarium offers a timely reflection: animals are not “other” than us, but an integral part of a shared world. Craftsmanship once again becomes the language through which the story of the bond between humans and animals, between reality and imagination, between past and present, is retold.
The exhibition is curated by MAV – Museum of Valdostan Craftsmanship, with the support of the Department for Economic Development, Training and Labour, Transport and Sustainable Mobility of the Autonomous Region of Valle d’Aosta.