A home for Waldensian history and culture
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The project
The need for a Waldensian cultural centre and museum at Torre Pellice had been felt for a long time and steps were first made towards that end in 1974 when the renewal of the "Casa Valdese" (and in particular its heating system) allowed greater use of the library and the archives room.
In 1989 the Cultural Centre was established by the Tavola valdese and the Society for Waldensian Studies, and in 1991 the Centre became a separate Foundation.
1989 was also the third centenary of the "Glorious Return” of the Waldensians marching back to Piedmont from the exile in Switzerland and it was fitting that the Centre should have been established in that year. It was clear to all that the building which was best adapted to housing the Centre was the old "Boarding School", only partially used since the 1970s.
The centre’s promoters
The Centre represents a broad setting where several institution can meet. In 1989 these institutions were: the administrative board of the Waldensian Church preserving the historic library and the Church Archives in the Casa Valdese; the Waldensian Studies Society, founded in 1881, supervising rich historic Archives, a specialised library and the historic museum in the building of the former Waldensian boarding school; the Collegio Valdese (Waldensian high-school) and various small village museums which had grown up in the valleys.
The new initiative was grafted into a tradition of associations, groups and individuals which, since the mid nineteenth century, had sought to safeguard the Waldensian inheritance and corporate memory.
The aims
From its beginning, the Centre had as its primary aim the reorganisation and evaluation of a cultural patrimony of exceptional importance, made up of documents, memories and places. The Centre became part of the ecclesiastical context of the wider Waldensian community and collaborated with other already existing Protestant cultural organisations, but had, as a major aim, that of being the principal guardian of this patrimony.
The need for a Waldensian cultural centre and museum at Torre Pellice had been felt for a long time and steps were first made towards that end in 1974 when the renewal of the "Casa Valdese" (and in particular its heating system) allowed greater use of the library and the archives room.
In 1989 the Cultural Centre was established by the Tavola valdese and the Society for Waldensian Studies, and in 1991 the Centre became a separate Foundation.
1989 was also the third centenary of the "Glorious Return” of the Waldensians marching back to Piedmont from the exile in Switzerland and it was fitting that the Centre should have been established in that year. It was clear to all that the building which was best adapted to housing the Centre was the old "Boarding School", only partially used since the 1970s.
The centre’s promoters
The Centre represents a broad setting where several institution can meet. In 1989 these institutions were: the administrative board of the Waldensian Church preserving the historic library and the Church Archives in the Casa Valdese; the Waldensian Studies Society, founded in 1881, supervising rich historic Archives, a specialised library and the historic museum in the building of the former Waldensian boarding school; the Collegio Valdese (Waldensian high-school) and various small village museums which had grown up in the valleys.
The new initiative was grafted into a tradition of associations, groups and individuals which, since the mid nineteenth century, had sought to safeguard the Waldensian inheritance and corporate memory.
The aims
From its beginning, the Centre had as its primary aim the reorganisation and evaluation of a cultural patrimony of exceptional importance, made up of documents, memories and places. The Centre became part of the ecclesiastical context of the wider Waldensian community and collaborated with other already existing Protestant cultural organisations, but had, as a major aim, that of being the principal guardian of this patrimony.
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