The Foundation

The Fondazione Pro Musica e Arte Sacra is listed in the Register of Corporations of the Prefecture of Rome, registration no. 162/2002 in accordance with DPR 361/2000. A non-profit organisation, its objective is to promote and preserve the performance of sacred music and art at the highest level.

Its main activities are the following:

• to promote and draw a wider audience to religious music, by organising concerts;
• to organise exhibitions and reviews of religious art;
• to organise festivals, competitions, conferences, seminars, radio and television broadcasts and to exploit other platforms in order to promote culture, music and religious art;
• to organise training and advanced courses in music and sacred art, award prizes and scholarships in this field, promote relevant courses and research, and provide support and financial aid to religious institutions and relevant bodies of the Holy See;
• to print and produce quality publications and audio material to help achieve the Foundation's aims;
• to sell worldwide television rights, pictures and audiovisual recordings of events organised by the Foundation.

The Foundation's funds can be significantly increased with donations, bequests, legacies and grants. The Foundation receives funds through contributions and subscriptions made to it by public or private entities or individuals, (both Italian and foreign nationals), in addition to proceeds obtained through activities and events organised by the Foundation and through what it receives from the "Associazione Internazionale Amici della Musica Sacra", a non-profit organisation whose central remit is to support of the Foundation. Each year the "Festival Internazionale di Musica e Arte Sacra" will take place in the splendid settings of the patriarchal Basilicas of Rome.

The Foundation is working on a series of projects aimed at supporting sacred art and music. The Festival's concerts which are being held in each of Rome's Patriarchal Basilicas aim to promote the conservation and restoration of the cultural heritage housed within the basilicas. The Foundation has contributed to the following restoration projects to date:

• Restoration of the Chapel of St Stephen, in the transept of the Papal Basilica of St Paul Outside the Walls, with the help of the Festival’s partner, DaimlerChrysler Italia;
• Repair of the two precious Morettini organs located in the apse of the Papal Basilica of St John Lateran, made in 1886;
• Restoration of the German Chapel at the Pontifical Shrine of the Holy House in Loreto, Province of Ancona, decorated with a broad series of frescoes on Marian themes painted by Ludovico Seitz in the years 1892-1902, with the help of the partner DaimlerChrysler Italia;
• Restoration of the dome of the Sixtus V Chapel in the Papal Basilica of St Mary Major;
• Total renovation of the Library of the Pontifical Institute of Sacred Music in Rome, with the help of the partner DaimlerChrysler Italia;
• Restoration of the Chapel of St Benedict in the transept of the Papal Basilica of St Paul Outside the Walls, with the help of the partner DaimlerChrysler Italia;
• Urgent interventions for the conservation and consolidation of structures in the Mausoleums of the Teacher, the Ebuzi, the Egizi and the Matucci in the Vatican Necropolis beneath St Peter’s Basilica;
• Complete restoration of the Mausoleum of the Valerii in the Vatican Necropolis beneath St Peter’s Basilica, with the contribution of the Patron Dr. h.c. Hans Urrigshardt and of the companies: LGT Bank in Liechtenstein AG, Mercedes-Benz Italia S.p.A., Pedrollo S.p.A. and Courtial Viaggi srl;
• Restoration of the statue of Pope Paul V Borghese in the Papal Basilica of St Mary Major, a work that dates back to 1620 by Paolo Sanquirico;
• Restoration of the Tamburini Organ in the Basilica of St Ignatius of Loyola in Campo Marzio, Rome, with the help of the partner Mercedes-Benz Italia S.p.A.;
• Restoration of the monumental baldacchino above the Papal Altar in the Papal Basilica of St Paul Outside the Walls, made by Arnolfo di Cambio in 1285;
• Restoration of the wooden choir stalls of the Chapel of the Choir in the Papal Basilica of St John Lateran, located in the transept, close to the altar of the Most Blessed Sacrament, also called the Colonna Chapel;
• Restoration of the Apartment of Pope Alexander VI (Rodrigo Borgia, 1492-1503) and Julius II (Giuliano della Rovere, 1503-1513) in the ancient Apostolic Palace of the Vatican, with contributions from Dr. Hans Urrigshardt and from the Fundación Endesa, Spain (the latter is earmarked for the lighting of the apartment), as well as from Dr Hans-Albert Courtial personally.

Since 2010 the Fondazione Pro Musica e Arte Sacra and her patrons and sponsors are supporting the Fabric of St Peter’s in two large and important restoration projects, and in 2011 a third project has been added:

• Restoration of the Mausoleum PHI, called “of the Marci”, in the Vatican Necropolis beneath St Peter’s Basilica;
• Restoration of the southern side of the Vatican Basilica in the third part of the works, concerning the part of the Basilica in the form of a Greek cross, designed in the sixteenth century by Michelangelo;
• Restoration of the “Fontana della Burbera”, an antique fountain on St Peter’s.

You can find more information regarding these three current projects on the page „The Festival – Objectives“.

The foundation has also defined the restoration project which will be undertaken after these complex and long lasting projects. It will regard the organ of the Jesuit church San Francesco Saverio (Francisco de Xavier) in Rome, near the Pantheon, better known as “Oratorio del Caravita”.
Clicking here you reach the Fondazione Pro Musica e Arte Sacra Homepage (in Italian).