Inside this baroque church in the old town of Bari there is a museum of pigments: colours in the state of raw material, before they become paintings. There is ultramarine obtained from lapis lazuli, orpiment yellow, Prussian blue, and a collection of natural resins such as Chios mastic and tragacanth gum.
What to see
The church was built between the end of the seventeenth century and the first years of the next by the Discalced Carmelites, who had begun the monastery in 1671; the date of the church is written in the lunette of the tympanum. It is called dei Maschi to distinguish it from the female convent of the same order, and its dome is one of those you pick out in the skyline of the old town.
Today the space is an arts centre: it holds the city's international biennial of contemporary art and exhibitions in which today's works live alongside the seventeenth-century paintings that remained in the building. It is a use that holds the two things together without either covering the other.
Visiting
The church is in via Carlo Pisacane, in the old town, five minutes from the basilica of San Nicola; openings depend on the exhibitions and events running, so they must be checked. Half an hour.
Our editors' tip
Look for the jar of ultramarine: that blue was got by grinding lapis lazuli brought from Afghanistan, and it cost more than gold. In old contracts the patron wrote how many ounces of it the painter had to use, because it was the largest single expense in the whole picture. Looking at the powder and thinking of the price changes the way you look at a blue cloak.