The complex of the Cloisters of Saint Domenic faithfully preserves the urban layout of the old Dominican convent established in 1233. It stands around two monumental courtyards. The subsequent development and the various uses modified the structural and architectonic impact. Originally a convent, became a military hospital from 1702, a barracks in the Napoleonic period and was used as stables in 1860.
The renovation work in the sixteenth century included the complete refurbishing of the old stone structure, replacing the wooden roof with cross vaults and adding Doric sandstone columns, the traces of which are still visible on the arches.
After the transformation of the complex into a military hospital in 1702, the small cloister needed restoring ; the construction in the church of a deep choir and two lateral opposing chapels involved the demolition of the south side of the courtyard.
Since 2005, the small cloister host the Robert Morris’s work Less Than, a permanent installation included in the contemporary art project Invitation to Luciano Fabro, Sol LeWitt, Eliseo Mattiacci and Robert Morris. From an idea by the artist Claudio Parmiggiani, the project has given life to a circuit of works conceived for the city in an expressive dialogue between the architecture of historical places and the art of our time.
Today the Cloisters of Saint Dominic – also home to Istoreco and the Peri-Merulo Musical Institute – host an exhibition space dedicated to the languages of contemporaneity and youth creativity.
Chiostri di San Domenico
via Dante Alighieri 11 – 42121 Reggio Emilia