The abandoned, partly ruined convent and church of Santa Maria del Gesu’ form part of the Val di Noto UNESCO World Heritage site in south-eastern Sicily. They were built in 1639 using recycled materials from the abandoned Castle of Ragusa. After suffering damage in an earthquake that devastated the city in 1693, the church was almost completely rebuilt in 1700. It was used as a school and hospital until falling into ruin in the 19th century.
The project conserves the buildings, converting them into a new, permanent home for a regional archaeological museum. A new white concrete surface forms the main intervention providing the infrastructure for all the systems that a modern museum requires to function and as display for the existing collection, which includes artefacts from the Neolithic era up to late ancient times, as well as never-displayed objects from the ancient Greek settlement of Kamarina.
